Rock Demers

Rock Demers was one of the most successful film producers in Canada Known for his series of childrens films Demers grew up in the pastoral area of SainteCecile de Levrard Qubec and spoke to Northernstars contributor Maurie Alioff for a detailed article in a 1987 issue of Cinema Canada magazine His father was a farmer his mother a teacher He told Alioff that he remembered his father in barns and stables telling fairy tales and fables like emLe Petit chaperon rougeem and emBarbe Bleueem He remembered getting hooked early on adventure novels and watching his first film emV for Victoryem on the floor of the parish hall Eventually even before there was electricty in the village his father bought a radio so that the day the lines were connected the family was ready Like everyone else in Qubec at the time they immediately became eager devotees of emUn Homme et son peche A Man and His Sinem He did not see his first movie until he was 10 but by his late teens he had the film fever that was just beginning to take hold of people It was an exhilarating naive time Great films were being made by people like a hrefhttpswwwnorthernstarscagillesgroulxGilles Groulxa a hrefhttpswwwnorthernstarscalipsettarthurArthur Lipsetta a hrefhttpswwwnorthernstarscabraultmichelMichel Braulta and a hrefhttpswwwnorthernstarscamclarennormanNorman McLarena Magic foreign names were imprinting themselves forever on peoples consciousnesses Alain Resnais Franois Truffaut and Godard Demers recalled and Kobayashi Bonderchuk and Fritz Lang and John Ford they all came to Montreal in those years He had traveled when he was young and returned to Qubec in 1960 and was almost immediately offered a job with the original now forgotten Montreal Film Festival that ran until 1967 Film writer Marc Gervais once called Demers one of the major architects of Canadas new success a success based on experience and professionalism Honey Dresher a media consultant and a director of the Societe generale du cinema du Qubec when Demerss production company was picking up steam said he had an ontime idea in a propitious environment Demers idea was to concentrate on films for the very young As stated in the article Demers had an absolute conviction that Canadian films must specialize He believed that 97 of emLa Guerre des tuquessem penetration of foreign markets was due to the fact that its a childrens film Lets face it he argued Its so goddamn difficult to bring people into the theatres especially when from the pointofview of people in foreign markets you have noname stars noname directors noname producers a noname country a hrefhttpswwwnorthernstarscacantinrogerRoger Cantina coscreenwriter of emLa Guerreem saw Demers as someone who had really created something interesting and as a kind of locomotive pulling everybody into his idea and the path hes following Thats the quality you need to be a good producer Northernstars began plans to produce an oncamera feature interview with Demers just as the COVID19 pandemic hit He was to be interviewed by Maurie Alioff in Montreal We deeply regret that we lost that chance and are saddened by the passing of this important Canadian filmmaker whose work had been recognized with 160 awards He was given the prix AlbertTessier by the Government of Qubec the prix FranoisTruffaut by the Giffoni Film Festival and was an Officer of the Order of Canada which was elevated to a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2008 His son Jean released the information that Demers had died at the Iinstitut de cardiologie de Montral He was 87 We list his credits as a Producer