Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Editor

(b. May 19, 1919 Ottawa, Ontario - d. August 17, 1966 Montreal, Quebec)

In his book One Hundred Years of Canadian Cinema, George Melnyk states that "Jean-Yves Bigras... signalled the inauguration of Quebec directorial talent." Perhaps most famous as the director of several post-Second World War Quebec features – including the notorious La Petite Aurore l'enfant martyre (1952) – Bigras was one of the first French Canadians hired by the National Film Board and one of the first directors for television.

Following studies in engineering and work in radio, Bigras joined the RCAF in 1939, and in 1942 was hired by the NFB as one of six filmmakers from Quebec working under the supervision of Jean Palardy in the “French Unit.” There he was responsible for the newsreel series Les Reportages, though he also directed some thirty documentaries or French-language versions before he left the NFB in 1948. In 1947 he assisted director Leslie McFarlane and edited The Boy Who Stopped Niagara, a film that began his continuing interest in producing films and television programmes for children.

In 1948, he joined Rennaissance Éducationnel (a.k.a. Coin des Enfants), a section of Renaissance Films designed to produce educational films and records for children, and in 1949 became director of production and second unit director for Le Gros Bill, the first feature produced by Renaissance. Between 1949 and 1953 he directed three features: Les Lumières de ma ville (1950), La Petite Aurore l'enfant martyre and L'Esprit du mal (1954). He also produced educational radio programmes. In 1953, he joined Radio-Canada as a television director, where he directed many dramas, but was perhaps best known as co-director of “Images en boîte” and since 1962 as one of the hosts of “Images en tête” (a series about 8mm filmmaking aimed at adolescents).

Film and video work includes

Reportages nº 29, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 31, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 32, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 33, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 34, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 35, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 36, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 37, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 38, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 39, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 42, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 43, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 46, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 47, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 49, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 50, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 51, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 52, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 53, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 54, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Reportages nº 55, Les Reportages series, 1943 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Le Droit au travail, 1944 (writer; editor)
Reportages nº 56, Les Reportages series, 1944 (co-editor with Vincent Paquette)
Essouchement a.k.a. Reportages nº 115, Les Reportages series, 1945 (co-director and co-writer with Jacques Brunet)
Fashions by Canada, Canada Carries On series, 1946 (producer)
Science Goes Fishing, Canada Carries On series, 1946 (producer)
The Boy Who Stopped Niagara, 1947 (editor)
Le Gros Bill, 1949 (co-director with René Delacroix)
Rhotomago le diablotin, 1949 (producer)
Les Lumières de ma ville, 1950 (director; co-writer with Roger Garand, Rudel Tessier; producer; editor)
L'Esprit du mal, 1953 (director)
Images en boîte, 1954 (director)
Merveille rurale, 1955 (producer)
Radisson, 1957-1958 (series producer; TV)
The Modern Prospector, 1958 (director)
Images en tête series, 1962-1966 (director; co-host with Pierre Nadeau, Gilles Moreau, Michel Garneau; TV)
Le Médecin vétérinaire, sa formation, sa profession, 1962 (producer)