Gilles Blais, the Quebec filmmaker behind such National Film Board of Canada (NFB) documentaries as The Engagement and Le grand silence, has died at the age of 84.

Blais (pictured left), who died on Oct. 17, spent 30 years making films with the NFB, joining the Crown corporation in 1965. His first projects with the NFB included the experimental film In the Labyrinth, commissioned for Expo 67, and 1968’s Beluga Days, for which he served as an assistant cameraman.

Among the first docs he helmed for the NFB were 1971’s The Netsilik Eskimo Today and the environmental short Water, Water Everywhere. As his filmmaking career progressed, he continued to operate in an “observational” style, rarely imposing upon the action being documented.

Prominent works included 1981’s The Followers, which chronicled the stories of young Quebec devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness; and 1994’s The Engagement, often considered his most important film, which followed a troupe of intellectually challenged performers who travel to France to stage a theatre production. The cinéma vérité project took the prize for Best Social Issue Documentary at Hot Docs that year.

“He will be remembered as a thoughtful filmmaker who was deeply attentive to his subjects and known and appreciated for his great respect and patience,” said Suzanne Guèvremont, government film commissioner and chairperson of the NFB, in a statement. “These qualities made him a remarkable director.”

This story previously appeared in Realscreen

Image courtesy of NFB