GUY DUFAUX

From interview [by Éléphant, 2011]

GUY DUFAUX CSC

Born: 18 July 1943, Lille, France.

Education: École supérieure des beaux-arts, Marseilles, France [Fine Arts].

Career: As a young fine arts student he immigrated in 1965 to Montréal [and became a Canadian citizen in 1971], where he began his career as a trainee electrician for dir/doph Michel Brault. A year later Brault made him his c.asst. He worked his way up to directing doc's for Radio-Canada and in 1975 became the president of the 'Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec' [ARRQ].

Ph commercials dir by Francis Mankiewicz [for Air Canada (1984)], Cosimo Cavallaro, Jean-Claude Lauzon, Charles Binamé, a.o.

Also active as director of doc's and commercials.

His brother Georges [1927-2008] was a doph/director. His niece Sylvaine is a c.op/doph.

Appeared in the doc's 'Si smattes que ça?' [1972, Robert Blondin; ph: Alain Chartrand] & 'Jean-Pierre Lefebvre' [1974, Paul Crépeau].

Awards: 'Genie' Award nom [1987] for 'Équinoxe'; 'Genie' Award [1988] for 'Un zoo la nuit'; 'Genie' Award [1990] for 'Jésus de Montréal'; 'Genie' Award nom [1991] for 'Nelligan' & 'Moody Beach'; Halifax 12th Atlantic FF [1992] & 'Genie' Award nom [1992] for 'Léolo'; 'Genie' Award nom [1996] for 'Le polygraphe'; 'Prix Jutra' nom [2000] for 'Nguol thùa'; 'Genie' Award nom [2001] for 'Stardom'; 'Gemini' Award [2001] for 'Haven' [Part 1]; 'Prix Jutra' nom [2002] for 'L'ange de goudron'; CSC 'Kodak New Century Award' [2002]; Festival des Films du Monde 'Prix de la meilleure contribution artistique' [2006] for 'Les filles du botaniste'.

