Online cinema
Circo
Lamia Chraibi
In Rio de Janeiro, Richard dreams of dazzling audiences in the world’s biggest circus tents. But when the 20-year-old artist is kicked out of his home by his adoptive mother, his life is turned upside down. Through an intimate, direct cinema approach, Circo immerses us in the lives of residents of Brazil’s favelas as they seek to shape their own futures.
Cielo
Alison McAlpine
Cielo is a cinematic reverie on the crazy beauty of the night sky, as experienced in the Atacama Desert, Chile, one of the best places on our planet to explore and contemplate its splendour. Planet Hunters in the Atacama’s astronomical observatories and the desert dwellers who work the land and sea share their evocative visions of the stars and planets, their mythic stories and existential queries.A love poem for the night sky, Cielo transports us to a space, quiet and calm, within which we can ponder the infinite and unknown.
Le pays interdit
Danièle Lacourse
In the midst of the 1984-85 famine, the Ethiopian government was spending a million dollars a day to wage war in its northern province of Eritrea. Yet, according to the UN, two days of military spending would have been enough to stop the desertification of Ethiopia. Shot from 1985 to 1989, this film traces the roots of the conflict and its terrible consequences for civilian populations. A Muslim poet and an Eritrean doctor talk about their fight for peace and to overcome age-old mentalities that hinder the realization of their rights and freedoms. Beyond the conflict, Mamazeinab and Assefaw Tekeste give us a glimpse of a different society, with innovative projects in health, education, women’s rights and environmental protection: fragile signs but which make possible hope.
Baie James 1975: le choc des nations
Myriam Berthelet
James Bay 1975: The Shock of Two Nations takes us back to the origins of two major revolutions: the rapid expansion of Hydro-Québec with the construction of the La Grande complex, and the awakening of the Indigenous nations of Northern Quebec. A clash of civilizations where two worldviews collide. Quebec dreams of taking control of its destiny by becoming an energy giant on the continent. Meanwhile, in the North, a new generation of young Cree and Inuit rise up to protect what they hold most dear: their land and their culture. Leaders and witnesses share their stories in this political thriller, which culminates in the signing of the James Bay Agreement in 1975.
Les héritières
Julie Blackburn
A true collective legacy, the documentary The Inheritors (Les héritières) is one of the highlights of the 50th anniversary of the Council on the Status of Women (Conseil du statut de la femme) in Quebec, Canada. In The Inheritors (Les héritières), actress Marie Soleil Dion invites us to meet the pioneers and women who are blazing the trail, each in their own field. Through these encounters and testimonials, the intimate and collective stories of inspiring women are brought to light, and their contribution to the evolution of Quebec society today and tomorrow.
La fête des pères
Ayana O’Shun
Following the success of her first feature film, The Myth of the Black Woman, Ayana O’Shun presents Father’s Day. This gripping documentary explores the phenomenon of absent fathers in Black communities, through the personal stories of the director and luminous, resilient women from Canada and Guadeloupe. Growing up in Quebec, Ayana was struck by the fact that half of all Black families in North America live without a father (compared to one-fifth of families on average). What are the reasons for this state of affairs? Does Black history in the Americas influence fathers’ defection? What are the consequences of this absence on their daughters, the women they become, and the community in general? This documentary is a call to break the silence. It highlights the weight of social and historical legacy, the consequences of life choices, the complexities of love and freedom, and the hopes of healing and renewal.
Gabor
Joannie Lafrenière
Gabor is a quirky, feel-good portrait of Gabor Szilasi, the 94-year-old giant of Canadian contemporary photography. It is an uplifting immigrant story and an inspiring lesson on how to grow old with elegance and dignity.
