Discover Movies

Matthew's heart stopped beating on the tattoo parlour table. Now, his parents hold their dying boy. But in their hands they also hold the fates of others: the promise of new lives, and death postponed. With astonishing access and remarkable intimacy, Memento Mori carries us headlong into a world of hope lost, and hope returned. An elegy to the beauty of life in the shadow of death.

Florent Vollant, an iconic musician of the Innu nation, feels the urgent need to tell his story like never before. Co-founder of the celebrated duo Kashtin, renowned for his acclaimed solo albums and as a political activist in defense of his culture, Florent now has limited mobility due to a stroke. As he enters a new chapter of his life, he remains committed to creating, transmitting and dreaming up new projects.

After 40 years of wrongful imprisonment on death row, César is finally released and must rebuild his life. Having spent nearly his entire life in the Polunsky Unit, a prison known for its extreme isolation, he arrives in Mexico ready to embark on a journey of healing. Confronted with his own limitations and the challenges of a new beginning, César is resolute in his quest to discover what true freedom means.

Why don't we do something to ease the suffering of the poor, the excluded? Because we live in fear of "the other," the stranger. Filmed a few months before the 2004 presidential election, On the Road with Mary is a gripping view of an America living in fear. From a miserable neighbourhood in Detroit ravaged by crack and violence, to the militarized border with Mexico, this potent road movie exposes the unbearable other side of the American Dream.

A poetic exploration of the multi-generational affects of Canada's Indian Residential School system, based on the personal trials of Aboriginal playwright Yvette Nolan.

The fourth offering from Montreal's Dime, featuring Will Marshall, Antoine Asselin, Jake Johnson, Jamal Smith, Alexis Lacroix, Joe Valdez and many more.

In a quest to rediscover the spiritual values of his own people, an African filmmaker from the Gourmantche tribe of Burkina Faso visits an Aboriginal band, the Atikamekw of northern Quebec. The resulting documentary is a dialogue between those who divine the future in the sand with those who use snow-encased sweat lodges to reconnect with the spiritual world.

Will this be a culmination of the past 50 years or the beginning of the next? This question looms over the town of Prescott, Ontario as the community of just over four thousand people prepare for the 50th edition of the Super Bowl of minor league hockey, "The Leo Boivin Showcase".

Since the death of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in February 2008, long-time practitioner of Transcendental Meditation and well-known film director David Lynch has been embraced as the movement’s chief international ambassador. Filmmaker Sebastian Lange, who himself was raised in the movement, presents an intimate look at this new phase in the movement’s evolution.

Mathieu Collette, a passionate blacksmith, renovates an abandoned heritage building belonging to the City of Montreal to create a blacksmithing school. Sixteen years later, after turning the building into an internationally renowned center for the transmission of living heritage, Mathieu is threatened with eviction for obscure administrative reasons, in the very year of Montreal's 375th anniversary. What could possibly justify putting one of Quebec's last blacksmiths out on the street, as the bearer of an unparalleled social and heritage project? Filmed over several years, this documentary traces Forges de Montréal's fight against the disappearance of a part of our collective memory.

A look at the extraordinary world of Penthouse founder, visionary and provocateur Bob Guccione.

A humorous and heartwarming documentary feature, CYBER-SENIORS chronicles the extraordinary journey of a group of senior citizens as they discover the world of the Internet through the guidance of teenage mentors. Their exploration of cyberspace is catapulted to another level when 89 year-old Shura decides to create a YouTube cooking video. A spirited video competition for the most “views" evolves as the cyber-seniors’ hidden talents and competitive spirits are revealed. CYBER-SENIORS provides insight into the wonderful things that can happen when generation gaps are bridged, proving you are never too old to get "connected."

A direct, uncompromising look into the complex machinery of Quebec’s youth protection services (known as the DPJ). https://lustitia.com/en/productions/dpj/

In a world of fixed positions and prescribed roles, expanding the definition of gender requires the courage to dive deep into understanding and acceptance. Written and directed by Christina Willings, Beauty explores the lives of five gender-creative kids, each uniquely engaged in shaping their ideas of what it means to be fully human. Claiming your own sense of gender when everything around you insists that you comply and conform can be challenging, and sometimes scary—but family and friends are there to help. Free-flowing animated elements, ranging from images of octopuses to astronauts, draw together the kids’ shared experiences in beautifully rendered fantasias that celebrate the power of imagination and the flourishing force of self-determination. Playful, goofy, loving and brave, each of these remarkable young people—including Ladner, B.C.’s transgender advocate Tru Wilson—have found their own way to break free and show the world what it really means to be your true self.

Documentary about filmmaker Bonnie Ammaaq's memories of life on Baffin Island, where her family moved for eleven years during her childhood from the hamlet of Igloolik to return to the traditional Inuit way of life.

This short documentary film by filmmaker Sophie Dupuis presents a poetic and contemplative point of view of the daily life of the sailors of the frigate HMSC Ottawa, on mission in the Pacific Ocean between British Columbia and California.

Director Anne Wheeler joins actress Babz Chula on a trip to India to rid herself of cancer.

