Montreal — one of the few remaining affordable cities in North America — is now in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis. An intimate portrait of socio-political resistance, this multilayered film explores the human impact of real estate speculation on the cities of tomorrow.
The film is a portrait of Dave St-Pierre, a dancer and choreographer from Montreal who is urgently awaiting a lung transplant due to his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis.
There is no indication that this typical online flirtation between two strangers would turn into a case of shocking international intrigue. For months, Sandra in Montreal and Amina, a Syrian-American, bond romantically and intellectually. Encouraged by Sandra, Amina launches a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus," representing a marginalized voice in the Middle East on politics, religion, and sexuality. Rapidly garnering worldwide attention, Amina becomes something of a star blogger. But when Syria enters the Arab uprising of 2011, Sandra receives word that Amina has been kidnapped, and soon the search for Amina becomes a global concern and an even larger mystery to solve.
After a twenty-year-long career, the contemporary art group BGL (Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière) are offered a wonderful and colossal challenge. In a short period of time, they are to create and oversee two monumental public art pieces – one in Montréal and the other in Toronto – and represent Canada during the 56th Biennale in Venice. What better moment than to shine the spotlight on this immensely creative trio and allowing us to take a retrospective look on their prolific and disconcerting legacy. This fairy-tale like documentary, entangles humour, extravagance, oneirism and camaraderie.
After crossing 11 countries irregularly to seek asylum in Canada, Peggy, Simon and their three children are waiting for the hearing that will determine whether they get refugee status or not. Having fled political repression in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the family tries to rebuild a peaceful life in Montreal, in spite of the constant threat of deportation. Between ghosts from the past, hopes for the future, a complex legal maze and seemingly endless trial, the film delves into the struggle of the Nkunga Mbala family to remain in Canada. Offering unprecedented access to their hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board, the film unveils the opaque process of claiming asylum in Canada.
MONTREAL NEW WAVE is a feature documentary that explores the New Wave cultural current in Quebec in the 70’s and 80’s. The film documents and questions that unknown part of our recent cultural history. Through archives and interviews with key figures of the time, MONTREAL NEW WAVE wants to shed light on a defining current that still inspires the Quebec cultural scene today.
Eric toured the world, he worked on boats. It seems to live the life he always dreamed when he was imprisoned in Brazil, awaiting deportation to Canada. Between the calls to the Embassy, the unexpected intervention of a stranger seeking to incriminate him and the announcement of the news to distraught parents, PINOCCHIO gradually pierces the mystery surrounding Éric over conversations, memories Travel to South America and confidences.
In the heart of Kamouraska in Quebec, Patrice Fortier lives at “La société des plantes” (The Society of Plants). There, like a transcriber of the middle ages, he diligently cares for the rare and forgotten plant seeds to create a variety of so-called “old futures.” Patrice dreams up his garden and turns his crops into art projects. Over time, and with patience, he passes on his passion and his knowledge to us through his seed bank. These seeds of life will appear in thousands of gardens throughout the world. An ode to plant biodiversity and to our heritage, brought forth by a true and genetically motivated sower.
L'HOMME DE L'ISLE is a film that offers a look at an island hunting guide and the power of his universe. It depicts a long and beautiful relationship between Gilles Gagné, a man of earthly intelligence and sensitivity, and a great Master...Jean-Paul Riopelle. Together, he hunts, he sips and above all he discusses. While one rediscovers the beauty of his world on Isle aux Oyes, the other draws inspiration from it to create works of art.
Through the eyes of a Quebec Jewish activist, Lea Roback, feminist, unionist, pacifist and communist, A VISION IN THE DARKNESS proposes a modernist vision of Quebec history, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the period knows as « La Grande Noirceur », the Great Darkness.
The film centres on the town of Chapais in northern Quebec, a struggling former mining community whose residents are quietly resisting the economic pressures to abandon their hometown.
Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Montreal, one of the oldest in North America. In the emergency ward, patients await their diagnosis, foreshadowed by the most personal questions from doctors. Others don't have the luxury of worrying about such things. They suffer in pain, fight to live or simply want it all to end, despairing at the body's inability to do what it's supposed to. We cannot face disease, much less face those who suffer from it. But what's left of the human once laid out on the operating table, dreading bad news or anticipating the end? Something moving, feeling, loving. The heart that beats.
The director goes back to her roots in Pangnirtung, amongst her family and community. It leads her to another journey: to Qipisa, the outpost camp from where they were uprooted.
Between the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood, Lou and Laylou go through the summer of their 17th birthday. A poetic, singular and strong look at a pivotal moment in adolescence.
Thomas, a shy single who tries to find the woman of his dreams on the internet, is greeted one night by a beautiful sleepwalker holding a glass of milk. As he tries to find out who she is, she becomes a recurrent night-time visitor, unaware of the strong desire she arises in him.
Meshes of the Ocean is the story of Ron Ingraham, a charming 96-year-old Newfoundlander who immigrated to Canada during the 1940’s, while the territory was still under the British law. In this documentary, Ron weaves his life’s story from his home in the idyllic village of Neil’s Harbour, Cape Breton. He recounts his experiences and the vast changes he witnessed in the fishing industry over the last century and shows his hand-knitting skills while repairing fishing nets, a sustainable practice barely employed today. Through Ron’s story, we acknowledge practices lost over time and the importance of listening and learning while the knowledge is available.
