Social & External
The people behind it
Focused on an inspiring and touching dialogue between Gilles Vigneault and Fred Pellerin, the documentary tells the story of Quebec by digging deep into an ancestral tradition etched into our cultural DNA: the production of maple syrup.
The film looks at the impact of over-development in historic towns in Quebec’s picturesque Laurentian mountains. As big box stores and large retailers drive local merchants out of business, and foreign developers buy up huge tracts of land for resorts, local residents’ property taxes are skyrocketing. While the locals organize against expropriation by taxation, an internationally-known artist, René Derouin, adds his creative energy to protect the heritage of “Les pays d’en haut” from The Great Invasion.
Matimekush is landlocked in the former mining town of Schefferville, 700 km north of Sept-Îles. It was founded in the 1950s, when the Canadian government and Iron Or forced the Innu to settle down. In Canada’s Far North, there is a dire labour shortage. At Kanatamat School, the heart of the community, most of the high school teachers are from Africa.
Filmed in Victoriaville, the film uses images from various sources to paint a cynical portrait of the violent boredom that reigns in rural areas. Quiet sequences of people sharing joints by the river are followed by a lone car speeding along wooded roads, as if seeking speed on the brink of accident. Thuya abandons technical mastery in favor of intimate and spontaneous filming, composing a raw self-documentation of daily stagnation. Filmed mainly in a single day of improvisation, based on chance encounters and found footage.
A century after a village and its paper mill were abandoned, a group of actors is tasked with recreating the fantasized daily life of its inhabitants.
Take a breathtaking train a ride through Nothern Quebec and Labrador on Canada’s first First Nations-owned railway. Come for the celebration of the power of independence, the crucial importance of aboriginal owned businesses and stay for the beauty of the northern landscape.
Autism spectrum disorder (DSA) - It is not what they have, but what they are, who they are. They are Felix, Anthony, Marc and Brigitte. They are different.
Michel is the charismatic subject of this documentary about following your sex drive. Sharing unique life experiences with great verve, an aging lothario strikes an honest and simply unforgettable pose.
Part documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.
Behind closed doors in a car, three friends from the small town of Sept-Îles discuss their desire to reconnect with the North Shore, the region where they grew up. As the hours lenghten on the road 138, the young women reflect on the quest for identity that accompanies the regional exodus and reveals a social landscape decentralized from the metropolises.
What remains of the 2012 Quebec student protests? Little has changed in the decade that ensued. Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade exhume images of the battles, recorded live and relayed through the mass media, that flared up as anger and indignation went head-to-head with the rhetoric of power. Against these divisive images, the filmmakers overlay a historical perspective of the state and its police in Montreal, Quebec and Canada, delving into the roots of sanctioned violence. Their compelling glance at the past is, of course, a cry that continues to echo in the present day. While the voices have been silenced, revolt still brews. All it takes is a spark...
Thousands of royal artifacts of Dahomey, a West African kingdom, were taken by French colonists in the 19th century for collection and display in Paris. Centuries later, a fraction returned to their home in modern-day Benin. This dramatized documentary follows the journey of 26 of the treasures as told by cultural art historians, embattled university students, and one of the repatriated statues himself.
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.
A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.
RETURN tells the story of a retired Green Beret who embarks on a healing journey from Montana to Vietnam. There he retraces his steps, shares his wartime experiences with his son, treats his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and seeks out the mountain tribespeople he once lived with and fought alongside as a Special Forces officer.
Captured during Billie Eilish's sold-out world tour, a concert experience from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation, presented in immersive 3D.
The Making-of James Cameron's Avatar. It shows interesting parts of the work on the set.
A tribute to Chadwick Boseman, celebrating his life and legacy.
Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.
Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
While in San Francisco for the promotion of her last film in October 1967, Agnès Varda, tipped by her friend Tom Luddy, gets to know a relative she had never heard of before, Jean Varda, nicknamed "Yanco". This hitherto unknown uncle lives on a boat in Sausalito, is a painter, has adopted a hippie lifestyle and loves life. The meeting is a very happy one.
After another 7 year wait, director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children from Seven Up! and 7 Plus Seven. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
