Jean-Claude Labrecque, CM CQ (June 19, 1938 – May 31, 2019) was a director and cinematographer who learned the basics of filmmaking at the National Film Board of Canada.
As a cinematographer, he shot many of the early key films of Claude Jutra (À tout prendre), Michel Brault (Entre la mer et l’eau douce), Gilles Carle (La vie heureuse de Léopold Z), Gilles Groulx (Le Chat dans le sac) and Don Owen (Notes for a Film About Donna and Gail, The Ernie Game).
He turned to directing in 1965 with 60 Cycles, about a long-distance bike race on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River, which has been described as a virtual encyclopedia of camera techniques.
Throughout his lengthy career, Jean-Claude Labrecque’s interests focused on matters of concern to the Québécois people, whether in sports, culture or politics.
His better-known films include La Visite du Général de Gaulle au Québec (where he captured on film the infamous 'Vive le Québec libre!’ outburst by French President Charles de Gaulle), Games of the XXI Olympiad and his second feature, Les Vautours, an eloquent and charming personal meditation on the birth of a generation, considered by critics to be his best film.