Discoveries from Canada World Cinema

Celebrated filmmaker Deepa Mehta investigates one of India’s most notorious crimes — the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a Delhi bus — in her angry, impassioned and essential new film.

A young gay millennial is forced to confront his complex feelings about his (sort of) ex when he finds himself invited to celebrate his ex’s engagement.

This is a didactic film in disguise. A progression of brilliant geometric shapes bombard the screen to the insistent beat of drums. The filmmaker programmed a computer to coordinate a highly complex operation involving an electronic beam of light, colour filters and a camera. This animation film, without words, is designed to expose the power of the cinematic medium, and to illustrate the abstract nature of time.

Sexy hijinks are in store for an adult film director who must deal with a difficult lead actress, an uninhibited cast and crew, and money woes.

This animated short is a parody of the Frankenstein story. Dr. Frankenstein creates a monster only to find out that his creation is too shy to go out and frighten anyone. The good doctor and his malevolent assistant Trevor try to find ways of helping their creation overcome his condition.

While his lonely wife yearns for his touch, disturbed husband Harry (Donny James Lucas) shuns her advances and throws his energy into his unusual hobby: abducting beautiful women and torturing them in his garage. This terrifying gore fest directed by Vince D'Amato is twisted enough -- until you find out it's based on real events. (Then, it's even creepier.) The supporting cast includes Cynthia Potvin, Dana McLoughlin and Tamara Pender.

A lecherous thief posing as a preacher is wandering in northern coastal Mexico. After stealing a car and evading police, he stumbles on a small coven of mysterious witches living in a seaside mansion. The preacher attempts to extort money from the witches, not knowing how dangerous they really are.

Despite the fact that he is completely unrepentant about his crimes, when Regis Savoie's son asks to visit him, prison authorities grant permission for the boy to come. The thief and murderer (Gildor Roy) takes advantage of the moment of his son's arrival to steal a gun and take flight. He settles some old scores, gets together with his girlfriend, and heads for the hills, pursued by a detective who is not to be swayed in his efforts to follow and recapture him.

This short documentary follows Gabe Etchinelle as builds a mooseskin boat as a tribute to an earlier way of life, where the Shotah Dene people would use a mooseskin boats and transport their families and cargo down mountain rivers to trading settlements throughout the Northwest Territories.

Scientists investigate mysterious disappearances at a research base where it has been reported a savage creature was spotted.

Upon learning of their mother's death, Samuel and Émilie, two mentally challenged siblings, run away from their group home in the middle of winter. As they go deeper and deeper in the forest, their relationship is put to the test.

A doctor living in a small mining town discovers that his dissatisfied young wife is having an affair with a truck driver.

When her mother’s depression spirals out of control, Fionna, a scrappy 7-year-old, lands in the foster care system again. A year later, her now beloved foster mom's health has taken a turn for the worse, and her caseworker’s arrival looms with the promise of yet another upheaval. Across town, having recently survived an interrupted adoption, her soon-to-be new moms struggle with their own fears that history will repeat itself. In the end, Fionna will be left to make a decision, as a family’s fate hangs in the balance.

In the '60s, the Mushuau Innu had to abandon their 6,000-year nomadic culture and settle in Davis Inlet. Their relocation resulted in cultural collapse and widespread despair.

Ricky is tired of being made fun of by everyone at school, particularly the school's newspaper editor, Tasha. When he decides to get revenge on her by publishing her phone number in the paper, however, his plan backfires terribly.

Four athletes revisit the Andes, pushing the limits of what's possible on mountain bikes, searching for a lost Incan road spotted nearly a decade earlier on a previous expedition (Chasing the Inca I).

A collection of recollections and opinions of and about Glenn Gould, interspersed with excerpts of archive footage of the great Canadian pianist speaking and playing.

How soap cleans? Part of the Science Please! collection for children.

A woman finds herself in the midst of the creation of a Myth.

A poetic crossover in a ruined world where each one survives alone in the collective disarray. The bodies in movement, dance and physical prowess replace the word and embody and reveal bruised characters, haunted by a past that is sweeter than this crumbling world.

Benjamin is "ghosted" by his lover.

Inuit traditional face tattoos have been forbidden for a century, and almost forgotten. Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, together with long-time friend and activist Aaju Peter, is determined to uncover the mystery and meaning behind this beautiful ancient tradition. Together they embark on an adventure through Arctic communities, speaking with elders and recording the stories of a once popularized female artform. Central to the film is Arnaquq-Baril’s personal debate over whether or not to get tattood herself. With candour and humour, she welcomes us into her world, to experience firsthand the complex emotions that accompany her struggle. Past meets present in this intimate account of one woman’s journey towards self-empowerment and cultural understanding.

Booky does everything she can to make an enjoyable Christmas, for her family, during the depression as her father is out of work.

When terminally unpopular Samantha meets a strange woman who offers to grant her three wishes, she soon finds herself in deep trouble.

After a violent car crash with her outdoorsman husband, Beth's limited survival skills are pushed to the breaking point as she's stranded alone in a forest filled with deadly supernatural threats.

An astrophysicist (Marion) and an extraterrestrial (Thomas) are in love. Tomorrow, they must say goodbye. It's the price they must pay to free Thomas from the horrible affliction he is suffering from on Earth. Thomas will leave our world and return to his planet. Marion accompanies him to the point of no return.

Struggling to deal with the loss of her husband, Mary has not yet been able to enter the room in which he took his own life, let alone even open the door. After starting to hear tormenting voices and strange noises coming from inside, Mary must finally confront the reality of her situation and open The Door.

