Discover Movies

Two filmmakes create a vehicle for isolated people to find connections in the world, by encouraging them to talk about their passions

From humble beginnings to a successful father of four, Frank Lacourciere is a perfect embodiment of what it takes to be a successful and self made man in the 21st century.

A Prague resident wanders through his city, questioning the freedom it provides. This documentary essay depicts the polyphony of urban life, exploring its contrasts through a poetic narration.

Away from the world, in his DIY cabin deep in a forest, Martin is building a new existence in the company of his pack of cats. The disappearance of one of his felines disrupts his daily life and brings back memories of his past.

A documentary that goes behind-the-scenes of Paul Gross's Passchendaele (2008).

In the Minds of All Beings: Tsogyal Latso of Tibet takes us to the 8th century birthplace of Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, the founding mother of Tibetan Buddhism, and the greatest enlightened woman in Tibet. Blending legend and history, the film recounts an ancient story and shows how the wisdom and blessings of Yeshe Tsogyal have continued to our present time.

You will learn some fascinating things about weeds.

A Documentary-style film about nothing.

26 year-old Madison explores the important spiritual side of transition with help from her grandmother to teach her all things feminine. Generational differences become clear, but are sweetly brought together in familal discussion.

Two geographic places, Quebec (Canada) and New Caledonia (France, Pacific), are put in relation to each other with the help of an audiovisual installation which modifies the congruence and the synchronicity of sounds and images. This work explores the depth of two contrasting territories which have both undergone a colonial history. Working out the contrasts and resonances of these two contexts, this work investigates the identity and memory of places but also the strange sensation of reality given by a hybrid and fictional landscape which combines elements that do not belong together.

Filmed across Canada in university labs and field research sites, stories from Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors and colleagues point us toward a path for which natural resource studies can be accomplished.

In between transformations. Like a series of wanderings through the relationship between work and material, between the tool and the hand.

This feature-length, cinéma-vérité documentary presents a moving account of one man’s battle to reconstruct a shattered identity. Michael Borowski is an amateur playwright, rambling philosopher, and survivor of childhood brain injury. He is also a neighbourhood dog walker, using his daily walks to meditate on life.

Projections on the trees in a forest, inviting us to play hide-and-seek with a kokom (a grand-mother) and her grand-children.

Meet Lewellyn James Henneberry: fisherman, yodeller, home-spun philosopher and creator of a very strange museum full of gaping shark jaws, nautical paraphernalia, model ships, and glittering, embalmed fish that might be taxidermy and might be art. Lewie has lived all his life in the fishing village of Sambro, Nova Scotia. The unlikely patriarch of a multi-million-dollar fishing dynasty, he's a man who tackles it all--fair weather or foul--with compassion, pragmatism, infectious humour and a healthy sense of life's absurdities. One Man's Paradise mixes sea-going adventure, humour and great humanity to tell the story of this extraordinary 'ordinary' man who has spent most of his life hunting the largest fish in the sea. The North Atlantic Ocean is harsh and unforgiving--not most peoples' idea of paradise. But seen through Lewie's eyes, it becomes a magical place where we catch a glimpse of what makes life worth living ... not just for him, but for all of us.

The Land of Shipwrecks is both an author's documentary and a historical documentary. It presents a different and authentic vision of Gaspésie, too often enslaved to tourist imagery, by carrying the voice of those who live there and are rooted there. The history of Gaspé is inseparable from its topography, its proximity to the sea, its reefs, its mist and its immense bay set with mountains which constitutes a natural refuge.

The short documentary A Wolf’s Way: Dempsey Bob (2023, 17 minutes) is the outcome of a meeting between artist Dempsey Bob and Montreal filmmaker Mathias Arroyo-Bégin during a film shooting in 2019. That meeting led to a collaboration on a documentary about Dempsey Bob’s life and artistic vision. While the two co-directors may be of different cultures and generations, they share a profound mutual respect; together, they made A Wolf's Way, which celebrates the sculptor’s authenticity and humility.

