Videoteca

location_onMontreal, QuebecpublicCA

Seeing Through the Darkness 2024
Carried by an immersive sound environment that plunges us in the reality and the perceptions of these resilient and inspiring people, this film questions our own blindness face to violence and suffering of our time — despite the overabundance of images that reach us — and highlights the urgency of lending an ear to hear these stories.

Fantas 2024
Worlds and genres collide one summer afternoon as a young woman and her horse make a surprising and eventful odyssey in this richly cinematic drama by Montreal's Halima Elkhatab

Diary of a Father 2024
To fill the absence of his six-year-old daughter living in Berlin, a Montreal filmmaker keeps a film diary which takes him back to his relationship with his adoptive father and his biological father, whom he never knew. His diary also becomes a reflection on cinema by revisiting the work of filmmakers who influenced him such as Ingmar Bergman and Wim Wenders. Diary of a Father is a poetic response to making the separation between a father and his child bearable.

In Praise of Shadows 2024
A meditative state of wonder where the fleeting beauty of shadows evokes our place in the world, the passage of time, and the very essence of life and its fragility.

Atikamekw Suns 2024 star_border 7
Manawan, 1977. A vehicle falls into a river near a Native community. Two Quebecers managed to escape, but five Atikamekws lost their lives. While the police conclude that it was an accident, the victims’ families are left with unanswered questions. A historical, poetic and choral tale, Soleils Atikamekw is inspired by the dreams, impressions and memories of the relatives of the five victims. In an intimate, humanistic approach, the filmmaker involves the families both in front of and behind the camera. Documentary and fiction come together in a deeply moving film about grief, injustice and memory.

The Skates 2023 star_border 7.8
An adolescent girl’s figure skating lesson becomes the latest battleground in the marital warfare between her parents in Halima Ouardiri’s piercing family drama.

Mother Saigon 2023
In Saigon, family culture carries on as it has for centuries, even when blood ties are broken. Through a mosaic of intimate portraits, Má Sài Gòn explores humanity’s universal desire for love, acceptance, connection and belonging through an LGBTQ+ lens. The film is a love letter – a bittersweet ode to a comforting yet disturbing mother, to a city that is as liberating as it is oppressive.

Forests 2022 star_border 9
In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back the stories of this forest.

Resources 2021 star_border 7.5
Co-directors Hubert Caron-Guay and Serge-Olivier Rondeau follow migrant workers through the steps in the hiring process of a community-based employment assistance organization. The filmmakers highlight the migrants’ difficult path by capturing conversations between the future employees and the recruiters. Through images shot on a body camera and a minimalist observational approach, the film exposes harsh and poignant realities. It draws parallels between the changing of the seasons and the cycle of the cattle industry that begins with animals being raised and cared for at a ranch and ends with them being sent to the abattoir grimly looming in the background. Ressources is a sobering and thought-provoking work that gives a voice to those who are at the heart of the food system that sustains this country.

Amani 2021 star_border 8
In this tale, halfway between reality and fantasy, a mysterious narrator tells us the story of Amani, a young boy passionate about dance. But as the night begins to rumble, Amani’s joie de vivre disappears to give way to his pain.

The Greatest Country in the World 2021 star_border 7
In a province not so distant from ours, now controlled by a far-right government, the borders are closed and immigrants, now under threat, are desperate to get out. A Haitian woman hands over her young son to a thirty-something Quebec man before fleeing. With help from a Vietnamese former refugee, they try to solve the mystery.

zo reken 2021 star_border 8
Today, 11 years after the massive earthquake in Haiti that left over a million people homeless and killed hundreds of thousands, the country has still not recovered from the disaster. Despite billions of dollars in aid money, Haiti struggles with some of the highest levels of poverty and unemployment in the Western hemisphere. In Port-au-Prince, various citizens are shuttled through a city in crisis. Maneuvering around barricades, garbage dumps and the packed streets of the capital, they speak candidly about the current state of their country. Through the car window a frustrated population passes and occasionally interacts with the passengers in the vehicle. Beautifully shot, with a lively score, Zo Reken presents a complicated portrait that testifies to the magnitude of the tragedy and highlights the disorganized state of international aid.

Beneath the Surface 2021
Hoping to reconnect, three brothers embark on a fishing trip with their father, whose absence from their childhood has left them with lasting scars. For Stéphane, Jean-Pierre, Jérôme and Laurent, this is a chance to find some answers, and maybe even to make their peace with the past.

Under the Same Sun 2020
For more than a century, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region in Azerbaijan with an ethnic Armenian majority. With an empathetic ear to both sides, this film delicately unpacks the sensitive subject of ethnic nationalism in the South Caucasus. Using poetic visuals and a mesmerizing, immersive soundscape, Under the Same Sun introduces us to the viewpoints of writers, activists and everyday citizens. Through these interviews, the film raises an urgent and timely question: How does one retain a belief in universal human rights in the face of aggressive propaganda and increasing ethnic nationalism?

I Might Be Dead by Tomorrow 2020 star_border 6
In Montreal, front-line workers work hard to provide appropriate care to the most vulnerable citizens in our society.

Jongué, A Nomad’s Journey 2020
This documentary is a road-mind movie that immerses us in the fascinating world of photographer-writer Serge Emmanuel Jongué.

Prayer for a Lost Mitten 2020
The night is falling and Montreal is under the snow. People line up at the lost and found office of the city’s transit company. They all have lost something, which, upon reflection, becomes the symbol of a deeper loss. Prayer for a Lost Mitten is a creative documentary by turns melancholic and festive, yet ever compassionate. A film that helps us get through the winter.

A Woman, My Mother 2019
Filmmaker Claude Demers tells the story of his search for his biological mother and their eventual meeting. He does this in voice-over, accompanied by images from Canada's national archives. The painstakingly selected and fluidly edited black-and-white clips build up, like the perfectly fitting pieces of a puzzle; an impression of his mother as he had imagined her. How she grew up, worked, loved and left him.

Dog 2019
In a Guadeloupean village, a young boy adopts a stray dog. Devastated by his new companion’s sudden disappearance, he sets out on a quest through this unknown island.

Printemps Now! 2018 star_border 7
How Montreal is transformed from winter to spring. Inspired by Berlin: Symphony of a great city, Printemps Now! is a cinematographic poem, an audiovisual symphony of the city of Montreal transitioning from winter to spring.

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