The Long, Celebrated Career of Guy Dufaux, CSC

By Maurie Alioff in 'Canadian Cinematographer', November 2010

Since the 1980s, Guy Dufaux has been considered one of the shooters who transformed this country's screen images. During the nascent years of Quebec film production, most feature moviemaking emulated the rough visual poetry and open-ended spontaneity of NFB directors such as Gilles Groulx, or basked in the carefully framed, softly lit lyricism of pictures such as Jean Beaudin's 'J.A. Martin, photographe' [1975]. Jean-Claude Lauzon's 'Un Zoo la nuit' [1987], shot by Dufaux, boldly announced a new direction. 'Un Zoo la nuit' was far more controlled than documentary-style shooting, and cooler, more hard-edged than the prettified image-making that at the time signaled art. Here was a movie highlighting cool blues and deep blacks, one that dollied elegantly through vast waterfront lofts and followed an ex-con in a leather jacket as he rode his chopper toward a tragic fate.
Before working with Lauzon, Dufaux had already expanded Canadian cinematography with 'Sonatine' [1982], actress-turned-director Micheline Lanctôt's meditation on teen suicide, and Yves Simoneau's 'Pouvoir intime' [1985], a movie demonstrating that Canadians could make genre pictures that have visual style and wit.
During a recent interview, I asked the French-born Dufaux about his pivotal role in Quebec film history, and he was typically down-to-earth: 'It's a question of timing. We were making a certain kind of movie.' Moreover, he and his collaborators worked with low budgets and 'film stocks that were not as sensitive, so shooting was more complicated. We needed more lighting, and we had less money, and it was a question of finding clever ways to film. If I had been born 15 years later, I wouldn't have done things in exactly the same way.' Taking on the role of a groundbreaking innovator 'was not exactly planned in my head.'
Looking back at his prolific career, he makes it clear that he is particularly attached to his late friend Lauzon's 'Léolo' [1991], a major challenge that resulted in what he calls 'an important milestone in the movies I did. I'm very proud of it on every level.'
For Lauzon and Dufaux, the movie demanded extreme shifts in setting and lighting as it cut from realistic exteriors to hyper-stylized studio work, from the characters' real lives to their crazed fantasies, and then to real-life situations that play like crazed fantasies. Dufaux emphasizes that he and Lauzon met the demands because the 'fantastic adventure lasted for something like 10 weeks. We had the time we needed. We didn’t have a big-budget film, but Jean-Claude could think about the mise-en-scène, and I could find the best ways to light. It's really mathematical. If you do two minutes a day, you have time to accomplish what you want, but if you do six minutes, you don't.'
For Montreal producer Kevin Tierney, the cinematographer is a class act who refuses to be intimidated by the ticking meter. On 'The Trotsky' [2008], 'Dufaux was producer-proof. I could huff, I could puff, but he never changed his pace. He's methodical. On an exterior shot of a taxi pulling up to a door, he'll light the whole fucking block.' And the younger Tierney says that Dufaux's 'old school style gives you a richness of image that is amazing. He's not a digital bypass guy. A lot of young cinematographers light in post. They often don't have a lot of experience with film.'
Unlike shooters who fetishize certain equipment, Dufaux sees the stuff he works with as nothing more than the tools of his trade. 'I don't like equipment,' he says. 'It's not for me; it's not fun. As long as it works and gives what we're looking for, it's fine.' On the other hand, Dufaux thinks a lot about his choice of lenses. On the dark comedy 'Good Neighbours', 'I decided to go with Zeiss lenses, which are colder, more contrasty. On 'Barney's Version', I worked with Cookes, which are very soft.' As for HD, it yields good results, but the 'big, awkward, badly designed cameras' are a drawback. Dufaux speculates 'maybe in five years everything will be in HD, but right now for me it's still simpler to work in film. Shooting digitally you need more technicians, a data wrangler. The workflow is a lot more complicated than in film.' On top of that, 'the films made by Kodak and Fuji are so good now, and the cameras are lighter.' Most importantly, 'When I work in film I trust myself, and I can talk directly to the lab. There’s no in-between. When you work in HD, you can do so many things with the material. Somebody can completely change the look of the film.' Despite his reservations, Dufaux makes it clear that he doesn't oppose working digitally. He takes numerous reference pictures with an electronic still camera, and his latest assignment, long-time collaborator Yves Simoneau's crime comedy, 'L'appât', is an HD movie.

