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Claude Demers - Wikipedia

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Claude Demers (born March 10, 1962) is a Canadian filmmaker from Montreal, Quebec.[1] He is most noted for his series of documentary films that were indirectly inspired by, or directly about, his experiences as an adoptee.

The birth son of an Italian Canadian father and a québécois mother, he was placed for adoption in infancy.

He directed a number of short films before releasing his feature debut, The Invention of Love (L'Invention de l'amour), in 2000.[2] He began his foray into documentary films inspired by his birth heritage in 2006 with Barbers: A Men's Story (Barbiers, Une histoire d'hommes), a film about the culture of Italian Canadian barbers in Montreal;[3] he followed up in 2009 with Ladies in Blue (Les dames en bleu), a film about women of his birth mother's generation who idolized pop chansonnier Michel Louvain.[4]

Where I'm From (D'ou je viens), released in 2014, began a series of much more personal films that more directly confronted his own experiences as an adoptee.[5] This series continued in 2019 with A Woman, My Mother (Une femme, ma mère), which addressed some of the unanswered questions he still had about his birth mother's life,[6] and in 2024 with Diary of a Father (Journal d'un père), which addressed the impact of both his birth and adoptive fathers on his own sense of fatherhood as parent to a daughter he cannot see as often as he would like, as she lives in another country with her mother.[7]

  • The Invention of Love (L'Invention de l'amour) - 2000
  • Barbers: A Men's Story (Barbiers, Une histoire d'hommes) - 2006
  • Ladies in Blue (Les dames en bleu) - 2009
  • Where I'm From (D'ou je viens) - 2014
  • My Last Summer (Mon dernier été) - 2016
  • A Woman, My Mother (Une femme, ma mère) - 2019
  • Diary of a Father (Journal d'un père) - 2023
  1. ^ Frédéric Bouchard, "Claude Demers privilégie une approche dépouillée et évocatrice pour « Mon dernier été »". Qui Fait Quoi, February 24, 2017.
  2. ^ Charles-Henri Ramond, "Invention de l’amour, L’ – Film de Claude Demers". Films du Québec, January 13, 2009.
  3. ^ Gérard Grugeau, "La vita è bella: Barbiers — une histoire d’hommes de Claude Demers". 24 images, No. 127 (June-July 2006). p. 57.
  4. ^ Jean-Christophe Laurence, "Les dames en bleu : «On t'aime, Michel!» ". La Presse, October 7, 2009.
  5. ^ Kelly, Brendan (December 22, 2014). "Claude Demers gets very personal in new documentary set in Verdun". Montreal Gazette.
  6. ^ Dina Lobo, "Movies with Mom: Claude Demers on ‘A Woman, My Mother’". Point of View, June 6, 2020.
  7. ^ "Paul-Claude Demers : après la quête de la mère, endosser le rôle de père". Ici Radio-Canada Première, June 3, 2024.
  8. ^ "Films about Montreal massacre, real-life IRA mole garner Genie nominations". Canadian Press, March 1, 2010.
  9. ^ Brent Furdyk (March 30, 2021). "Canadian Screen Awards Announces 2021 Film Nominations". ET Canada. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021.
  10. ^ "Palmarès de la 22e édition des Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)". CTVM.info (in French). November 24, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2022.