Online cinema
Trapèze
Helen Doyle
Aerial ballet. An overview of the research on trapeze and tightrope undertaken by Lorraine Desmarais, Marie-Thérèse Lessard, and the Nœud d’erseau group. This research aimed to use the trapeze as a form and means of expression.
Les mots / maux du silence
Helen Doyle
Pieces of poems, readings, texts, play excerpts, songs and reflections, brought together like a quilt. What’s the point of drugs, electroshock therapy and institutions? What if all they do is level the playing field for revolt? What’s the point of psychiatry and our prejudices, our daily answers… The ones we call CRAZY???
Solo
Sophie Dupuis
Solo tells the story of Simon, a rising star on the Montreal drag scene. It’s love at first sight when he meets Olivier, the new recruit to the bar-show where he performs. While Simon thinks he’s in for an electrifying love affair, a toxic and destructive dynamic develops between them. At the same time, Simon’s mother Claire, a famous opera singer, returns home to work after a 15-year absence. Fascinated by this woman, whom he hardly knows but idealizes, Simon persists in trying to create a bond with her. Weakened by the failure of these two impossible loves, Simon has no choice but to realize that he deserves better.
Le monde à l’envers
Maryse Legagneur
In Le monde à l’envers (The World Upside Down), two Quebec families decide to live abroad for an extended period. It’s a great adventure, but it’s also the height of uncertainty. Will they succeed in fulfilling their potential in this new environment that requires them to sacrifice so much? Will they be able to adapt to a different culture? How will they experience the world upside down? Since they met, Mathieu Gagnon and Marie-Claude Mercier have dreamed of going abroad. With their sons, they are preparing to go to Nicaragua for a period of two years. The young woman will work for an NGO, while her partner will take care of the children. It’s the beginning of a great family adventure.
Entends ma voix
Maryse Legagneur
Beyond the under-representation of minorities in mass media, the debate on equality now focuses on the very content of works. Among those accused of cultural appropriation, the show SLĀV, by Robert Lepage and Betty Bonifassi, sparked considerable controversy in Canada. Members of Afro-descendant communities denounced the lack of Black creators and actors in the show, which was ultimately pulled after only three performances. In the tumult of this controversy, all parties spoke, sometimes even shouted, but no one truly understood each other. In an effort to advance this social debate, the protagonists on both sides agreed to speak to journalist Véronique Lauzon and documentary filmmakers Maryse Legagneur and Arnaud Bouquet. They held out their microphones to both the SLĀV artists and those who were shocked by their creation. Through this documentary, the main stakeholders agreed to re-establish dialogue and speak openly, in the hope, perhaps, of reaching an understanding.
Le dernier repas
Maryse Legagneur
Reynold is dying from stomach cancer. Gradually unable to eat normally due to his condition, he resigns himself to starving to death. Grim memories surface of how he had cheated starvation once before as a prisoner in Fort-Dimanche Prison. The last meals that he can still eat provide an opportunity to share these memories with his daughter Vanessa, who he has not seen for 20 years. At first reluctant, Vanessa finally agrees to go see her father. With the help of her aunt, the owner of a Haitian grocery store, she prepares Haitian dishes for her father. Over the course of these meals, a ritual develops at Reynold’s bedside as each traditional dish from his youth sparks a memory from his past. He opens up and tells his daughter for the very first time about the abuse that he suffered and, so, frees himself of a heavy burden. And Vanessa discovers her father’s true nature: a loving father whose heart was hardened under dictatorship.
Au nom de la mère et du fils
Maryse Legagneur
In the Name of the Mother and the Son paints a portrait of life in the Montreal neighbourhood of Saint-Michel for two youths of Haitian origin, whom we follow in their quest for hope and freedom. Not unlike their parents, who had to start from scratch on arriving in Canada, James and Le Voyou both yearn to take wing, each in his own way. The film is a cri de coeur to the women of Haiti whom we follow in their quest for hope and freedom.
Bungalow
Lawrence Côté-Collins
Sarah and Jonathan buy a bungalow to renovate into their dream home. Bad decisions, lack of cash and lies push the couple to extreme areas. Their life turns into a nightmare. How far will they go to save their love and appearances? Watch out for the little renovations!
Résonance
Lucile Parry-Canet
A territory unfolds. Three bodies, three moments, three environments. How long is a moment? Where does the sea meet the sky? When does a body touch space? Résonance, a poetic investigation of the space that lives between us.
Unempty Space (間)
Lucile Parry-Canet
間 | Unempty Space shows how sensitivity can fill someone’s feeling of emptiness inside and help them connect with what is larger than themselves. This topic is particularly important currently as many people question what is meaningful in a world where they have lost faith in the system and where climate change is an international emergency. In the 5-minute film, we see my brother lost in a winter landscape. As he observes and connects with his surroundings, the seemingly empty grey space no longer represents a negative void but something full and profound. This notion can relate to the Japanese concept ‘Ma’ which translates to “space between”.‘Ma’ is a sense of place in relation to the whole (1). It says emptiness, but it is an emptiness where there is an abundance of energy. This is depicted by its character ‘間’ which refers to the sun in between gates (2). The literal translation “space between” is not a static gap, it is rather the distance that exists between objects as well as between time. It is said to be “the silent pause…
Cement – The Pressure of Concrete
Lucile Parry-Canet
Cement is the painful birth of a humanoid creature confronted with the essence of its natural state and its artificial environment. Alone in an abandoned concrete building, the creature finds itself captured in this labyrinth. Will the being lose itself or will it go beyond the walls?
Jacques
Lysandre Leduc-Boudreau
Jacques Duhoux, a pioneer of Quebec’s northern expeditions, lives independently at the foot of the Groulx Mountains. At 85, he persists in living on the fringes of the world, despite an inevitable decline.