A twinless twin struggles with her identity while a sheeted being attempts to rescue her.

Paul-Émile Borduas, Québec's voice of the Quiet Revolution, reflects on the impact of his writing and art in his Paris studio.

Brought by her mother to her first swimming lesson, a 7-year-old girl must find, on her own, her place in the unfamiliar world of the pool.

A dramatization inspired by the real-life events surrounding the recruitment and capture of Ahmed Ressam - aka the "Millennium Bomber". Ressam was convicted of smuggling a bomb into the United States as part of an Al Qaeda plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve, 1999.

As an adolescent teen attends his last day of high school before graduation, he begins to have mixed overwhelming emotions about concluding this chapter of his life.

11 international directors, 11 short stories and one protagonist: the PENIS. The penis as you have never seen it, feared it, conceived it, dreamed of it... in the first DICKSPLOITATION movie ever!

On a night like any other, Joelle is closing up her hair salon when a mysterious visitor appears asking too many questions about her citizenship.

A short look at the world of artist Arthur Lismer.

For Hannah, a broke, colourblind street photographer, spying on Vancouver strangers is a free escape—until mystical encounters and her own obsession shatter her already fractured reality.

Natalie navigates an abusive relationship while trying her best to convince her concerned friend that she is fine.

Soon after Kate moves into the house she inherits from her father, she begins to see strange images of young women being murdered. At first it appears as if she's losing her mind, but Kate soon discovers that her visions may be hereditary. As this young mom begins to piece together the mystery behind her new haunted home, she realizes that not everything is as it seems. Each clue she gathers in solving this puzzle brings her - and her daughter - another step closer to danger!

HOMME-RELAIS spotlights Juan Manuel, a doctor turned community leader who, amid migration grief and integration challenges, guides immigrant men through a life-changing program: forging resilience, belonging, solidarity, and hope.

A feature-length documentary about the famous Quebec Winter Carnival beauty pageant of 1975. Each year, seven beauties are carefully selected: a queen and six duchesses. A dream that many a young girl has cherished and lived... or experienced firsthand. They will have entered a competition marked by several stages. A tailor-made demeanor will have been demanded of them, one that has taken many hours to shape. The overall impression the viewer gets is captivating: the backstage of the Carnival is opened to an honest, yet wonderfully biased, camera.

“Submission is total.” A scrambled satellite signal sets the tone for the mixed messages of fundamentalism and politics. – The original images were recorded in 1995 as they appeared on a digitally scrambled two hour broadcast.

Christmas enthusiast Steph, has created a program, Six Degrees of Santa. When Steph's own gift lands in the hands of a leading internet entrepreneur, Jason, he's convinced that the original Santa might be his soul mate.

The story of Marquise De Prie, the wife of Marquis De Savoy and the mistress of King Louis XV.

Alanis Obomsawin, a North American Indian who earns her living by singing and making films, is the mother of an adopted child. She talks about her life, her people, and her responsibilities as a single parent. Her observations shake some of our cultural assumptions.

An ex-partner arrives and interrupts a seemingly pleasant date night. (ALTER)

A man tries to convince a woman that they have a future together.

What happens when one of OnlyFans’ biggest stars decides to open a university? Andy Lee is breaking taboos and building a business, one straight guy at a time. With fifteen years in the adult industry behind him, he’s now doing something nobody else has attempted: launching a real-life school for aspiring male performers, coaching, coaxing and filming straight-identifying men as they step into gay adult content for the first time. His new intake arrives with different motivations, quick cash, curiosity, ambition, or all three. What none of them expect is quite how much they’re about to learn, about performance, yes, but also about boundaries, identity and the surprisingly emotional experience of being truly seen.

McManus & Morgan is the oldest (and once most prosperous) paper shop in Los Angeles. Aardvark Letterpress is a family-run printing business dating back to the 1940s. Located on the same corner in Downtown LA, the two shops struggle to make ends meet in a decreasingly tactile world. A rare and fascinating inside peek into the archaic worlds of letterpress and paper-selling, this short documentary is a strangely touching story of two interdependent businesses hanging onto their livelihoods and passions, doing whatever it takes to keep their crafts – and dreams – alive.

This documentary presents a fascinating study of the great and enduring principles of international relations. Through this close look at Canada and the American Civil War, and the relationship between Canada, Britain, the North and the South, we get a sense of the delicate balance between war and peace, and the diplomacy involved. Part 7 of the series Struggle for a Border: Canada's Relations with the United States.

Phil and Jay share more than a family bond - failed careers, failed relationships, bottomless drinks, and a debilitating memory of a shocking encounter in a ravine one childhood day. The pretext of being strangers, the darkly comic ritual that the broken, non-functioning brothers perform in an attempt to get at their pain, can't cover the palpable connection between them, nor their deeply felt desire to find redemption. An accomplished pianist, Jay is working as a piano player in a lounge. Mike, one of the bar's patrons, makes a request for Jay to play Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infant defunte", which Jay refuses. This act masks an underlying secret both men share about their childhood.

A gender non-conforming person struggling to assert their identity unexpectedly finds courage in an aging master tailor.

Hubert Wolfe, bestselling author, suffers from the writer's block for a long time. Thus, he often used a ghost writer, the talented but taciturn Dany. While the deadline for his next novel approaches, Wolfe still requires the help of his secret accomplice. But Dany is going through difficult times and finds himself before a blank page. So he hires a second ghost writer, Quentin, child care educator who lives under the yoke of his mother.