FILMS
1967	9 minutes [Jacques Bobet & Thomas Vámos] c; doc/9m; cph: Alain Dostie, Réo Grégoire & Thomas Vámos
1967	Jeux de Québec 1967 [Jacques Bobet] c; doc/10m; cph: Alain Dostie, Réo Grégoire & Thomas Vámos
1969	Les archanges [André A. Bélanger] ?
1970	Sécurité routière [André A. Bélanger] ?; doc/?m
1970	L'autoroute [André A. Bélanger] 16mm/c; doc/8m; ep series 'Conduite automobile'
1970	Vision [André A. Bélanger] 16mm/c; doc/18m; ep series 'Conduite automobile'
1970	Contrastes [André A. Bélanger] 16mm/c; doc/16m; ep series 'Conduite automobile'
1970	Québec ski [Fernand Dansereau] c; doc/5m & 15m
1970	Bas de laine et papier-monnaie [Claude Godbout] ?; doc/11m
1970	Fonction publique [Jacques Gagné] ?
1970	Babel P.Q. [Claude Godbout] c; doc/10m
1971	Un vapeur [Claude Godbout] c; doc/9m
1971	L'hiver [André A. Bélanger] 16mm/c; doc/11m; ep series 'Conduite automobile'
1971	Les smattes/The Wise Guys [Jean-Claude Labrecque] c
1971	Chut... [Jacques Gagné] ?; doc/12m
1971	Le huitième jour [Claude Godbout] c; doc/12m
1972	Visibilité la nuit [André A. Bélanger] 16mm/c; doc/?m; ep series 'Conduite automobile'
1972	Vision et fatigue la nuit [André A. Bélanger] 16mm/c; doc/12m; ep series 'Conduite automobile'
1972	Une solution [Guy Dufaux] ?
1972	Le Musée d'Art Contemporain [Jacques Gagné] 16mm/c; doc/14m
1972	Muntu [Josée Lecours] ?; short/?m
1972	Le jeu impossible [Guy Dufaux] ?
1972	Le Ministère de la Justice du Canada [Claude Godbout] ?; dram doc/21m
1973	On n'engraisse pas les cochons à l'eau claire/Pigs Are Seldom Clean [[Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] 16mm-35bu/b&w
1973	Les dernières fiançailles/The Last Betrothal [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] 16mm/c
1974	Les machines à faire peur [Guy Dufaux] ?; doc/?m
1974	Échec et mat/Le jeu d'échec [Gilles Thérien] 16mm/?; doc/30m
1974	Alpinisme [Guy Dufaux] 16mm/c; doc/26m
1975	Comme une lettre à la poste/Letter Perfect [Guy Dufaux] 16mm/?; doc/14m
1975	L'amour blessé/Les confidences de la nuit [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] c
1975	Montréal: Ville olympique [Roger Cardinal] c; doc/12m; or ph Michel Ernst & René Verzier
1976	Le St-Laurent [Guy Dufaux] ?; doc/59m
1976	Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] c
1976	Les enfants de la cour I [Robert Favreau] 16mm/c; doc/26m; ep series 'Les exclus'
1976	Les enfants de la cour II [Robert Favreau] 16mm/c; doc/26m; ep series 'Les exclus'
1977	Les enfants de l'émotion [Édith Fournier & Michel Moreau] 16mm/c; doc/28m; ep series 'Les exclus'
1977	Albert s'emmêle/Albert's Last Stand [André Melançon] 16mm/c; short/28m; ep 3-part series 'Comme les six doigts de la main/The Backstreet Six'
1977	Les épreuves d'Alain/Alan in Action [André Melançon] 16mm/c; short/28m; ep 3-part series 'Comme les six doigts de la main/The Backstreet Six'
1977	La filature/The Not So Private Eyes [André Melançon] 16mm/c; short/28m; ep 3-part series 'Comme les six doigts de la main/The Backstreet Six'
1977	Comme les six doigts de la main/The Backstreet Six [André Melançon] 16mm/c; edited version (74m) of series; released November 1978; see above
1977	Thetford au milieu de notre vie [Fernand Dansereau & Iolande Rossignol] 16mm/c; cph: Michel Brault
1977	Avoir 16 ans [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] c
1978	Corridors [Guy Dufaux & Robert Favreau] 16mm/c; doc/83m; + co-scrpl
1978	Les bons débarras/Good Riddance [Francis Mankiewicz] c; 2uc; ph: Michel Brault
1979	Pris au piège/Les perdants II [Guy Dufaux & Robert Favreau] 16mm/c; doc/80m; cph: Philippe Martel
1979	Le plus beau jour de ma vie... [Diane Létourneau] c; doc/81m; 2uc; ph: Jean-Charles Tremblay
1980	Hockey [Patrick Jamain] ?; doc/?m
