Discoveries from Canada World Cinema

WW2: in an occupied France, a young Jewish girl wants to become a movie star.

An independent drama about two brothers trying to patch up the holes in their relationship, while coming to terms with their personal differences. One brother has moved away from home rather than confront his family with the fact that he's gay; he eventually has a reunion with his older brother, who ran away from home years before, with no explanation regarding where he went and why.

This documentary examines the media's coverage of the Canadian federal election of May 1979. Filmed over a 3-week period, it takes a fascinating look at journalists in action and the politicians who attempt to manipulate the media.

After five years of travelling abroad, Alex arrives back in Montreal. All he has with him are a back-pack and a slip of paper with an ex-girlfriend's address scrawled on it.

Joan Morrissey lit up a room. She was a lounge singer six nights a week and raised her six children. She sold over 50,000 records and when a record company sent her a cheque for $38.00 she took them to court.

GAZA brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict. Throughout its entire history the Gaza Strip has been witness to conflict and upheaval. From ancient times this tiny coastal territory, located at a crossroads between continents, has been a pawn whose fate rested in the hands of powerful neighbours.

The Pedlar is a dramatic film based on the short story by W.D. Valgardson, A Place of One's Own. Tired of the rootless, lonely existence of a travelling merchant, a man searches for a place to settle down, and someone to share his life.

Seeing is to painting what listening is to politics. Survival as an artist demands both. Paint Until Dawn is a documentary on art in the life of James Gahagan (1927-1999), who painted all night to push the limits of vision. His life and thought reveal a correlation between art and activism through an interesting angle: the creative process itself.

In rocky Newfoundland, renowned French artist Jean Claude Roy gathers his paints and sets off to face the day. Whether it be freezing snow, violent wind, or pouring rain, he commits vibrant colors to canvas and conquers the day by weaving crooked beauty out of difficulties.

In this adaptation of the 1977 sci-fi novel, "The Adolescence of P-1," a high school whiz kid's computer program accidentally hooks into the mainframe computer of a nuclear power plant.

This feature documentary examines the destruction of the tundra barrens of northern Canada for mineral mining, including that of Canadian diamonds. Many species have been threatened by this development, including the caribou and the Eskimo Curlew, a bird that flew the sky in thousands which is now nearly extinct. This film makes a compelling case for planned conservation in one of the last unspoiled wilderness regions left in the world.

A short biography on the love life of writer and critic John Ruskin

An absent-minded sigillographer gets Tintin involved in a dangerous political intrigue in the Balkan nation of Syldavia.

When Eddie, a successful but insecure actor, is saddled with his Alzheimer's-stricken father after he’s kicked out of Rotten Apples, a nursing home for emotionally inept old men, he must figure out the fastest way to get rid of him—in time for his life-changing Zoom audition with Darren Aronofsky, a role which could finally get him the Award he has always dreamed of.

The US detonated 67 nuclear weapons over the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands during the Cold War, the consequences of which still reverberate down four generations to today. "NUKED," is a timely new feature documentary focussing on the human victims of the nuclear arms race, tracing the displaced Bikinian's ongoing struggle for justice and survival even as climate change poses a new existential threat. Using carefully restored archival footage to resurrect contemporaneous islanders’ voices and juxtaposing these with the full, awesome fury of the nuclear detonations, NUKED starkly contrasts the official record with the lived experience of the Bikinians themselves, serving as an important counterpoint to this summer’s Oppenheimer.

A man sets a ping-pong ball into motion and it becomes fruitful and multiplies.

The God of Thunder, Thor, uses his divine will to empower his descendant Grant Farrel with the ability to harness the power of the heavens. It now falls to this new hero to keep the peace and stop Hell from coming to Earth.

Documentary about the making of Pascal Plante's film “Red Rooms” (2023).

Crime short starring Dominique Pinon and Bernard Montiel.

A short horror film.

Short film about the underground part, both geographical and social, of the city of Montreal, through the obsession of a business magnate for a young woman.