From Saint-Jean Terre-Neuve, a woman leaves phone messages on the voicemail of a mysterious Sabrina… The Rise and Fall of a Long Distance Relationship was produced as part of the 5th edition of the Montreal Super 8 Festival whose rule main task is to shoot a single 50-foot cartridge, without post-image editing.

Emma makes the decision to have an abortion and practice symptothermia. Through a disturbing and wacky visual plot as well as an intimate and touching auditory plot, Emma invites us to rethink freedom through a body, benevolence through choice and harmony through violence.

"When Voices Rise..." tells the important, but little-known story of dismantling segregation in the polite society that was Bermuda in the 1950s. Working in secret, the Progressive Group organized the 1959 Theatre Boycott to end segregation in movie theatres in Hamilton. Context is provided by those who protested against segregation and the limited franchise earlier in Bermuda by authoring a "Secret Document" that analyzed the social problems of the island. The film also features a rare interview conducted in London, England with Kingsley Tweed-a powerful, public figure during the boycott that changed the island forever. -- Chris Campbell

A documentary of Gabriel Tremblay's family told in thirteen chapters.

Architect Stanley King involves the local Vancouver community in urban design.

The film poetically explores the universe of two eccentric Montreal taxi drivers. Film places the viewer in the back seat of the taxi as Louis and Jamel take us for a ride in their cab from Port au Prince to Algiers, from overseas to the island of Montreal, the protagonists passionately discuss life, love and death. Aesthetically the film uses panoramic image multiplications to complement the magical realism found in the storytelling.

After death, most people's lives are paid respect via a series of rites and traditions. Sadly, thousands of Canadians, from homeless youth to neglected seniors, die in dire circumstances leaving their bodies often unclaimed and rarely honoured. Believing that all people are worth of last respects, Montreal priest Abbé Claude Paradis creates a touching annual ceremony to celebrate the lives of the "unclaimed."

With the high carbon footprint of aluminum production, one entrepreneur realizes he's part of the climate problem when his company booms into success. To address the issue, he creates a climate neutral certification to guide companies toward decarbonizing the economy and to help consumers identify their efforts. For one employee whose family in Puerto Rico was affected by volatile climate conditions, the issue is particularly personal.

This film presents isolated episodes of Ukrainian life, such as life under Polish occupation (pacification), the “underground“, the tragedy in Rotterdam, the uprising of Carpathian Ukraine, large national demonstrations, Polish terrorist acts in Carpathian Ukraine...

Adam and her sibling Khadija share unspoken trauma. Traversing a winding road of emotions, they finally find mutual understanding.

The documentary ‘Mary Magdalene in Conversation with Lilian Broca’ is a visual and intellectual feast that forcibly confronts and challenges long ingrained historic and contemporary norms of female inequality.

Inner Cabin is a short experimental documentary about a homosexual man that seems to be unable to love. Or rather that hides in his thoughts as to not have to face love. It's as if sometimes he flees into a closet in his mind, even if he's been out of the closet for a decade.

A documentary that reveals the history of the LGBT Pride movement in Ukraine. The film tells the story of KyivPride, the first attempt by the Ukrainian LGBT community to rise up and make their voice be heard by the government. The documentary also includes interviews with activists and allies from Ukraine, Canada, and Germany, as well as footage from KyivPride events in 2012, the successful march in 2013, and the cancellation of the 2014 march.

Even before our ancestors banged on a tree trunk with a stick or hollowed out a bone to blow into it, they were already singing. The human voice was the very first musical instrument—and judging by Partita for 8 Voices, it’s also the most versatile.

Muslim women are disconcerting, intriguing, polarizing-and straitjacketed by conflations of ideas in front-page stories. While the media tend to portray them as submissive and silenced, filmmaker Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski has chosen to distance herself from that caricature, with which she does not identify. She sat down with six Muslim Canadian women eager to talk about what shapes their identities. The resulting documentary, In Full Voice, offers an intimate perspective on the journey of these women, who have a common desire to share their visions of Islam.