1980	Les pièges de la mer/Cries from the Deep [Jacques Gagné] 16mm/c; doc/96m; cph: Colin Mounier; uwph: Raymond Coll, Albert Falco & Bernard Delemotte; aph: Robert Bralinbeck
1980	Du grand large aux Grands Lacs/St. Lawrence - Stairway to the Sea [Jacques-Yves Cousteau] 16mm/c; doc/96m; cph: Colin Mounier, Jacques Leduc & Jean-Paul Cornu; uwph: Raymond Coll, Albert Falco & Bernard Delemotte; aph: Robert Bralinbeck
1980	Les Plouffe/The Plouffe Family [Gilles Carle] 16mm-35bu/c; 180m; co-2uc; ph: François Protat; originally produced as a CBC-tv miniseries and released theatrically in a shortened version in 1981
1981	L'équipe des grands défis [Guy Dufaux] ?; + scrpl/ed
1981	Voyage de nuit [Roger Frappier] c; short/27m
1981	Les fleurs sauvages/Wild Flowers [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] 16mm-35bu/b&w-c
1981	Le futur intérieur/The Future Interior [Jean Chabot & Yolaine Rouleau] 16mm/c; 64m
1982	Charting the Frozen Sea/Au pays des glaces [Guy Dufaux] c; doc/25m
1982	Bleue brume [Brigitte Sauriol] 16mm/c; short/27m
1982	Sonatine [Micheline Lanctôt] c
1983	De l'autre côté de la glace [Guy Dufaux & Serge Morin] c; short/27m; cph: Martin Leclerc & Éric Michel
1983	Au rythme de mon coeur [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] 16mm/b&w; doc/80m
1983	Le jour 'S..'/S Day/'S' As in... [Jean-Pierre Lefebvre] 16mm-35bu/c
1984	E=Rock4 [Guy Simoneau] v/c; doc/53m; cph: Michel Caron & André Gagnon
1984	La terrapène [Michel Bouchard] c; short/24m; ep series 'Les petits contes cruels'
1984	Les petites cruautés [Michel Bouchard] c; short/23m; ep series 'Les petits contes cruels'
1984	Les coulisses de l'entraide [Robert Favreau & Michel Moreau] 16mm/c; doc/54m
1985	Pouvoir intime/Intimate Power/Blind Trust [Yves Simoneau] c
1985	Le déclin de l'empire américain/The Decline of the American Empire [Denys Arcand] c; addph: Jacques Leduc
1985	Cinéma, cinéma [Gilles Carle & Werner Nold] b&w-c; doc/72m
1986	Équinoxe [Arthur Lamothe] c; addph: Jérôme Dal Santo
1986	La guêpe/The Wasp/Skybolt [Gilles Carle] c
1986	Bach et bottine/Bach and Broccoli [André Melançon] c; #3 of 'Tales for All'-series
1986	Le lys cassé/Death of a Silence [André Melançon] 16mm/c; short/48m
1987	Un Zoo la nuit/Night Zoo [Jean-Claude Lauzon] 16mm/c
1987	Milk and Honey [Rebecca Yates & Glen Salzman] c
1988	Pin.../Pin: A Plastic Nightmare [Sandor Stern] c
1988	Jésus de Montréal/Jesus of Montreal [Denys Arcand] c; 2uc Montréal: Jacques Leduc
1989	Portion d'éternité/Looking for Eternity [Robert Favreau] c
1989	Moody Beach [Richard Roy] c
1991	Nelligan [Robert Favreau] c
1991	Léolo [Jean-Claude Lauzon] c; uwph: Pauline Heaton
1991	Montréal vu par... Six variations sur un même thème/Montreal Stories/Montreal Sextet [seg 'Desperanto/Let Sleeping Girls Lie' dir by Patricia Rozema] b&w-c; 6 seg; other ph: Paul Sarossy, Georges Dufaux, Pierre Mignot, Pierre Letarte, Jean Lépine & Éric Cayla
1992	Les malheureux magnifiques/The Magnificent Losers [Mireille Goulet] c; short/5m
1993	Camilla [Deepa Mehta] c
*1994*	Voices/Voices from a Locked Room [Malcolm Clarke] announced as doph, but film was ph by Lauro Escorel
*1994*	Such a Long Journey [Deepa Mehta] scheduled for December start; film was dir by Sturla Gunnarsson and ph by Jan Kiesser in 1997-98
1995	Le polygraphe [Robert Lepage] c
*1996*	A Dog of Flanders [Kevin Brodie] scheduled to start in May; prod halted; ph by Walther Vanden Ende in June 1998
1996	Joyeux calvaire/Poverty and Other Delights [Denys Arcand] c
1996	Polish Wedding [Theresa Connelly] c
1997	Nguol thùa/Tang le onzième/The Eleventh Child [Dai Sijie] c
1998	Eye of the Beholder [Stephan Elliott] c; 2uc: Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky
1999	Stardom/15 Moments [Denys Arcand] b&w-c
1999	It Was an Accident [Metin Hüseyin] c
2000	Lauzon/Lauzone [Louis Bélanger & Isabelle Hébert] DigiBeta/c; doc/98m