À hauteur d’enfant
Mélanie Carrier
A couple of filmmakers who have become parents wonder how to describe life to their children. What wonders are left to discover? With their camera, they decide to dive into their world, where every little gesture is extraordinary, where everything remains to be told. Little Béatrice—who doesn’t want to grow up—opens the door to her imagination wide, while her older brother Émile, who is learning to read and write, wonders if atoms are alive. Filmed over nearly four years, both at school and at home, and blending a child’s-eye view of cinéma vérité, observational camerawork, and a poetic narrative style, this true cinematic journey invites us to reflect. What do we lose as we grow older? What stories do we most want to pass on?
Pipe Dreams
Stacey Tenenbaum
Pipe Dreams follows five young organists as they compete in Canada’s prestigious International Organ Competition (CIOC). Who will master the ‘king of instruments’ and come out victorious in Montreal? Pipe Dreams gives you an inside look into the wonderful world of competitive organ playing. From the quietest tinkling of a bell to the rumble of a locomotive… This is organ playing like you have never heard it before!
Vieux
Yvonne Defour
We all grow old. That’s a fact. But we don’t all age in the same way. This is obviously due to health, family circumstances, and resources. But it also, and perhaps above all, depends on the country in which we live. Which cultures are inherently favorable to the elderly? And in what ways? While services for seniors are more developed in Western countries, isolation, abuse, and neglect often ruin the lives of older people. Conversely, does multigenerational solidarity in some developing countries make older people happier? In other words, what is it like to be old in different cultures around the world? Vieux (Elderly) follows characters who bear witness to the reality of older people in four countries on four continents. Constructed using alternating montages, this feature film will fuel reflection on aging.
Le théâtre de l’histoire
Émilie Porry
A group of high school students embark on an 8 month long journey to decolonize their understanding of Indigenous history through unconventional means: a theatre workshop. Can a different ‘way in’ lead to a genuinely revised perspective on Reconciliation for the next generation?
Couper le cordon
Émilie Porry
Sarah is a young Quebec woman on the eve of her 20th birthday. Athletic, disciplined, and ambitious, we follow her reflections on the life choices she must make, torn between family expectations and values and her great need for emancipation. Cutting The Cord deals with universal issues such as the search for identity, the weight of tradition, and the courage to follow one’s own path. But it is also an example of successful integration. Sarah was born here to parents who immigrated to Quebec thirty years ago. She is particularly close to her mother, whose efforts to reconcile her attachment to her traditions of origin with her daughter’s aspirations are evident. Sarah is also fortunate to be surrounded by a circle of childhood friends, thanks to the stability offered by the social housing complex where they live as neighbors, which is designed to be a supportive living environment.
Stolen Time
Helene Klodawsky
A compelling call for justice, Stolen Time follows charismatic elder rights lawyer Melissa Miller as she takes on the corporate for-profit nursing-home industry—an industry notorious for its lack of transparency and accountability. As the legal battle unfolds, families, frontline caregivers and change-makers chronicle an urgent crisis with ramifications—and inspiration—for us all.
Vidéo Femmes par Vidéo Femmes
Nicole Giguère
A brief history of Vidéo Femmes in images, texts, video clips, unpublished archives… A humorous look back at 10 years of work and production by our collective, which has involved around 50 people since its inception; a “historical” look too, since we inevitably reflect and speak for the concerns and developments of our community.
Sages et rebelles
Claudie Simard
While the practice of midwifery was legalized more than 20 years ago, and demand for its services is growing, access to midwives remains limited in Quebec. Motivated by her own experience of a traumatic childbirth, director Claudie Simard takes us along in her discovery of this underrepresented health profession. By following midwives in their daily lives, Resilience in Midwifery highlights their working conditions and expertise and reveals popular misconceptions about their profession. Finally, Resilience in Midwifery culminates in a wider reflection on childbirth conditions.
Nio Far
Alunaya
What does it mean to be African today, between diaspora, multiple heritages and shifting forms of belonging? Through art, Nio Far questions identity, cultural legitimacy and the responsibilities of artists in the face of these existential issues. The film follows the fifth edition of the Afropolitan Nomad Festival, held in Dakar in July 2018, a space of dialogue and encounters where boundaries dissolve in favor of intercultural exchange and living together, through the gaze of filmmaker Alunaya.