From 1970-1977, six low budget films shown at midnight transformed the way we make and watch films.

Katiana talks about her experiences as a woman in Haiti. As a woman, she faces many limitations and abuses from men who are more privileged than she is. Despite the difficulties of her condition, she has found the courage to achieve greater personal and financial independence.

Patrick Laba and his crew explore the intersection between space aliens and cultural alienation in Nova Scotia.

Tao and Dong promised each other they’d return to the village where the latter grew up, in Inner Mongolia, before following his family, who left to find better fortune in a large city in Southern China. This voyage is a mere pretext meant to reconnect the two childhood friends, who were separated for ten years. With a rare sensitivity, Tao Gu films this companion, who was lost not only “from view”, approaching him stealthily to capture all of his tragic intensity, his disillusioned generosity. Dong has remained a dreamer besotted with rock, an incensed body struggling to find money (he comes up with a jade business which does not work out), love, sex and, above all, to live following his own conceptions of liberty, under the ambiguous gaze of his parents and his “successful” brother.

The moon is the subject here. Man's fascination with the moon (via animation) is presented, as is the moon's usage in popular culture (from Shakespeare to nursery rhymes to popular songs). Also, superstitions and suppositions associated with the moon is presented. Then scientific research on the moon is shown, followed by plans for (and then a simulation of) an actual trip around the moon.

By retracing the mixed heritage of First Nations peoples and Quebecers, painting a modern portrait, and sketching a human geography, this film helps us (re)discover the beauty and strength of our common territory: the Americas.

The story of Iraq's only heavy metal band and their fight to play music.

A filmmaker, fascinated by the power of the camera and obsessed with the theories of Russian film pioneer Dziga Vertov, decides to get a camera eye to replace the real eye he lost as a child. The visionary quest begins on the operating table, where a surgeon grafts a prototype ocular implant into his eye socket. Seeking a microscopic camera that could be incorporated into his artificial eye so he could secretly film whatever he sees, the filmmaker explores the futuristic technology that could make this possible, while revisiting chapters of his own past.

Google 'The Process Church of the Final Judgement' and you'll discover a long list of conspiracy theories. Only now, former members reveal the truth about the misunderstood group once dubbed 'One of the most dangerous Satanic cults in America.'

Outraged by the latest bombing of Gaza, Palestinian queer activists Hamza and Walid recruit queer novelist Jean Genet to help them sabotage the Eurovision song contest in Jericho. Their method? Secure the collaboration of Buddy and Pedro, Toronto's famous gay penguins... The emergence of queer BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) as a dynamic Palestinian-led global movement is brought to vivid life through interviews and actions, opera and agitprop, protests and pranks. Recounting fifteen years of passionate activism in Toronto and worldwide, Photo Booth juxtaposes a surreal operatic narrative with documentary scenes that explore pride and pink-washing, gay soldiers and homo-nationalism, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, and the accelerating weaponization of anti-Semitism.

A look at the various modes of transportation made for the Expo '86 World Fair in Vancouver, Canada.

When a polite robber carries out a series of odd bank heists, the police investigation takes a sharp turn—pointing to Steve Vogelsang, a garrulous former broadcaster once known as “The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg.” Set against Winnipeg’s frozen streets and familiar faces, Vogelsang’s fall from local celebrity to bank robber echoes like a news story you can’t quite forget.

Follows the development of Canadair's super-executive jet. A totally new type of aircraft, it is faster, cheaper to fly, and more comfortable than any other business jet. Would it make it off the drawing board and into the air? The film captures the spirit of the Canadian air transport industry and its attempt to compete with its American counterparts...

A Polar Bear tries to teach her two cubs about life in the Arctic and the new challenges they face due to the interference of man. The Great Polar Adventure takes audiences inside the secret life of polar bears and imagines life from their perspective. Ikuk, a new polar bear mother, faces tremendous challenges as she raises cubs for the first time. With the rise of global warming, she must lead her family into dangerous "two-leg" territory to scavenge for food.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been called a geological scandal due to its mineral rich soil. Unfortunately, those minerals, necessary to sustain today's technology, are funding the deadliest war since WWII.

Tree planting is one of the most physically and mentally demanding jobs in Canada. Working long days in the baking sun of desolate clear cuts, you can expect rain storms and snow covered tents: that's tree planting in Northern Alberta. In this documentary, veteran planters share their experiences as they struggle through each day of what has become the longest and most difficult season ever!

Discovering that sharks are being hunted to extinction, and with them the destruction of our life support system - activist and filmmaker Rob Stewart embarks on a dangerous quest to stop the slaughter. Following the sharks - and the money - into the elusive pirate fishing industry, Stewart uncovers a multi-billion dollar scandal that makes us all accomplices in the greatest wildlife massacre ever known.

Images and sounds are spliced together in this journey to the heart of the political, economic and cultural oppression of the Quebec people. A reflection on neo-colonial exploitation and the cancer of alienation. To the very Canadian multiculturalism of Trudeau and the métissage of the multinationals, celebrated by the high priests of the dominant ideology, is contrasted the idea of acculturation, even deculturation. A way of resisting as good as any other.

