In 1992, Bernard Émond enters the cinema industry through documentary with Ceux qui ont le pas léger meurent sans laisser de traces a film about solitary man in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. An anthropologist by training and a sensitive humanist, Émond documents in his films the dissolution of benchmarks and the loss of ethical values in a changing world.
He directors four other documentary films, — L’épreuve du feu (1997) and Le temps et le lieu (2000), produced by Coop Vidéo de Montréal — before making La femme qui boit (2001), a work of fiction that will impose his signature as one of the most recognizable and consistent in Quebec cinema.
La femme qui boit and 20h17, rue Darling (2003) were selected at the Semaine de la critique de Cannes, whereas La neuvaine (2005), Contre toute espérance (2007) and La donation (2009), that make a tilogy about faith, hope and charity, had their world premiere at the official selection of Locarno Festival, where they won many prices. His more recent feature length films are Le journal d’un vieil homme (2015) and Pour vivre ici (2017). Throughout his work, Bernard Émond has hundreds of selections in festivals and more than sixty prices and nominations, including prix Genie and un prix Jutra for the script of Ce qu’il faut pour vivre (2008), directed by Benoît Pilon. Bernard Émond also wrote two books of essays published by Lux Éditeur Il y a trop d’images (2011) and Camarade, ferme ton poste (2017).
Ceux qui ont le pas léger meurent sans laisser de traces, 50 min, Documentary, 1992
L’Instant et la Patience, 52 min, Documentary, 1994
La Terre des autres, 49 min, Documentary, 1995
L’Épreuve du feu, 49 min, Documentary, 1997
Le Temps et le lieu, 50 min, Documentary, 2000
The Woman Who Drinks, 90 min, Drama, 2001
8:17 p.m. Darling Street, 101 min, Drama, 2003
The Novena, 97 min, Drama, 2005
Summit Circle, 88 min, Drama, 2007
The Legacy, 96 min, Drama, 2009
All That You Possess, 91 min, Drama, 2012
The Diary of an Old Man, 82 min, Drama, 2015
A Place to Live, 90 min, Drama, 2018
A Respectable Woman, 103 min, Drama, 2023