''Cotton Mill, Treadmill'' () is a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by

Denys Arcand Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a Canadian filmmaker. During his four decades career, he became one of the most internationally-recognized director from Quebec, earning widespread acclaim and numerous accolades for his "inten ...

, about the conditions of workers in the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Despite being made in 1970, the film was held back by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

for political reasons, and not released to the general public until 1976.

Production

The film, then titled as ''Les informateurs'', was approved by the French Programme Committee in 1969. It was initially produced by Guy Coté, but was replaced by Pierre Maheu and Maheu handed control over to Marc Beaudet when the film was being edited. The director of French production,

Jacques Godbout Jacques Godbout, OC, CQ (born November 27, 1933) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler (''touche-à-tout''), Godbout has become one of the most important wr ...

, was replaced by Gilles Dignard during the production of the film. The plot of the film, now retitled to ''On est au coton'', shifted from being a three-part story about technocrats who serve as the backbone of the state to being about textile workers in Quebec. It was completed with a budget of $152,266 ()

Suppression

Commissioner Hugo McPherson ordered that all references to him be removed and Arcand replaced the censored areas with readings of McPherson's letter. Assistant NFB Film Commissioner

André Lamy André Lamy (19 July 1932 – 2 May 2010) was a Canadian film producer, who served as Canada's Government Film Commissioner from 1975 until 1979. In this position he was the Chairman of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Lamy was born in ...

criticized multiple French productions, such as ''Cotton Mill, Treadmill'', ''

24 heures ou plus 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

'', and '' Un pays sans bon sens!'', as being too biased or

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

and were ordered to not be released in 1970. The film was accused of promoting

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

and being

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

propaganda. Commissioner

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was app ...

requested legal advice due to the film featuring members of

Front de libération du Québec The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...

calling for violence. Newman prohibited Arcand from including a reading of a complaint letter from a textile industry executive in the censored areas of the film. The length of the documentary decreased from 173 minutes to 162 minutes following cuts. The release of the film was blocked for several years due to its politically sensitive nature. The president of the Canadian Textile Institute wrote to Newman and criticized the film as being misrepresentative of the industry and Newman stated that he would not allow public screenings of the film until he was satisfied with the film himself. Newman ordered that the film could only be shown with either his or Lamy's permission, but he was unsuccessful in preventing the film from being shown at a NFB staff screening. Newman was quoted as stating that "there are many factual errors either through bad research or overzealous attempts to show the evils of capitalism. The general tone is a slashing attack on the English-controlled textile industry. I tell people, 'if you want to make a smear film, make sure you present invincible arguments.' This one didn't."

Release

In April 1970, Newman announced that the movie would not be released, but two

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...

bootleg versions, with one being uncut, were distributed. The film was shown at

Cégep du Vieux Montréal Cégep du Vieux Montréal () is a CEGEP (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel, or College of General and Vocational Education) located at 255 Ontario Street East, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The College of General and Vocational ...

from 31 May to 4 June, and bootleg copies were distributed across Canadian colleges. It was estimated that over 20,000 people watched the film by 1979. A letter signed by thirty-one textile unions affiliated with

Confédération des syndicats nationaux The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN; Confederation of National Trade Unions) is the second largest trade union federation in Quebec by membership. History It was founded in Hull, Quebec, Hull in 1921 as the ''Confédération des t ...

calling for the release of the film was published by ''

Le Devoir (, ) is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec ...

'' in 1971. An edited version of the film was released in 1976 by Lamy. Lamy felt that the film no longer needed to be withheld from distribution after the subsidence of political violence following the

October Crisis The October Crisis () was a chain of political events in Canada that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross f ...

. Moreover, the ban on distribution of ''On est au coton'' and other films was contrary to the NFB's reputation for freedom and creativity. When Lamy learned that the Conseil québécois pour la diffusion du cinéma had decided to distribute an unlicensed copy of the film, he chose not to take legal measures, and released an edited version of the film. The film was not released in its original, uncensored form until 2004.

References

Works cited

External links