Legendary cinéma vérité filmmakers Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault were attracted to Île-aux-Coudres for two reasons: the language of the people who lived on this small island in St. Lawrence and the whales. For centuries, the fishermen of Île-aux-Coudres had caught belugas. The souls of the dead were invoked for a successful catch, and a unique technique was used: the men sank a trap of saplings into offshore mud at low tide to capture the white whale, a tradition that was abandoned in 1920.
- Cannes Film Festival (1963)
Pierre Perrault (1927 – 1999)
Twenty films between 1963 and 1996. He was one of the most important filmmakers in Canada. In 1994 he was awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier. Pour la suite du monde (1963), The Times that Are (Le Règne du jour) (1967), and The River Schooners (Les Voitures d'eau) (1968) make up his critically acclaimed L'Isle-aux-Coudres Trilogy.
Michel Brault (1928 – 2013)
He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the National Film Board of Canada in the 1960s. Cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer, Brault was a pioneer of the hand-held camera aesthetic.