Making Movie History: Roger Racine

The term “pioneer” has rarely been so appropriate: Roger Racine was the first francophone cinematographer at the NFB, the first French Canadian to direct photography on a feature film, and a member of the very first TV crew at Radio-Canada. Hired by John Grierson in 1942, Racine would assist cinematographer Boris Kaufman, a newly arrived refugee from occupied France. Noted for his masterful work on Jean Vigo’s < (1934), Kaufman would influence Racine’s early work on < (1949) and La petite Aurore l’enfant martyre< (1951)—feature films released during the ultra-conservative Duplessis years. Racine worked as a director at Radio-Canada from 1952 to 1964, and went on to found his own production company, Cinéfilms, now run by his son Christian.