Discoveries from Canada World Cinema

A love story about city girl Sydney, a relapsed drug addict, who is convinced to journey to a country cabin by her fiance Tom, in order to clean up.

A light comedy/love story based on the life of blind musician Tom Sullivan.

A music promoter sends a young woman on a road trip in search of a band who hasn't been showing up for their gigs.

An advertising executive, trapped in a tree by a gang of would-be muggers, manipulates them into fighting to save his life.

With more than 70 years of career, Claude Crest is more than ever a living legend of comedy. From his childhood in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve to the historic success of his number La Balloune, this documentary will take you through an inspiring life that is far from being at its last chapter.

Christmas blogger and aspiring photographer Hannah Reed just got the assignment of a lifetime; visit a charming town and Christmas wonderland called Christmas World in Alaska which will allow her to photograph the Northern Lights and maybe finally get published in her favorite nature magazine.

Paul Venters is a self-centered plastic surgeon who is soon to be married to beautiful Susan, but doesn't get along very well with his fiancée's family, particularly Susan's brother Marty, an ex-con who is trying to stay clean after beating a nasty drug habit. To appease his future wife, Paul tries to mend fences with Marty by inviting him along for a camping trip in the Canadian wilderness.

Strict military rule and international sanctions kept Myanmar sealed off from the world for decades. The Vote observes residents of the bustling city of Yangon as they navigate their first democratic election in over 50 years.

A young mother is forced to shelter five soldiers for a night in her isolated house.

Famous 30s gangster John Dillinger will be dead in 5 minutes. Where does America's Most Wanted decide to go the night he dies? To see Clark Gable in Manhattan Melodrama. An unusual move for the savvy bank robber... unless, of course, that's how he wanted it to go.

The title of this French-Canadian film translates to In the Belly of the Dragon, but don't assume that it's just another kung fu epic. Rather, the film is a likeable mixture of science fiction and humor, centered around the money-making schemes of star David La Haye. Unable to make ends meet with his minimum-wage job, La Haye hires himself out as a guinea pig to genially loopy scientist Marie Tifo. It is the doctor's contention that a person's intelligence can be artificially increased. La Haye proves her right...up to a point, that is. Extremely popular in Canada, Dans le Ventre du Dragon has yet to receive proper distribution in the States.

This documentary explores the history of Canada’s first major migration of non-European and non-white refugees who arrived in 1972 when Ugandan President Idi Amin expelled all South Asians from the country. Their story of struggle and hope became part of Canada’s conversations about refugees and cultural pluralism, and informed the Canadian response to future refugee movements.

Zara lives an idyllic life with husband Max and their adopted daughter Rose in their historic Rhode Island home. But when school councilor Carly gets strangely close to her daughter and puts Zara on edge, she confesses she is Rose’s birth mum. With Rose in danger and Zara’s perfect life starting to crumble around her, will she find out the truth about Carly before it’s too late?

Boys' college in eastern Quebec at the end of the 1940s. Brother Jean is not a teacher like the others. He wants to interest his students in the subject and to achieve this, he conducts archaeological excavations with his students aimed at proving the establishment of a Viking colony (Vinland) on the coast of the Saint Lawrence. The superiors of his congregation do not appreciate his unconventional ways of teaching. Without knowing it, Brother Jean will have a significant impact on the lives of his students, particularly in that of Émile, a young man who is having difficulty at school and who would prefer to abandon his studies to go work in a factory.

Roy, an accident-prone blind man, falls in love with a young woman named Shirley. When Shirley’s overbearing father Frank lets his disapproval of their relationship be known, Roy and Shirley head off to Niagara Falls to open a restaurant as Frank plans to break them up.

Although Yingying’s mother was killed in a modern day persecution and the little girl is alone on the streets of Northern China, an enchanted art form could reunite them. Enter a child’s world, where hope and imagination are more powerful than police batons or state-sponsored violence, where noble determination conquers all.

The story of the problems caused by what became known as the Conscripton Crisis in 1917 Canada, which threatened to divide the country.

A 12-year-old girl finds herself stranded on a lonely Caribbean island with a 20-year old retarded man in this sensitively rendered Canadian drama from Quebec. Emile and Cedrine are first seen during their rescue in which both are nearly in a coma. Their story of how they got there and survived is told via flashback. The two were the only survivors of a plane crash and at first Cedrine is terrified of Emile, thinking he might lose control and rape her. Fortunately, Emile is gentle and the two become friends, playmates, and eventually lovers in scenes that exploit neither character.