Shooting on location in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, director Salar Pashtoonyar uses a thought-provoking yet powerfully humane hybrid of documentary and fiction to delve deep into the experience of a woman forced to the edge of her society.

Documentary examining the fentanyl and overdose crisis in Vancouver's lower mainland, of British Columbia Canada.

How was matter able to organize itself into life? From the tiniest elementary particles to the most complex ecosystems, discover the fascinating organization of matter.

The three Hughes brothers, teen hockey phenoms, all have dreams of making it in the big leagues. When their love of competition and their love of family are put to the test, a decision must be made.

Zev Asher's fascinating collage documentary "RAT ART: Croatian Independents" focuses on artists working in Croatia, a nation devastated by the war in the former Yugoslavia. Many of these artists, working in the capital city of Zagreb, were relatively distant from the war zone, while others fought at the front lines, but all were equally aware of the war's effects on their nation.

Who runs the world? With the recent surge of women in politics, director Chloe Sosa-Sims's timely feature debut focuses on three political stars in three countries. For Jess Phillips of the UK, Pramila Jayapal of the US and Canada's Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, politics is a deep and committed passion. Positioned on different points along the political spectrum, they take on their jobs in government with bold determination, advocating for their individual agendas. Phillips is focused on combating domestic violence, while Jayapal has set her sights on a new bill to expand American health care and Rempel Garner is looking for ways to create jobs for oil workers in her home province of Alberta. With elections looming in all three countries, the women are working hard on reforming patriarchal political institutions from the inside, and despite their differences they each fight to rise to the occasion.

Every spring for the last 13 years, Delroy has left his partner Sophia and their kids behind in the small hamlet of Top Hill, Jamaica, to do seasonal work on a farm in Canada. Sophia plays the lottery daily in hopes of changing their economic future, but above all, she dreams of escape. This year, after cutting his contract short, Delroy returns to his family with an engagement ring for Sophia—and an unexpected diagnosis of terminal cancer. Through a composed, empathetic lens, Andrew Moir chronicles the last days of Sophia and Delroy's relationship as she cares for her new spouse. The film quietly observes Sophia rise to the many challenges presented by her unknown future, in a rural society where women traditionally have little independence. Beautifully observed, Don't Come Searching presents a moving portrait of a resilient, contemporary Jamaican woman, determined to find her own way in life.

Deep South 1990: what changes and what does not. Whites of Their Eyes focuses on four people : Richard, a student at Tulane; Mack, a resident of Selma's projects, and Charlie and Verna May who trap and skin alligators. In the free form dialogue which emerges, each addresses complex issues with candor and humour, forming a mesh that belies standard notions of race, class and consumption.

To get over his Sunday boredom, a young Atikamekw spends time with friends, reminiscing about his dogs.

Springhammer is about Japanese blacksmiths who dedicate their lives to making culinary knives [it's also the actual mechanical tool used by the blacksmiths]. At the end of WWII, Japan was faced with a burdensome repurposing of many industries, and with military swords no longer in demand despite a tradition carried on since the samurai, the industry turned to the kitchen. Craftsmen, now applying ancient trade skills of the blade making to cookery, go largely unnoticed by their countrymen and have to find a new place in the world for their craft. Thankfully, the world seems to be starting to listen.

An experimental documentary that creates an impressionistic and artistic experience cataloging the journey of a Japanese woman, Tomomi, who finds herself on a Saskatchewan elk farm during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Troublemaker on the Frequency is a short experimental video that explores mis-communication through found sound recordings, amateur radio, and glitch.

Three men, whose jobs require them to work nude, talk about life, bodies and how nudity can make a difference.

Latin Queens: Unfinished Stories of Our Lives focuses on Toronto’s Latino gay community and their harrowing experiences in the countries they once called home. While the interviewees (many of them transgender) are vocal about the stability they feel in living in Canada, many continue to live in fear of deportation as a result of their sexuality. At the centre of this film is the heart wrenching story of William Granados, whose claim for refugee status is being denied on the grounds that Immigration Canada feels his homosexuality is a fabrication.