Emerging in the Sixties with the rest of Quebec society from the dark ages of la survivance , Quebec cinema soon began to incite and reflect a decade of sweeping changes now known as the Quiet Revolution . Yet where cinema was concerned there was more to overcome than the inertia and limiting perspectives of a now moribund tradition.

Squarely in the path of continued development and a heightened desire for authentically quebecois films, lay a formidable movie-making apparatus that had long since addicted spectators the world over, including Quebec, to the shot/reverse shot rhythm of the classical Hollywood narrative. How well Quebec cinema has faired in the struggle to to produce and market films which continue to reflect the genius of French North America is a strong implicit theme of this international collection of essays.

Essays on Quebec Cinema weaves together the reflections of filmmakers and scholars from Canada, the United States, and Great Britain as they move to a fresh assessment of one of the most dynamic film industries in the Western Hemisphere. The contributors include renowned documentarists Pierre Perrault and Jean-Pierre Lefebvre, and critic/teachers Paul Warren, Janis Pallister, Esther Pelletier and Richard Vernier. A bibliography of three dozen Quebec filmmakers and critics concludes this important collection.