Canada issues stamp for filmmaker Denys Arcand

By Molly Goad

Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand, writer and director of more than 24 films, television shows and documentaries, appears on a new stamp from Canada Post issued June 27.

Born in Quebec in 1941, Arcand’s storied 60-year career has many highlights. Dubbed “one of Quebec’s most politically aware filmmakers” by IMDb.com, Internet Movie Database.

Arcand studied history at the University of Montreal, where he co-directed and co-wrote Seul ou avec d’autres (Alone or With Others), released in 1962.

He joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1963 as a documentarian, where his reputation for pushing boundaries grew. In fact, his 1970 feature-length documentary on the textile industry, On est au coton (Cotton Mill, Treadmill), was so controversial that the National Film Board waited six years before releasing it.

Later, Arcand moved into fiction, achieving success with the 1986 comedy Le declin de l’empire americain (The Decline of The American Empire), the first Canadian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film.

That success catapulted the filmmaker forward with films such as Jesus de Montreal (Jesus of Montreal) in 1989, winner of the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival; and Les invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions) in 2003, Academy Award winner for best foreign language film — the first for Canada.

He also directed the English-language films Love and Human Remains (1993) and Stardom (2000).

Arcand received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 1995 and was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2004. He continues to direct today.

The stamp features a black-and-white photograph by Bertand Carriere of Arcand behind the camera during the filming of The Decline of The American Empire.

In place of the denomination, the stamp has a “P” inside a symbolic maple leaf, indicating that it pays the permanent rate (currently 92¢).

The stamp is available in booklets of six. The quantity printed was 130,000 booklets, and the Canada Post ordering number is 414228111.

Canada Post produced 7,000 first-day covers for the stamp, canceled with a director’s chair image in Deschambault, Quebec, where Arcand spent his childhood. The FDC product number is 414228131.

Both products were created by the graphic design firm Paprika and printed by Lowe-Martin. The stamp was printed by four-color lithography.

Canada Post stamps and related items are available online. Stamps and FDCs are available by mail order from Canada Post Customer Service, Box 90022, 2701 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, ON K1V 1J8 Canada; or by telephone from the United States or Canada at 800-565-4362, and from other countries at 902-863-6550.

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