HISTORY

Ça Tourne Productions was founded in 1996 by scriptwriter/director Renée Blanchar and cinematographer/director Didier Maigret. Its head office was located in Caraquet, New Brunswick, on what’s known as the province’s Acadian Peninsula.

On a tué l’Enfant-Jésus

Starting in 2004, after a few forays into the world of advertising and corporate video, the company turned to author documentaries and fiction. Its mission was to produce films that appealed to local and international audiences alike.

From 2006 to 2012, Maigret oversaw the company as Blanchar devoted herself entirely to the BELLE-BAIE television series, of which she was the creative force, principal screenwriter and director. This co-production between Acadia and Quebec brought together Phare-Est Médias and Cirrus Communications (now Attraction Images). The adventure spanned nearly six years.

In 2012, after completing a documentary on sculptor André Lapointe, which the latter self-produced with Ça Tourne Productions, Maigret left the company. Blanchar remained president. From 2012 to 2014, Ça Tourne Productions was inactive. Meanwhile, Blanchar developed a number of other projects, including a new television series and a feature-length documentary, Les héritiers du club, which she directed with the National Film Board.

It was through that project that she met Maryse Chapdelaine, then a producer at the NFB’s Studio Acadie. For both of them, producing the documentary proved to be a rewarding adventure. Their shared desire to continue their new professional collaboration quickly became a reality. After 28 years of service with the NFB, where she held a number of production-related positions, Chapdelaine retired from the NFB at the end of March 2015 to continue working in production, but independently. She joined Blanchar at the helm of Ça Tourne Productions in April 2015.