Gilles Blais

Gilles Blais (1941 – October 17, 2025) was a Canadian documentary filmmaker and cinematographer from Quebec, most noted for his long career with the National Film Board of Canada.

Background Born in Rimouski and raised in the then-outlying village of Le Bic, he began his career as an assistant cameraman on the 1967 film In the Labyrinth.

He was subsequently an assistant director on Jean Pierre Lefebvre's Straight to the Heart (Jusqu'au cœur), Throughout this time, he also worked as a cinematographer on work by other directors, helped to set up a video production unit in Tunisia, and shot several films on human settlement and development for the United Nations. He followed up in 1984 with Les Illusions tranquilles, a reflection on the political divide between youth and adult citizens of Quebec through the lens of a municipal election in his hometown.

In 1991, he directed the docudrama Joseph K.: The Numbered Man (Joseph K.: L'homme numéroté). The film was the winner of the Grand Prix Hydro-Québec at the 1993 Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival.

Le Grand silence, released in 1997, was his final film for the National Film Board before his retirement. He continued to work in the private sector as a cinematographer, receiving a Gemini Award nomination for Best Photography in an Information Program or Series at the 16th Gemini Awards in 2001 for his work on the documentary television series Her Money.

He returned to filmmaking in 2005 with Conventum, a documentary about the 50th anniversary of the Quiet Revolution.

Death He died at his home in Val-David on October 17, 2025, at the age of 84.