Two crime "buddies" face off in a desolate urban hideout, as they anxiously await the drug deal of their lives. "La Haine" meets "The Blair Witch Project" with a dash of Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs." Made in Montreal on a shoestring budget, this ambitious little thriller has a lot more to offer than meets the eye. Deux petits revendeurs trouvent la combine idéale pour rapidement devenir riche. Voler 12 millions de dollars en héroïne au chef de la gang, puis attendre que les choses se calment... cachés dans la planque.

A professional race car driver's obsession with winning races causes communication problems between him and his wife that threaten to separate them.

Smoke Traders is an inside look at the world of the Mohawk tobacco trade.

Algernon is an old man who lives alone, having conversations with a porcelain cat and enjoys making things out of bones... he boils a neighbor's dead dog for the bones... and he is visited by an old friend who is dying of ailments and thus commits suicide, leaving a million dollars in a suitcase. A woman claiming to be interested in Algernon's Egyptologist great grandfather pretends to be in love with Algernon... and he almost falls for it.

Two teenage girls go to winter carnival in Quebec City for the first time. Their ambiguous, tentative relation with a young boy brings both of them the sweet intensity and disillusionment of first love. One of four film sketches on the problems of adolescents facing the adult world in the 1960s included in the anthology film That Tender Age (La fleur de l'âge, ou Les adolescentes). The three other sketches were directed by Jean Rouch, Hiroshi Teshigahara, and Gian Vittorio Baldi.

Office worker, Adam, quits work to return to his childhood home and settles into the comforts of his parent's backyard. A chance meeting with a friend from his past leads to them making a "Things to Do" list so they can fulfill some of their childhood dreams.

In May 2006, filmmakers John Bolton and Errin Clutton were given eight days and eight hundred dollars to produce the made-for-television disaster film "Breakdown". Unfortunately, they spent the first seven days in casting. On the eighth day, they cut together "Breakdown" with the only footage they had - the video from the casting session. This is that film.

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.

A soldier of fortune fights drug runners in Central America.

A pesky yellow cat becomes the bane of Mr. Johnson's life as it constantly outsmarts his increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of it.

After killing the crooked mayor, a homicidal janitor named Abdullah goes to work for a butcher who has invented a new language for the town's planned futuristic theme park. In the butcher shop is a septic tank where scraps of meat are dumped, which has produced "balonium," a radioactive fuel source sought by space aliens. The aliens revive the mayor, whose body is hanging in the meat locker of the butcher shop, in an attempt to gain access to the balonium.

Revisit the pivotal moments and courageous actions that ignited Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ movement. From early struggles to landmark victories, this powerful reminder of how quickly rights can be taken away highlights the ongoing fight for justice and equality.

Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard -- Canada's greatest showman - He didn't invent greed. He perfected it.

In the middle of the night, in the Québec countryside, all hell breaks loose as a black teenager is caught smashing a racially denigrating lawn ornament. Together the neighbours attend to justice against the vandal. Thorough the night there is mounting racism, fueled by alcohol, and violence. Le Nèg' opens the morning after when the police investigators arrive at the scene to take depositions.

After a shrimp-fingered incel discovers a passion for AI Art, his compulsion to create monsters bleed far beyond his computer screen.

A Codco documentary turned improvised drama about a woman named Dolly who, fed up with taking care of a group of ungrateful layabouts, runs away. The story is intercut with footage from another Codco project called "Borkin the Spineless Servant."

A trained actor, the protagonist is dreaming of playing tragic heroes of the classical repertoire, but his career is going nowhere. In order to earn a living, he becomes “Coquetti the Clown” and gets hired to entertain kids at birthday parties. In the film, we see him on his way to fulfill one of his usual contracts, or so he thinks, not yet knowing that a lifechanging experience awaits him.

A documentary crew from the BBC arrives in L.A. intent on interviewing Heidi Fleiss, a year after her arrest for running a brothel but before her trial. Several months elapse before the interview, so the crew searches for anyone who'll talk about the young woman. Two people have a lot to say to the camera: a retired madam named Alex for whom Fleiss once worked and Fleiss's one-time boyfriend, Ivan Nagy, who introduced her to Alex. Alex and Nagy don't like each other, so the crew shuttles between them with "she said" and "he said." When they finally interview Fleiss, they spend their time reciting what Alex and Nagy have had to say and asking her reaction.

After mysterious forces from an Indigenous extraterrestrial world, where colonization never occurred, seek her out, Alice must decide between staying in her hometown or coming to her true dimension.

The heir to a Burger Baron franchise, the filmmaker chases clues through rural Alberta, capturing the trials and tribulations of Arab immigrants while uncovering the saga of a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following.

