André Gladu

Filmmaker André Gladu has had a remarkable career highlighting Québec’s oral heritage and that of francophones in the Americas. He’s passionate about ethnology, using the medium of documentary film to open the world up and see how it fits together.

He attended École des beaux-arts de Montréal, studied design at the London College of Printing, and then went to Columbia University for film studies. He has produced an impressive number of ethnographic films, many of which have won awards at national and international festivals.

His best-known work, The Sound of the French People of America with codirector Michel Brault, was entered in UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register in 2017. It’s an ethnographic work that manages to be partisan, personal, and full of joie de vivre all at once, ringing out with the voices, accents, and music of the bearers of Québécois, Acadian, Louisianais, Franco-American, Creole, and Métis tradition, bearing witness to a living memory and continent-wide presence.

Recognition for his career has not been lacking, from his 2009 induction into Ordre des francophones d’Amérique to the UNESCO’s 70th Anniversary Medal and Prix du Québec’s Prix Albert-Tessier in 2018, and beyond. All honouring his contributions to Québec cinema.

His work is an outstanding legacy for future generations. He’s also credited, together with Université du Québec à Montréal, with establishing Québec’s first crop of traditional music festivals, allowing an entire generation of urban young people to reclaim their culture.

In the course of his long career, André Gladu has established numerous ties with academic and research institutions. He has spoken at many conferences in Canada and internationally. Since the 1970s he has worked closely with many of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences researchers at Université Laval’s Archives de folklore et d’ethnologie and Centre de recherche Cultures·Arts·Sociétés (CELAT). His films, often inspired by ethnological research, have drawn attention to Université Laval’s work in the field.

Université Laval awards an Honorary Doctorate in Ethnology and Heritage to André Gladu in recognition of his outstanding career and key contributions to La Francophonie in North America.