With dir Peter Sehr [right] - "Love the Hard Way"

2000	Love the Hard Way [Peter Sehr] c
2001	L'ange de goudron/Tar Angel [Denis Chouinard] c
*2002*	La louve/She-Wolf [Yves Simoneau] scheduled for September start; status unknown
2002	Les invasions barbares - le déclin continue/The Barbarian Invasions [Denys Arcand] s35/c
2005	Les filles du botaniste/The Chinese Botanist's Daughters [Dai Sijie] s35/c
2005	La rage de l'ange [Dan Bigras] scope/c
2006	L'âge des ténèbres/Days of Darkness [Denys Arcand] s35/c; addph: James Gray, André Turpin & Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky
2007	The Timekeeper [Louis Bélanger] scope/c
2008	The Trotsky [Jacob Tierney] scope/c; addph: Daniel Jobin
2009	Barney's Vision [Richard J. Lewis] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; ph New York: Phil Oetiker; 2uc: Alfonso Maiorana

[Right] with Jacob Tierney - "Good Neighbours"

2010	Good Neighbours/Good Neighbors/Notre-Dame-de-Grâce [Jacob Tierney] c
2010	L'appât [Yves Simoneau] HD/c
2014	The Girl King/Queen Kristina [Mika Kaurismäki] HD (scope)/c; 2uc Germany: Stefan Sosna

TELEVISION & INTERNET
1969	Landmark [prod: Julian Smither] 8-part doc series, 1970; for CBC-tv
1969	L'opération lune [Pascal Gélinas] tvm
1969	Jonquière [Fernand Dansereau] doc/b&w/28m
1973	L'amour quotidien [ep 'L'argent', 'Le beau savoir', 'Le goût de la paix', 'Faire la cour', 'L'exigence', 'La déchirure', 'Et puis après', 'L'ordre des choses', 'Vivre avec toi', etc. dir by Iolande Cadrin-Rossignol & Fernand Dansereau] 13-part (x 25m) series/16mm (1975)
1973	Les joueurs [ep 'Hasard du haut d'une perche' dir by Claude Godbout, 'Contrat d'amour' dir by Fernand Dansereau & 'Hasard' dir by Réal Tremblay] series
1978	La pêche côtière [Guy Dufaux] doc/30m; ep series 'Un pays, un goût, une manière'
1978	Une naissance apprivoisée/A Birth in the Family [ep 'Dans le ventre de ma mère', 'Je la vois, je la vois...' & 'Le neuvième mois' dir by Michel Moreau] 3-part (x 24m) doc series/16mm; co-special collab ph; ph: François Gill; filmed 1978-79; also released theatrically in 1979 (73m)
1980	L'âge de l'énergie [ep 'À la recherche de demain', 'Les choix collectifs', 'La crise du pétrole', 'Économies ou échecs', 'Géographie de l'énergie', 'L'hydro électricité: il y a des limites!', 'Le rôle de l'état', 'La route du pétrole', 'Le marché de l'énergie', 'Le pétrole d'Algérie', 'Le prix de l'énergie', 'L'énergie nucléaire' & 'Les énergies douces' dir by Aimée Danis, Jacques Gagné & Yves Plouffe] doc series; each ep 25m
1982	La vigie/Diabète [Robert Favreau] doc/25m/16mm; ep series 'Les chocs de la vie'
1982	Zigzags [ep #1 'La route des étoiles/The Ways to the Stars', #2 'Chemin faisant/The New Girl', #4 'Le beau rôle/The Best Part', #5 'Le lève-tôt/The Early Bird' & #6 'La manigance/Follow the Leader' dir by André Melançon] 6-part (x 25m) series/16mm (1984); ep #3 'Les peurs bleues/Fighting Back' ph by Michel Brault
1984	Un amour de quartier/Close Quarters [Robert Ménard] 13-part series/16mm
1986	One Police Plaza [Jerry Jameson] tvm
1987	The Return of Ben Casey [Joseph L. Scanlon] tvm
1988	C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf [William Friedkin] tvm
1989	Blanche est la nuit/Tears Behind the Wall [Johanne Prégent] tvm
1989	Un autre homme [Charles Binamé] tvm
1990	Sam & Me [Deepa Mehta] tvm
1992	Vendetta II: The New Mafia/Bride of Violence 2 [Ralph L. Thomas] 2-part tvm
1997	Platinum [Bruce McDonald] tvm/BetaSP
1999	One Special Night/A Winter Visitor [Roger Young] tvm
1999	The Great Gatsby [Robert Markowitz] tvm; uwph: Pauline Heaton
2000	Haven [John Gray] 2-part tvm/b&w-c
2001	Napoléon [Yves Simoneau] 4-part miniseries
2003	Word of Honor [Robert Markowitz] tvm; addph: Andrew Bako
2003	Bad Apple [Adam Bernstein] tvm
2004	The Wool Cap [Steven Schachter] tvm
2004	Dawn Anna [Arliss Howard] tvm
2005	Marie-Antoinette [, la véritable histoire] [Francis Leclerc & Yves Simoneau] tvm
2009	Assassin's Creed: Lineage [Yves Simoneau] HD (ARRI D-21/scope)/ c; 3-part online short ( live action + CGI)/36m; accompanied the release of the vg 'Assassin's Creed 2' and meant to fill in the back story of the game
2012	Beauty & the Beast [Yves Simoneau] pilot; for ABC-tv
2012	Betty & Coretta [Yves Simoneau] tvm
2013	Horizon [Yves Simoneau] tvm/HD
2014	The Dovekeepers [Yves Simoneau] 2-part tvm

