Éric Rancourt was born in Sherbrooke in 1968. He survived highschool thanks to art, into which he exiled himself. It was there where he made his super 8 film, Good News for the Pessimists, as well as his first video, Visages, which was broadcast by Radio-Quebec and which was rewarded the first prize in a competitive exhibition entitled L'Enjeu video. From 1985 to 1988, Éric Rancourt gave up film and video to study graphics at Sherbrooke College. After that, he travelled with a video camera to Central America where, for two years, he lived. Upon his return, he moved to Vancouver, where from 1992 to 1996, he returned to his first love and studied film and video at the Emily Carr Institute of Arts and Design.