How has teleworking changed our professional environment and our lives? By taking a close interest in this phenomenon, the documentary looks with humor and intelligence at the origins, effects, successes and certain imponderables of remote work.

Soraïda is a Palestinian woman living in Ramallah, in the occupied territories. In this city under siege and a strict curfew, she fights her own battle: despite the military occupation, violence and oppression, she is determined not to lose her humanity.

An introverted man runs a "car cemetery" where people come to find parts for old vehicles.

12 short stories about the weird and wandering denizens of the city of Calgary, Canada. From a broken hearted immortal cowboy, to a teenage girl on the train, to an addict escaping his room. This experimental meditation on dreaming asks: Do we dream of the city, or does the city dream of us?

A film that tackles the taboo subject of menstruation. A compelling source of information that is essential for all teachers, mothers, daughters, and the men who love them. It challenges society's thoughts on such issues as safety, Toxic Shock Syndrome, tampons, pads, different cultures, and misconceptions. Author Judy Blume and The Museum of Menstration curator are featured in the film.

About a young Chinese-American author's journey into the darkest reaches of humanity as she researched and wrote her best selling book "The Rape of Nanking". Iris Chang's harrowing experience and dogged determination uncovers in graphic detail the forgotten holocaust of World War II when almost 300,000 Chinese women, children and soldiers were in a matter of weeks systematically raped, tortured and murdered by the invading Japanese forces.

A self-narrated portrait of a Polish immigrant in Winnipeg whose unglamorous job keeping streetcar switches working reveals dignity, resilience, and pride in everyday labor.

Watch 4,000 cattle return from summer grazing to 20 families who share a communal pasture and corral. Mesmerizing visual patterns from sky and ground frame an evocative contemplation of the relationship between human and animals, landscape and architecture.

In 1970, Hungarian-Québécois photographer Gabor Szilasi set out for the Charlevoix region of Québec to photograph the last vestiges of a disappearing rural world. Thirty-five years later, filmmaker Catherine Martin (Océan, Dans les villes, Trois temps après la mort d’Anna) went back to revisit the landscape, places and people he photographed. The Spirit of Places retraces Szilasi’s photographic journey, taking stock of what remains and what has disappeared.

This short film from Arthur Lipsett is an abstract collage of snippets from discarded footage found by Lipsett in the editing room of the National Film Board (where he worked as an animator), combined with his own black and white 16mm footage shot on the streets of Montreal and New York City, among other locations. A commentary on a machine-dominated society, it is often cited as an influence on George Lucas's Star Wars and his conceptualization of "The Force."

Tara Emory is a pioneering erotic photographer who has been active online since the early 2000s. This documentary paints a portray of her at a time when, absorbed by her epic sci-fic trans pornography project, she has to juggle being evicted from her studio, Le Wonderland, her personal and family struggles with compulsive hoarding and her hectic lifestyle. Between the gargantuan sets in her studio, the complicated dilemmas she must face, and the robots spurting a mixture of Mentos and Sprite, this first feature by Laurence Turcotte-Fraser deftly interweaves elements of her inner and outer life to introduce us to an unconventional artist with a wide variety of different interests. The End of Wonderland gives a voice to one those oft-forgotten exhilarating personalities by sensitively exploring Tara Emory’s day-to-day life. (Programming Collective)

Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror is a television documentary film that premiered on the Canadian cable network Space on February 25, 2009. The hour-long documentary examines the experiences, motivations and impact of the increasing number of women engaged in horror fiction, with producers Donna Davies and Kimberlee McTaggart of Canada's Sorcery Films interviewing actresses, film directors, writers, critics and academics. The documentary was filmed in Toronto, Canada; and in Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York in the US.

Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean: history, economy, tourist attractions, agriculture, wood and paper industry, and especially the gigantic aluminum industry whose products are found in all parts of the world; images of a blueberry field, the Lac Bouchette sanctuary, a religious gathering, a dam, a power plant, the Arvida plant, angling, Cap Éternité, construction canoes, etc.

This documentary follows the founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, as he makes his way to the International Space Station (ISS). From the thrill of training in Star City, floating through the confines of the ISS and literally watching the world go by, to seeing sparks as we re-enter the atmosphere, viewers follow Guy as he lives the risks. They will also be touched by the fascinating cosmonauts and astronauts who make up the global space community encountered during this phenomenal adventure. What emerges is an unprecedented insight into the world of space exploration.

Interview with director Denys Arcand about his documentary work. Conducted on the premises of the canadian National Film Board (NFB).

From the NFB: He is a young man; an optimist drawn to dark music and the themes of death and suffering. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has gained a reputation for his dedication, musicality and charisma. Combining documentary and animation, this short film captures his energy and passion, both in performance and in conversation.

Larry Grant and Sonny McHalsie share their stories of the River.

Filmmaker Carol Nguyen interviews her own family to craft an emotionally complex and meticulously composed portrait of intergenerational trauma, grief, and secrets in this cathartic documentary about things left unsaid.