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UNIQUELY VIOLA AVAILABLE FREE AT NFB.CA AS OF THURSDAY, MARCH 2. Rodolphe Caron’s feature doc celebrates long career of acclaimed actor who embodied “La Sagouine”.

PRESS RELEASE
01/03/2017

March 1, 2017 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Rodolphe Caron’s feature documentary Uniquely Viola will be available for free streaming at NFB.ca starting Thursday, March 2, the day after its Quebec premiere at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois festival (RVCQ). This intimate portrait of actor Viola Léger, renowned for her performances as “La Sagouine,” will also be available to purchase via download-to-own on the same date. Uniquely Viola was produced at the NFB by Jac Gautreau and Maryse Chapdelaine of the Canadian Francophonie Studio-Acadie, with Dominic Desjardins as executive producer, and with the collaboration of Radio-Canada.

Uniquely Viola by Rodolphe Caron (75 min, 30 s)

Viola Léger has been embodying La Sagouine, the famous character from Antonine Maillet’s eponymous 1971 play, for over 40 years. She has delivered the play’s monologues more than 2,500 times. While rummaging through her keepsakes, Léger fondly looks back on her career and the passion that fuels her even today. With equal parts humour, kindness and gentleness, her memories flow: recollections about her father and about becoming a nun, working as a teacher and discovering her passion for theatre, her friendship with Antonine Maillet, touring with the play and working in the Senate.

Uniquely Viola had its world premiere as the opening night film at the 2016 Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA) in 2016. It screens at the RVCQ on Wednesday, March 1, at 8 p.m., with director Rodolphe Caron in attendance. The film is in competition for the festival’s best Franco-Canadian film award. Previously, it aired nationally on Sunday, February 26, on ICI Radio-Canada Télé.

About the director

Rodolphe Caron is an award-winning activist filmmaker with more than a dozen short, medium and feature-length documentaries under his belt. In addition to co-founding Productions Appalaches, he served as president of the FRIC, the French-language Canadian independent filmmakers’ coalition. In 2006, his film Léonard Forest, cinéaste et poète won Best Acadian Work at the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie as well as Best NB Documentary at the Silver Wave Film Festival. From 2008 to 2012, Caron directed Marie Hélène Allain Speaking with Stone, For the Cause and René Derouin, artiste de la nordicité. He then followed up with the short film Viola Léger, Together and Une expérience pour la vie. Uniquely Viola is his most recent film.

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Associated Links

Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois

Radio-Canada

Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie

ICI Radio-Canada Télé

Media Relations

  • About the NFB

    Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of distinctive, engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 6,500 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.