The National Film Board of Canada is set to release the DVD box set Jacques Drouin: Complete Pinscreen Works on December 2, 2009. Drouin’s is known for creating beautiful shorts using the Alexeïeff-Parker pinscreen. The box set will be launched at a tribute to Jacques Drouin at the Sommets du cinéma d’animation, at the Cinémathèque québécoise, on Saturday, December 5 at 5 p.m. The event will include a screening of the documentary portrait Jacques Drouin en relief, by Guillaume Fortin.
“Jacques Drouin is a major figure in NFB history,†said Julie Roy, producer of the box set. “For three decades, he was the only filmmaker in the world who was working with the pinscreen, the incredible “dream machine†invented around 1930 by the Russian-born French filmmaker Alexander Alexeïeff. With his high-quality oeuvre, constant experimentation and eminently personal vision, Drouin proved that the pinscreen could express the imagination of people other than its inventor.â€
The box set brings together the six animated shorts Drouin made at the NFB, including his now classic Mindscape (1976), all digitally restored for the collection created to preserve significant film works for the collective memory. Bonus features include four student films, two trailers and several animated sequences with the director’s commentary, as well as Jacques Drouin in Relief. Made specially for the box set, this documentary portrait offers new insights into the work of an outstanding artist. Complementing the films is a bilingual booklet containing essays by animation experts, Drouin’s notes and other invaluable archival documents.
A National Film Board of Canada production, the box set Jacques Drouin: Complete Pinscreen Works goes on sale at the NFB’s online store on December 2, 2009. It can by purchased by phoning 1‑800‑287‑7710 or visiting the website www.nfb.ca/boutique.
