René Jodoin (30 December 1920 – 22 January 2015) was an
animation director and producer who founded the French-language animation studio of the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
. Born in
Hull, Quebec on December 30, 1920, Jodoin died in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
on January 22, 2015 at the age of 94.
Joining the NFB
Jodoin was invited by animation pioneer
Norman McLaren to join the NFB in 1943. He worked in the NFB's original animation unit, then left the NFB in 1947. He returned to the Film Board in 1954, working in a variety of capacities, including as head of an NFB animation program producing films for the
Department of National Defence and as head of NFB's Science Film Program.
French animation studio founder
In 1966, he founded the French Animation Studio. He produced two
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated animated shorts during his tenure: ''
Hunger
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic Human nutrition, nutritional needs for a sustaine ...
'', by
Peter Foldes and ''
Monsieur Pointu'', by
André Leduc and
Bernard Longpré, as well as ''
Balablok ''Balablok'' is a 1972 animated short written and directed by Břetislav Pojar exploring the human propensity for resorting to violence over reason.
Accolades
The 7 min 27 sec film received the 1973 Short Film Palme d'Or, Grand Prix du Festival for ...
'' by
Břetislav Pojar
Břetislav Pojar (7 October 192312 October 2012) was a Czech puppeteer, animator and director of short and feature films.
Born in Sušice, Czechoslovakia, Pojar started his career in the late 1940s with his work on ''The Story of the Bass Cello'' ...
, winner of the
Grand Prix du Festival for Short Film at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, and ''
The Bronswik Affair
''The Bronswik Affair'' (french: L'Affaire Bronswik) is a 1978 Canadian short film, directed by Robert Awad and André Leduc for the National Film Board of Canada.
Summary
An animated mockumentary, the film satirizes advertising and marketing thr ...
'' by Leduc and
Robert Awad.
Directorial credits
Jodoin's directorial credits include two short films with McLaren: ''Alouette'' and ''Spheres'', an abstract film set to the music of
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...
as performed by
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...
. He was also sole director on a cycle of geometrical animated shorts: ''
Dance Squared
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
'',
[Dance Squared](_blank)
Dance Squared video on YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
''
Notes on a Triangle
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...
'',
''
Rectangle & Rectangles
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containin ...
'' and ''
A Matter of Form
A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...
''.
Post-NFB
Jodoin resigned as head of the French Animation Studio in 1977 and left the NFB in 1985. In 2001, he was awarded the
Prix Albert-Tessier
The Prix Albert-Tessier is an award by the Government of Quebec that is part of the Prix du Québec, given to individuals for an outstanding career in Quebec cinema. It is awarded to script-writing, acting, composing music, directing, producing a ...
, given to individuals for an outstanding career in Québec cinema.
References
External links
*
''René Jodoin (1920-2015)'' NFB.ca
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jodoin, Rene
Canadian animators
Film directors from Quebec
Canadian film producers
Canadian animated film producers
Artists from Quebec
People from Gatineau
Visual music artists
French Quebecers
National Film Board of Canada people
1920 births
2015 deaths
Deaths in Canada
Prix Albert-Tessier winners