Briser les murs
Vanessa Boisset
Breaking Down the Walls (Briser les murs) immerses us in the heart of a unique place in Quebec where, for the first time, all services – police, psychosocial, legal, and mental health – come together to support victims of sexual violence. Discover an innovative integrated center, open to all, where each person is welcomed, listened to, and supported, at their own pace, on their journey toward justice and rebuilding their lives, to find a new balance.
La promesse d’Imane
Nadia Zouaoui
Imane ran a feminist blog in a country where women are considered minors for life. Two weeks before the outbreak of the ongoing revolution in Algeria, Imane and her husband were found dead in their apartment…
Fear, Anger And Politics
Nadia Zouaoui
Ten years after 9/11, we follow the stories of some of those caught up in the anti-terrorist crackdown the US, as they speak out about the injustices they have endured and their fears of a rising Islamophobia in the US.
Le voyage de Nadia
Nadia Zouaoui
At 19, Nadia Zouaoui was forced by her parents into an arranged marriage with an Algerian living in Montreal. The man, who was twice her age, chose Nadia from a photograph. After 18 years away, Nadia goes back to Kabylia to see if life has changed in her native land. Nadia’s Journey travels behind the tourist facade and into a land of shadows. The documentary delves into the complex reality of women held captive in their own homes since puberty. In the gloomy house where Nadia grew up, her only view of the outside world was a patch of sky. This tragic custom, which men feel powerless to change, ends up crushing the soul of women and girls.
Jouvencelles
Fanie Pelletier
Through moments in the lives of three groups of girls, images gleaned from the web and live streams of young women around the world, Bloom delves into the world of today’s teenage girls. We delicately observe a hyper-connected but lonely generation inhabited by great lucidity, an inner struggle with self-image obsession, and a need for self-affirmation in the face of a complex sense of alienation.
Éviction
mathilde capone
Since 2010, Parthenais has held within its walls the life of a whole queer community. They are gay, lesbian, trans, and they live together in Centre-Sud in the heart of Montreal, in a triplex that is falling apart. Between the parties that sometimes welcome more than two hundred people until the wee hours of the morning, the collective dinners, the great joys and the small despairs, this old flat has transformed the lives of its tenants. Twelve years later, the building is bought by a wealthy family who wants to live there, gentrification being the order of the day. This marks the end of a mythical space that has transformed Montreal’s queer scene for a decade. The boxes are too small to contain all the stories that have taken place within these walls. Eviction is the story of this turning page, as the distraught residents search for a new place to call home in the midst of a housing crisis and land speculation.
Le fantôme de l’opératrice
Caroline Martel
This wry and delightful found-footage film reveals a little-known chapter in labor history: the story of female telephone operators’ central place in the development of global communications. With an eye for the quirky and humorous, Caroline Martel assembles a dazzling array of clips – more than one hundred remarkable, rarely seen industrial, advertising and scientific management films produced in North America between 1903 and 1989 by Bell and Western Electric – and transforms them into a dreamlike montage documentary. As the first agents of globalization, this invisible army of women offered a way for companies to feminize and glamorize what was a highly stressful, underpaid and difficult job. Not merely “Voices with a Smile”, telephone operators were shooting stars in a universe of infinite progress, test pilots for new management systems, and the face of shrewd public relations campaigns. As the work of operators has been eclipsed by the advent of automated systems, this artful piece of labor history also offers an insightful comment on women’s work, industrialization and communications technology. Refreshing and hilarious, The Phantom Of The Operator provides…
Billy
Lawrence Côté-Collins
Filmmaker Lawrence Côté-Collins finds her attacker in prison. She wants to understand, forgive, and support a suffering man. Billy is schizophrenic and his worst attack left two people dead. Their epistolary prison friendship sheds light on the truth about this mental illness which was neither diagnosed nor treated. Together, they tell their stories and reconstruct themselves through intimate correspondence and unpublished video archives.