For the first time in decades, Simon and Jonathan can agree: their late father would have hated the farce surrounding his funeral. ”We should have spread his ashes over Gouin Reservoir.” The spur-of-the-moment idea quickly becomes a plan. On impulse, they rent a houseboat and set off with the ashes. The two brothers venture out onto the vastness of the reservoir, foolishly hoping to find the cabin where their father taught them to fish when they were young. But the watery expanse is much larger than they remember, and their relationship has disintegrated more than they thought. Enclosed in a confined space as they pass through dizzying, winding wilderness, Simon and Jonathan have no other choice but to confront what they have become, reconnect with what is hidden in the depths of their souls and reveal their true natures to one another. Originally planned as a memorial, the fishing trip turns into a journey of discovery that will forever change the two brothers.

Jean and André have organized a birthday brunch for their 89 year-old mother, Imelda. But things turn sour when the birthday girl finds out that her gift isn't what she'd been hoping for.

An in depth look at the insanity of hit-to-pass racing.

Frank (Lorne Cardinal) lives alone on his family’s ancestral Cree lands, but water levels are rising due to climate change, and evacuation seems more necessary every day.

Toronto-based documentary filmmaker and cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier (Four Wings and a Prayer, Watermark) examines the complex global impact that the internet has had on matters of free speech, privacy and activism.

Tijuana is a mystical city and the scene of different stories, where the characters search for meaning in their lives.

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.

Four Anglo-Canadians and a New Yorker find themselves in a two-week long total French immersion program in the fictional, remote town of St-Isidore-du-Coeur-de-Jésus, tucked away somewhere in Northern Quebec. The place is perfect for total immersion since, according to the most recent census, 99% of the population is comprised of pure laine Quebeckers for the most part unilingual French, fervently nationalist, and all, save one person, named Tremblay.

As they prepare to test products for a multinational corporation, a marketing company targets a typical guy as their guinea pig.

Over a year after their meetcute in a grocery store, Mark and Delaney prepare to spend a couple weeks at Delaney's parents place, but Delaney must attend an art exhibition first.

A young man sustains his lifestyle by keeping the company of wealthy older women. But everything changes when he meets hip, young Gabi and he starts breaking his own rules.

Three stories are created by three artists who happen to meet together on the same subway. The painter visually depicts the life of a lonely immigrant woman who seeks companionship with the window repairman. The writer creates a story of a elderly man who seeks happiness because of the recent lose of his wife. The director films a story of an immigrant actor who struggles with his religious and sexual identity in the new land. The fictional characters become part of the creators world as they appear on the subway with them, imagination becomes reality.

Two people from different parts of the world find themselves facing their own mortality in war torn Bosnia. Separated by language, it's the sound of Willie Nelson's guitar that connects them in a way that will forever change their lives.

Jack Wycoff is a successful young author whose double is the notorious gangster Cy King. Mistakenly arrested, Wyckoff finds himself handcuffed to an attractive lady. Wycoff escapes custody and flees across the country with the law in hot pursuit, refusing to establish either his true identity or his innocence until the lady unwillingly trapped at his side agrees to marry him.

The house hippo is a fictitious species of hippopotamus, and the subject of a Canadian television public service announcement produced by Concerned Children's Advertisers

A feature-length documentary which examines a deeply disturbing episode in Canadian history, when an impoverished couple was coerced by undercover law enforcement agents into carrying out a terrorist bombing. Further, viewers learn that this case is far from unique in the context of Canadian intelligence.

Talk show host Marc Morin is at a crossroads in his career and in his personal life. The ratings of his show are failing and he is losing touch with his family. In an effort to regain the love and respect of his audience, Marc’s agent decides to send him, against his will, on a humanitarian mission to Haiti. Nothing can prepare Marc for the journey on which he is about to embark.

In this mother-daughter story, a young woman explores her own mortality through art and poetry as her terminal illness holds her back from a normal life.

A father with his younger son moves to Canada along with his family to live with his Canadian son and his family. Instead of adopting Canadian Culture, They started imposing their own way of living. The problems start when the culture of both family collides.

Montreal 1992 —Estranged from his cancer-stricken mother, Stan, a quixotic 19-year-old, dons a disguise and joins a therapy workshop for disfigured patients in a misguided attempt to reconnect with her.

This over-the-top gorefest tells the story of a young girl who has to combat a large collection of bad guys to escape graphic torture. She takes inspiration from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies circa 1980 unleashing a parade of violence that turns the whole screen red.

