Montreal – The feature-length documentary Graver l’homme: arrêt sur Pierre Hébert (Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert), directed by Loïc Darses, will open on Sunday, May 12, at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, following its world premiere as the closing film of the Sommets du cinéma d’animation. The director will be in attendance at select screenings. At the request of the NFB’s French Animation Unit, Darses, who received acclaim for his earlier films Where the Land Ends and A Woman and Her Car, met with filmmaker, performer and visual artist Pierre Hébert. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, 35 of which were spent at the NFB, this outstanding animator has made more than 40 films, despite not being widely known to the public. Hébert is also the recipient of this year’s René Jodoin Award at the Sommets festival, taking place May 6 to 11, recognizing his exemplary work in the animation genre.
Made in the spirit of continuity and passing the baton, both distinctive features of Darses’ work, Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert is the product of an authentically human encounter between two filmmakers of different generations with unique and striking aesthetics. Darses combines a personal touch and some inspired editing to capture the epic sweep of the humble technique that is scratch-on-film animation.
About the film
Graver l’homme: arrêt sur Pierre Hébert (Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert) by Loïc Darses (75 min)
Produced by Marc Bertrand for the NFB
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/scratchesoflife
Employing an arresting black-and-white palette punctuated with animated flourishes, Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert unwinds the thread of the scratch-on-film technique, guiding us through the inspiring labyrinth of the celebrated animator’s life and work. Loïc Darses captures the imprint of an extraordinary artist who continues to create to this day, striving to share his vision of new forms of life.
Loïc Darses is a Quebec writer-director. His films include the award-winning shorts A Woman and Her Car (2015; selected for the Sundance and Rotterdam film festivals, among others) and F*ckin’ Coffin (2021). He made the striking Where the Land Ends (2019), his first documentary feature, at the NFB, where he has just completed Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert (2024), a tribute to the work of this tireless animation pioneer.