Online cinema
Envers et contre tout
Kimberley Ann Surin
Against All Odds – a battle against society’s deep-rooted mentality, against all expectations, and against being opposed to the majority. Against All Odds represents struggles, roadblocks, racism and all the difficulties that come with being a minority. Although success is always very uncertain, one athlete has overcome these challenges on the ice against all odds. Films made by Montreal filmmakers as part of the Fabienne Colas Foundation’s Being Black in Canada program.
Nourrir les rêves
Aïcha Morin-Baldé
Kimberley Ann Surin
Hot Docs presents Citizen Minutes, a short doc collection highlighting ordinary Canadians doing extraordinary things to make their communities better places. Meet bold and unlikely changemakers who inspire us to jump in and get involved in civic issues close to our homes and hearts. S1E2 – Feeding Dreams: Meeting with Paul Evra, the young director general of the Center Lasallien Saint-Michel, whose mission is to help feed many families in need in the Saint-Michel district of Montreal.
Basket
Eva Kabuya
Jemima and Jacob, at opposite ends of the spectrum on almost every subject, are nevertheless close-knit and united by their passion for basketball. In their early teens, they have to deal with numerous bodily changes and heightened emotions, without losing sight of their ambitions.
Amours d’occasion
Eva Kabuya
As a blistering heatwave descends on Montreal, plunging the city into a general torpor, the residents of the Saint-Henri neighborhood are plagued by events that reason cannot explain.
Black Life: Untold Stories – Migrations S1E4
Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
Black Life: Untold Stories is an eight-part documentary series that reframes the rich and complex histories of Black experiences in Canada, dispelling commonly accepted myths and celebrating the many, and often unrecognized, contributions of Black Canadians who helped to shape the country. Spanning more than 400 years fraught with violence, racism, perseverance, and triumph, the series unveils a nuanced and unvarnished view of the lives of Black Canadians. The horrors of slavery and segregation are explored alongside illustrations of resistance, as well as the wonders and rewards of community, creativity, and resilience. Black Life: Untold Stories employs intimate verité, expert testimonies, evocative recreations, rarely seen archival materials, and visually inspired storytelling to contextualize histories of Black Canadians for contemporary audiences, enabling an appreciation of the complexities of Canada’s past. S1E4 – Migrations: Black migrants share intimate and personal stories of trying to create a home in Canada. Told through a series of powerful cinematic verité, vignettes, expert analysis, and engrossing archival footage, Migrations paints an intimate and poignant portrait of Black migration to Canada. This episode examines the arrival of…
Rated X
Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
Rated X is a short documentary about the pornographic industry. Giving a voice to the women who work there as actresses, Rated X offers a positive, feminist incursion into this little-known milieu.
Raconte-moi mon corps
Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
This is a short documentary on Naila Rabel and her relationship with her body. She grew up having to navigate the stigma that fat people experience in our society.
Le monde est à elles
Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
At a time when one in two young people suffer from symptoms of anxiety and depression, Le Monde est à elles is a film that gives six young Montreal teenagers the opportunity to leave their urban environment, for the first time, to take part in a wilderness canoe-camping expedition. By presenting their difficulties and small victories, the film embraces their vulnerability in a poetic and luminous way, underlining the power of female sisterhood and therapeutic intervention through nature.
Hôtel Beyrouth
Josiane Blanc
In the late 80s, after fleeing the war in Lebanon, Zeina and Fady’s family settled in Ottawa. The family home soon became the place to be for exiled Lebanese seeking temporary refuge. Zeina, 14, and Fady, 9, moved to Canada with their parents in 1989, having fled the war that had raged in Lebanon for over a decade. As the family struggles to adapt to their new home, their residence quickly becomes a place of transition for Lebanese immigrants. Fady, overjoyed to finally have his own room, is forced to leave it every time a new guest shows up, which doesn’t sit well with the young boy, and even less with his older sister, who is trying to fit in at school, one lie at a time. Zeina and Fady not only find their home invaded by all these newcomers, but also have to juggle culture shock, adaptation and a new school environment, as well as the psychological trauma that the war will have caused them. Hotel Beirut tells the story of the Haddad family with humor: a story of…
780 Pieds carrés
Audreyanne Fauchon
Following a break-up, Nicolas and Rosalie empty their apartment. As they decide who gets the furniture, they recall the beginnings of their relationship and the evolution of their love, right up to the evening when everything turned upside down.
Okurimono
Laurence Lévesque
Noriko Oi, a Japanese-Canadian woman who has been living in Montreal for more than 20 years, is about to return to Nagasaki, her hometown. She has to go back to help her brothers and sisters clear out their childhood home, which will soon be sold. Within the walls of this old house lie the fragments of the Oi family’s history. What remains of memories when families’ secrets are locked away and end up casting a shadow over the collective recollections? Noriko decides to reconstruct the past of her mother Mitsuko, a survivor of the atomic bomb, in the hope of passing down her cultural heritage to her children and healing the dark reminiscences of the tragic past. But her quest promises to be arduous. Mitsuko, who passed away 30 years ago, has never shared her story. Through her findings, Noriko meets various allies who will help her uncover her mother’s past and unveil unknown details about this era of her native Japan.
Port d’attache
Laurence Lévesque
Samuel has been fishing on Clement’s boat for about ten years now. Samuel’s dream is to become a captain; Clement is more than ready to retire. The two fishermen agree on the terms of the boat’s sale. And yet, the road to the handover is a tortuous one.