Boys and Girls is a 1983 Canadian short film directed by Don McBrearty. It is based on Alice Munro's short story of the same name, written in 1968. It is a coming of age story about a girl growing up on a farm having to accept that in her lifetime she will always be considered "only a girl." The film won an Oscar in 1984 for Best Short Subject.

Years after a turbulent teenaged love affair, Rose and Rex reconnect as adults. As secrets from the past are revealed, their worlds are thrown into upheaval and a former flame is reignited.

Rami, a young man who lives with his Lebanese family in Montreal, walks with a debilitating limp. His controlling father, Ziad, insists on making Rami's choices for him. Ziad wants Rami to enroll in business school, but Rami, who is lonely and a bit of a dreamer, doesn't have his heart in it. When a young woman Rami's met online suggests they meet in person, he hatches a plan to pass himself off as Romeo, the businessman persona he assumes online.

Two Canadians, one Liberal and one Conservative, attend a U.S. convention focused on depolarizing politics, determined to engage in tough conversations for a healthier democracy.

By inviting viewers to take a closer look at the birds that serve as one of this country’s hardiest symbols, Karsten Wall’s stunning documentary invites a deeper consideration of the conditions we humans have created for them.

On a summer day in the 1950s, a native girl watches the countryside go by from the backseat of a car. A woman at her kitchen table sings a lullaby in her Cree language. When the girl arrives at her destination, she undergoes a transformation that will turn the woman’s gentle voice into a howl of anger and pain.

Fortunate are those who are able to live the rest of their lives with whom they first fall in love with. "Baljit Singh Deo" The film reflects a journey of a young man Abahijot (Harbhajan Mann), which holds so much excitement, dreams, sadness, happiness, hate and love. Parting from your loved ones is only a phase everyone goes through but the love remains strong in the hearts of those who are left

A comedic thriller.

This documentary short introduces us to the Caravan Stage Company, the world's only horse-drawn open-air theater. Every summer it tours British Columbia and Alberta, bringing live entertainment to communities where television is often the main diversion. In a montage of short sketches, the film shows the troupe on the road and in performance. Hard work and laughter are basic ingredients of this unconventional lifestyle.

From unlikely origins in northern Québec at the height of the Cold War, Voïvod’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi aesthetic, fuelled by a youthful obsession with their instruments, took them from underground success to sharing dates and tours with Iron Maiden, Rush, and Metallica. Despite adversity, and perhaps by cosmic intervention or just serendipity, Voïvod found guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain; subsequently, the band re-ignited their engines and laid a course back to Morgöth via numerous live shows around the world, a comeback album in Target Earth, singles, EPs, and finally, the late-career triumph, The Wake. In 2019, Voïvod were recognized by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with a Juno Award for best hard rock/metal album of the year for The Wake.

Nathan is a six year old boy with a lot of imagination. He loves to dress up as monsters, superheroes. He would rather play with someone else than with his own imagination, but who? Maybe the new nanny.

A middle-aged theatre manager imagines his life situation to be reflected in the wolves at the local zoo.

A Parisian named Cartier living in Quebec City and employee of a major English Canadian insurance company is promoted to a job in Vancouver. He brings along his annoying and hyperactive Quebecquer wife and his two young kids. Rolling on a trailer van and with no knowledge of the English language, it becomes a Trans-Canadian wacky journey for the French-speaking family, and might influence Mr.Cartier to reconsider accepting this important position...

A quiet painter, separated from his wife for a year, receives a suitcase in the mail from his mother, whom he hasn't seen since infancy. He believes she abandoned him to his wealthy, paternal grandparents. The suitcase contains mementos and a diary, a long letter to him, written over the years, with details of her youth, her first job as a pianist at a cinema, the coming of talkies, her marriage, and how he came to live with his grandparents. As he reads through the materials and her story comes to life, his son Antoine, who's about 10 or 12, tries to break through his father's silence and sorrow by taking matters into his own hands.

A dropout gets the margins of society and resists his father’s pressure to return to the bosom of the village. The film transcends anecdote by diving into a wacky and unusual universe, full of fantasy, imagination, and visual and sound gags.