Les raquetteurs is a 1958 Direct Cinema documentary film co-directed by Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx.
The film is notable for helping to establish the then-nascent French language production unit at the National Film Board of Canada, and more importantly, the development of a uniquely Quebec style of direct cinema.
[1] The film incorporates agile camera work and a largely synchronous soundtrack, uninterrupted by any narration, in keeping with the ethos of direct cinema to avoid any imposed "truth" on events onscreen.
[2] Grant McLean, then head of production for the NFB, had been angry that what was to have been a three-minute vignette had quadrupled in length and ordered the film to be used for stock footage.
However, NFB producers Tom Daly and Guy Glover interceded on the young filmmakers' behalf.