Claude Laflamme

From 1967 to 1968, Claude Laflamme studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, where he trained in sculpture, engraving, and painting. During this time, he made the poetic short film Romeo and Juliet (1968), illustrated with children’s drawings at various stages of their graphic development. He went on to produce and direct two fiction films: The Adventures of Running Shoes (1974), which received a Special Mention at the Canadian Student Film Festival, and Running Shoes Rides Again (1976). In 1980, he directed his first documentary, Les Candidats, focusing on the minor hockey industry in Quebec. Two years later, he co-directed with Georges Léonard Splash, a clandestine artistic documentary about a performance by the multidisciplinary group InterXsection, which won the Special Jury Prize at the first edition of FIFA (International Festival of Films on Art). In 1984, he teamed up again with Léonard to co-direct État 1, a documentary on a performance by Pierre Pépin and the experimental music group Sonde. The film received the ONF Creation Assistance Award at FIFA. Together with Georges Léonard, Johanne Bergeron, and Richard Pellegrin, Laflamme co-founded the production company Mouton Rose Film International. In 1986, he co-directed with Johanne Bergeron At Least... 2 Weeks of Vacation, a documentary on the Quebec Family Camps Movement (MQVF). In 1997, Mouton Rose Film International partnered with the production company Vent d’Est Films, founded by Richard Boutet and Lucille Veilleux, to coproduce La république des Beaux-Arts - La malédiction de la momie, a feature film that took ten years to complete. Presented at FIFA, the film won the Prize for Best Canadian Work. In 2003, Laflamme directed Betty Goodwin, Heart and Soul, a film about the luminous Montreal artist. Throughout his career, Claude Laflamme also collaborated on numerous Canadian and American productions, taking on various roles including assistant director, cameraman, set designer, production manager, production assistant, gaffer, and editor.