Rock Demers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 11, 1933 Sainte-Cécile-de-Lévrard, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | August 17, 2021 (aged 87) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Awards | Order of Canada Governor General's Performing Arts Award |
Rock Demers, CC (December 11, 1933 – August 17, 2021) was a Canadian film producer. He was the founder of the film company Les Productions la Fête and produced the Tales for All film series for children.
Demers was born in Sainte-Cécile-de-Lévrard, Quebec, on December 11, 1933.[1] He was raised in rural Quebec,[2] and described his childhood as "very poor, but very happy".[3] He initially studied to become a teacher, before obtaining a diploma in audio-visual technology at the École Normale de St. Cloud in Paris. He then travelled around Europe and Asia for two years, during which he became acquainted with Vojta Jasny, Břetislav Pojar, and Krzysztof Zanussi.[2]
After returning to Canada, Demers started his career in the film industry. He began with film distribution in 1960, before becoming manager of the Montreal World Film Festival two years later, serving in that capacity until 1967.[1][3] He co-established the Cinémathèque québécoise in 1963 and started Faroun Films in 1965.[3] Initially focusing on the distribution of children's films, the latter company eventually expanded to art and experimental film as well as production.[1] Demers left Faroun Films in 1978,[3] one year after being appointed president, and later director general, of the Institut Québécois du Cinéma (IQC).[1]
Demers quit the IQC in June 1979 and went on to create Les Productions la Fête the following year.[1] Now able to produce his own films, he developed the Tales for All (Contes pour tous) film series. He envisioned twelve films and had already commissioned scripts for eight of them prior to the commencement of filming for the first.[2] The first film in the series, The Dog Who Stopped the War (La guerre des tuques), was influenced by an article that Demers read in La Presse covering youth suicide.[4] The films were eventually co-produced overseas,[1][2] and translated into other languages. The series ultimately had 24 feature films, with the last (The Outlaw League) being released in 2014.[4]
Demers was awarded the Albert Tessier Prize in 1987 by the government of Quebec.[2] He was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in November 1991, before being promoted to companion in May 2007.[5] He received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in 1998.[6] Demers was also conferred the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, as well as the Giffoni Film Festival's François Truffaut Award.[3]
Demers sold Les Productions la Fête to director Dominic James in 2015.[3][7] He died shortly after midnight on August 17, 2021, at the Montreal Heart Institute. He was 87, and suffered from heart failure complications prior to his death.[3][8]
