Carol-Lynne Traynor stars in Caroline, one of the many National Film Board of Canada movies used to create The Memories of Angels, Luc Bourdon's homage to Montreal. (NFB)

Montreal filmmaker Luc Bourdon acknowledges his new feature isn’t easy to describe. “It’s a UFO, this thing,” he says. “It’s not a fiction. It’s not really a documentary. There was no shooting. And it’s nothing like the National Film Board has done before.”

The “thing” he’s referring to is his time travelogue The Memories of Angels, a hypnotic montage of NFB clips from the 1950s and ’60s, generally regarded as the film board’s golden age. A visual artist by training, Bourdon culled his first feature-length picture from over 120 classic films in the NFB vault, including works by master filmmakers like Michel Brault, Claude Jutra, Gilles Groulx, Denys Arcand and Arthur Lipsett. Edited together, these clips form the basis of a stream-of-consciousness exploration of Montreal.

While the footage has been digitized from the library’s original sources, the images are pristine. Indeed, Memories of Angels is so beautiful it begs to be seen on the big screen.

Bourdon says the creative spark for Memories came about 15 years ago, during a conversation he had with film producer Colette Loumèd. They talked about producing a documentary film made entirely from other movies. Bourdon thought nothing more of it until 2005, when Loumèd brought it up again and suggested he proceed.

A Montreal Canadiens hockey game from Un jeu si simple by Gilles Groulx, as seen in The Memories of Angels. (NFB)

Initially, Bourdon’s mandate was very broad. “As I looked at the NFB archival footage and did my research, I realized the NFB films had a culture of their own. After eight months, I put together a script and began working on the editing,” Bourdon says. He liked the idea of focusing on images of Montreal, the city in which he lives, as well as the location of NFB headquarters. Working with editor Michel Giroux, Bourdon set about making a short teaser. “I knew we needed a test, so we made a 30-minute version of the film, which put forth our general idea.”

He then invited several NFB executives to a screening. “I didn’t know what to expect, but they were extremely enthusiastic and said we must expand it and complete it.”

While poring over all that vintage material, Bourdon says Montreal emerged as an obvious focus. “When I watched the [NFB] films, I knew that I could not find an actor who could drive [my] film from A to Z. I decided that the city would be the central character,'' he says. "There were a number of rules that the editor and I agreed upon. We wanted to avoid films that were already really well known. I didn’t want to take films that people would instantly recognize — this was not meant as an anthology.”

Bourdon likens the editing process, which became extremely complex, to “taking 200 boxes of puzzles, throwing them out on the floor and then trying to make a new puzzle out of all of them.” Not only are all the visuals in The Memories of Angels recycled, so are the sounds. Bourdon says he even wanted the opening credits to be recast from old films, but that proved too difficult. “We ended up making new opening credits, but they are done in the spirit of old NFB films.”

The Memories of Angels not only highlights Montreal’s magnificent architecture, it showcases the music of native Montrealers Oscar Peterson and Monique Mercure, some fiery political speeches (including one by one-time Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau), shots of ordinary Montrealers coping with extreme weather and a collection of closeups of faces both famous (like Genevieve Bujold and Paul Anka) and not. “There’s a strong sense of humanity when you simply look at the face. I wanted parts [of the film] to be political, parts to be musical, another part to be intimate, some of it musical and other parts silent.”

The legendary sign above Dunn's Famous Smoked Meat makes a cameo appearance in The Memories of Angels. (NFB)

Despite the film’s title and its vintage sources, Bourdon says he did not envisage it as pure nostalgia. “I really intended the film to be fun. We had so much fun making it — we played like children. I love looking back at this time, but I don’t long for it. For any of the hardships [associated with that period], I’m extremely happy [to be] living in 2008.”

Bourdon concedes that his film works as an ode to the NFB, which, coincidentally, celebrates its 70th birthday next year.

“I think part of the result of this film is that it gives people confidence in the [National Film Board]. It’s the right time, just before their birthday, to celebrate their collected work. It helps to valorize their mandate. They exist for a reason and they must continue to exist. This film wasn’t made specifically for that reason, but the timing did work out perfectly.”

The Memories of Angels screens at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal on Oct. 10, Oct. 12 and Oct. 19.

Matthew Hays is a writer based in Montreal.