Diane Messier lives on a farm in the Eastern Townships, near the American border, with her daughter Sarah and her two sisters, Carmen and Julie. Following a tragic accident, Diane feels constantly threatened and even believes her house is haunted. Worried by her daughter's actions, Angèle returns from Florida to bring comfort to Diane and try to reunite the family clan.

A true crime concert doc about David Byrne and two escaped convicts.

A separated couple meet again after 10 years when the body of their missing son is found. Amid the guilt of losing a loved one, they hesitantly move toward affirmation of life, acceptance of death, and even the possibility of reconciliation.

A misguided mother goes to extreme lengths to ensure her gay son finds a 'normal, upstanding' boyfriend .

There is no ‘best thing’ about having terminal cancer, but for forty-year-old Joe, being welcomed back into his childhood home, feeling the warmth and support of his sister and her husband and observing his young niece’s blossoming emotional maturity seem to give new meaning to a life he feels he had wasted. With unexpected humour, stark realism and quiet insight, Under The Weather is an uplifting meditation on one man’s graceful surrender to the inevitable and the palpable impact his passing has on those he leaves behind.

From Regina's personal and visual memories, a tribute to her uncle Thomas, who was an artistic inspiration and played a key role in her becoming a filmmaker. A moving tribute to a poet of the everyday.

While on vacation in Egypt, Tintin encounters an eccentric archaeologist who believes to have found the whereabouts of Pharaoh Kih-Oskh's tomb. There Tintin finds a cigar marked with a strange emblem.

Explore the secret world of the bodyguards who risk their lives to protect the rich, famous and powerful.

A suicidal tuba player hires a hit-man to rub him out. The next day he falls in love.

Twelve-year-old Simone feels painfully disconnected from the world after witnessing the brutal death of her mother. Simone, a solitary multimedia artist in her twenties, is struggling to control her crushing panic attacks and keep her day job in an underground parking lot. And Simone, a sixty-year-old physicist, is giving a conference on the nature of time. The three Simones' lives are intertwined in a labyrinthine meta-world where timeframes overlap, characters multiply, and storylines repeat and expand. But, for all its shuttling forward and back through time, ENDORPHINE remains grounded in the Simones' inner lives — it's an artistic examination of scientific phenomena that also poignantly explores how people deal with trauma.

An RCMP officer and a government representative uncover a KGB plot to assassinate the Premier of Quebec.

With doubts of delivering their first child in the hospital, Sarah and Kevin decide to hire a midwife to give birth safely in their own home. But their worst nightmare occurs when their midwife, Rose, conceives a different plan and kidnaps their newborn to have a grandchild of her own. Now Sarah and Kevin must find Rose, and most importantly their baby.

A curious gender-fluid child embarks on a path of kindness that will forever change the lives of their fellow townspeople in a quaint and picturesque village.

An expedition to climb British Columbia's highest mountain goes awry in the face of bad weather, a series of comic mishaps and the stubborn insistence of its leader on using antique climbing equipment.

A starving gendarme, wasting away from hunger, is reduced to grabbing castoff snacks from fat American tourists. When he sees as old woman feeding pigeons, in desperation he hits on the bizarre idea of dressing up as one...

After years of struggling with severe depression, a young man begins to open his heart, learning to love himself and others. When he becomes entangled in his therapist’s personal life, he discovers not only her need for support but also a tender, transformative connection with another man, Jackson. Through this intimate journey of trust, vulnerability, and queer romance, he confronts his past, embraces love, and finds hope in human connection.

An app designed to bring its users happiness helps a man build the perfect life, which he ends up destroying when he learns the app is faulty.

In the not so distant future, the war on drugs is considered a failure. Prohibition has ended. A group of friends risk their relationships and sanity, to create the perfect new drug.

When Kendra is admitted into group therapy, she becomes overly competitive about completing her weekly goals.

A young woman who is unknowingly in possession of a legendary "cursed tape" takes a collection of old video tapes to a video store. She and the store owner re-awake its curse, which leads to the release of a raft of cinematic villains.

Successful Hallie has it all - power, wealth, status - but she has no man in her life. Together with her friend Donnelee she goes out into the night to search for the right one. New lovers come and go without Hallie understand that true love is closer than she thinks - just across the street

Who's tougher; Star Trek or Star Wars, Uncle Ben or Aunt Jemima? In this dark comedy with an unusual twist, a couple of lifelong friends eat breakfast in a diner at dawn. They debate the outcome of epic fictitious battles while they delay the inevitable.