Denys Arcand and Michel Brault, Quebec?s two most influential filmmakers discussed their shared history with the National Film Board, differences between documentary and fictional films, and personal anecdotes before an enthusiastic crowd at the ROM on Thursday.

Several French Canadian filmmakers were in attendance, and at least one was truly inspired by the discussion.

?I?m a French Canadian who came here to study at York University thinking I needed to speak English to make films, but I realized most of my favourite films are actually from Quebec, so I wanted to hear them talk,? said Gabrielle Nadeau. ?They were very inspiring, Michel Brault amazed me.  He?s done so much.  He is Canadian film really.  All the films I studied in film school, he did half of them, and Denys Arcand did most of the rest.?

?Because of this talk I know what I want to do now for my next film.  I know I need to do more research, it was really inspiring how Denys said he approaches a subject when making a documentary: you just start shooting.  In fiction you need to do a lot of research.  So that?s what I need to do.?

André Loiselle, author of Cinema as History: Michel Brault and Modern Quebec moderated the discussion.   Loiselle, a self-confessed academic, steered the discussion towards the influence of both filmmakers? early days as documentarians on the highly-revered fictional films both men created later in their lives including Les Ordres, Les Bon Debarras and Gina.

?With documentaries you become very aware of reality, immersed in it,? said Arcand, ?reality is multi-faceted, it depends on who you are and what you want to do.?  He then described an unforgettable moment in his life.  He was sitting in a motel with Brault watching a hockey game when the ?gorgeous wife? of the owner could be seen changing in the next room. ?She?s sitting there in her underwear and I?m thinking: this is the beginning of my film.?  It?s a moment he could never have captured naturally, ?sometimes you need fiction because things just won?t happen in the documentary.?

Asked what the difference is between working with a documentary subject and an actor, Brault said ?With an actor it?s complicity, but with a documentary there must be very little interaction, you must let them unfold themselves.?

?A fundamental element that applies to both is trust,? added Arcand.  ?In my work there?s not a whole lot of differnece between making a documentary and a feature film.  I will start by reading everything I can about my subject. Then I will talk to experts, psychologists at universities, whatever.  I gather a huge theoretical apparatus about what I will be doing.  If it is a documentary I go out and start shooting.  If it?s fiction I?ll go and talk to people, and write it down and try to recreate that on film.  With a documentary you?re shooting before you?re writing.  I?m trying to portray reality, I can do this with actors and scripts and everything, or I can do it raw.?

Denys Arcand.