Claude Jutra Biography

Claude Jutra is the filmmaker who wrote and directed Mon Oncle Antoine (1971), considered by many critics to be the best Canadian movie ever made. Jutra got started in filmmaking as a teenager and his early career was marked by winning awards and prizes in Canada and Europe for documentaries, short films and features, including A Chairy Tale (1957), Le Niger — Jeune Republique (1961), A tous prendre/Take It All (1963) and Comment Savoir (1966). His acknowledged masterpiece, the coming of age story Mon Oncle Antoine, won eight Canadian Film Awards, including best picture and best director. His next several films were not financially successful, and in the 1980s he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In November of 1986 he disappeared. In March of 1987 his body was found in the St. Lawrence River, and his death was regarded as a suicide.