MISCELLANEOUS
1966	30.000 employés de l'état du Québec [Aimée Danis, Guy Fournier, Jacques Gagné & Louise Ranger; doc] co-sound; ph: Claude Fournier, Daniel Fournier & René Verzier
1966	Ce soir-là, Gilles Vigneault... [Arthur Lamothe; doc] co-c.asst; ph: Jean-Claude Labrecque, Michel Brault, Claude Jutra, a.o.
1967	La visite du Général de Gaulle au Québec [Jean-Claude Labrecque; doc] co-c.asst; ph: Bernard Gosselin, Michel Brault & J-C. Labrecque
1967	Des Laurentides aux cantons de l'est [Claude Sylvestre; tv-doc] c.asst; ph: Michel Brault; ep series 'Vivre en ce pays'
1967	Un pays sans bon sens! ou Wake Up, mes bons amis!!! [Pierre Perrault] co-asst; ph: Bernard Gosselin; prod Winter 1967-Spring 1969
1968	Tiger Child/Osaka 70 [Donald Brittain; IMAX multi-screen prod] c.asst; ph: Georges Dufaux; for the Fuji Group EXPO '70 Pavilion
1971	L'Acadie, l'Acadie?!? [Michel Brault & Pierre Perrault; doc] co-c.asst; ph: Michael Brault
1976	L'eau chaude, l'eau frette/A Pacemaker and a Sidecar [André Forcier] c.asst; ph: François Gill

FILMS & TELEVISION AS DIRECTOR
197?	La clé [?] ph: Serge Chergui
1972	Une solution [+ ph] see Films
1972	Le jeu impossible [+ ph] see Films
1972	Avec crampons ou sans crampons/ Avec ou sans crampons [doc/15m/16mm] ph: Claudio Luca
1972	Le Ministère de la Consommation et des Corporations du Canada [doc/20m] ph: François Gill
1972	Le Ministère de l'Expansion économique du Canada [doc/20m] ph: François Gill
1974	Les machines à faire peur [+ ph] see Films
1974	Alpinisme [+ ph] see Films
1975	Comme une lettre à la poste/Letter Perfect [+ ph] see Films
1976	Le St-Laurent [+ ph] see Films
1978	La pêche côtière [+ ph] see Television & Internet
1978	Corridors [co-d; + co-scrpl/ph] see Films
1979	Pris au piège/Les perdants II [co-d; + cph] see Films
1981	L'équipe des grands défis [+ ph/ed] see Films
1982	Charting the Frozen Sea/Au pays des glaces [+ ph] see Films
1983	De l'autre côté de la glace [co-d; + cph] see Films