Canadian stamp stories

Canada Post has a long-standing tradition of commemorating Canadians who have made an indelible mark in the entertainment industry – most recently, such acclaimed actors as Monique Mercure and Christopher Plummer. This latest stamp issue shines the spotlight on a talent behind the camera: Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand, c.c. (b. 1941). A celebrated screenwriter and director with more than two dozen films, documentaries and television shows to his credit, Arcand started out as a documentarian for the National Film Board of Canada. Insightful and intellectually curious, he later shifted to fiction, where he found greater freedom to explore the uncomfortable realities of modern life. Arcand achieved box-office success with several multiple-award-winning movies, including Jésus de Montréal (1989) and Les invasions barbares (2003), which took home Quebec’s first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The stamp features a photo of Arcand during the filming of Le déclin de l’empire américain (1986), a biting comedy about sexual mores that garnered eight Genie Awards, was voted Best Foreign Language Film by the New York Film Critics Circle and won the International Film Critics Award at the Festival de Cannes.