Cultural Memory Through Documentary Films (Based on the Language of Quebec’s “Direct Cinema”)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of preserving cultural heritage through its reproduction in cultural memory based on the Quebec documentary cinema of the first half of the 20th century. The aim of the research is to identify and to justify the features of films related to “direct cinema” as an important part of cultural heritage, a creative memory carrier. A memory’s need for self-identification in space leads to the creation of places that are for any group not only a scene of joint activity, but also symbols of identity and important points of memories. The appearance of a light and silent camera in the cinematograph in the second half of the 50s contributed to the birth of the “new wave”. The center of “direct cinema” in North America was the French-Canadian province of Quebec. The article analyzes the relationship between cinema and society, cinema language is considered a means of reflecting the characteristics of identity. These characteristics model cultural identity and illustrate the alliance of cultural bearers about ethno-integrating and ethnodifferentiating characters. The article clarifies the contribution of the first priestsfilmmakers to the formation of the collective memory of Quebec. The specificity of the visual solution and dramaturgy of “direct cinema” is analyzed on the basis of the film by Michel Brault, Gilles Groulx and Marcel Carrière. The conclusion about the peculiarities of innovative aesthetics and the significance of films of direct cinema as effective translators of the values of Quebec culture and generators of new meanings of cultural memory is made.

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