When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
May 20, 1980. After his father's passing, Raymond Tremblay, tax investigator, begins to suspect the funeral home of fraudulent activities. Accompanied by his daughter, little Lucy, he decides to go investigate in his native Saguenay against the backdrop of a referendum on Quebec's sovereignty.
I, Barnabé takes a luminous look at a desperate man’s existential crisis. During a night of stormy drunkenness, he receives a visit from a mysterious bird and is forced to reconsider his life.
Two decades after Ezekiel Hart is denied his seat in the assembly, Louis-Joseph Papineau's government enacts religious tolerance laws in Lower Canada.
VICTOIRE traces the story of Victoire Du Sault, founder of the shoemaking industry at the origin of the Dufresne fortune, better known for the castle that bears their name in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Although the entrepreneurial spirit and professional career of this visionary command admiration, it is above all her romantic impulses which form the heart of this melodrama where impossible love, a sulfurous love triangle and a family secret intertwine. upsetting which risks leaving no one unscathed.
Tommy, a little boy who lives alone with his mother, sees a circus set up near his home. He sets off to discover this new world.
Smaragdin was selected at the Annecy Festival in 1960 and constitutes an astonishing contribution to the history of experimental animation cinema in Quebec and Canada. Carried by a text by Lucile Durand (Louky Bersianik), narrated by a young Marcel Sabourin, this totally independent film, based on mixed techniques including salt animation, was forgotten for sixty years.
The wife of photographer J.A. Martin decides to go with him in his tour of the hard Canadian countryside at the turn of the century. She hopes the intimacy will revive their marriage.
A martian comes to a small town in Quebec and becomes friends with the town children. He gives them candy to get the children into his spacecraft. This alarms the parents but he wins them over and they have a great big Christmas party.
Two friends meet after 15 years. They have a complicated and intimate past that becomes impossible to deny in spite of intentions to the contrary.
Montreal, a multigenerational house loaded with books, paintings and knick-knacks, so many memories revived on the evening of one last Christmas Eve. Luc, a retired pediatrician and teacher in his eighties, lives with his son François, a pediatrician like his father, and François' wife Esther. Suffering and physically diminished, the old man has now decided to end his life. In a corrosive and sensitive verbal joust, he asks his son to end his days in privacy. The son then takes him on an existential and circus-like journey through the streets of Montreal where the father is supposed to go to his final destination, a hospital where he will be confronted with his ultimate wish: the choice between the finality of medical aid to die or a return to square one, the small pleasures of what remains of his life, alive.
A young boy learns the rituals of what his father and his friends perceive as manhood on a weekend hunting trip.
Manon, is obsessed with famous writer Chester Celine, who hails from Wyoming. Manon learns Chester is coming to town and becomes a slinky, svelte temptress
A middle-aged man travels to France and is discouraged by the attitudes of the people concerning his native land until he meets and begins relationships with two lonely women.
This meditative French-Canadian film tells the story of a young woman's search for the father she has never known. Marie Chapdelaine (Carole Laure) grew up in a remote area of Quebec without ever knowing her father, a lumberjack. She moves to Montreal, settles in there with a job as a topless dancer and begins her search for him. Eventually, with the help of his former mistress, they find the lumber camp he was working in, only to discover that he was killed in a labor dispute.
A young photographer is entangled in a terrorist plot against a right wing politician in an election campaign.
A philandering wife and a sleazy womanizing con-man team up to off a troublesome father-in-law in this acid-tinged French Canadian black comedy. Leon, the con-artist makes his living cheating Catholic bingo players by hosting bogus religious pilgrimages. He is involved with a woman, but that doesn't stop him from getting involved with the frustrated Sophie who hates living in a tiny apartment with her lazy husband, her ever-gloomy teenage daughter and her husband's demanding, self-centered father, Emile. Sophie is so desperate to escape and start a new life that she convinces Leon to help her kill Emile who allegedly has $150,000 tucked away. The murder is to occur during one of Leon's pilgrimages. He convinces his son Paolo, an ex-con, to assist. Despite their careful planning, nothing prepares the would-be killers for the surprising result.
Mathieu Roy's L’Autre maison is an intimate and powerful family drama featuring three generations of great Quebec Actors. Marcel Sabourin plays Henri Bernard, an 86 year-old man with a failing grip on reality. His sons, a jet setting middle aged photo-journalist (Roy Dupuis) and a younger pilot-in-training (Emile Proulx-Cloutier) disagree on a course of action, leaving the father and the younger son inhabiting a rustic cottage in the woods. As the older man's health deteriorates, options become more limited; when an IED accident in Afghanistan kills the photo-journalist's translator, the family must come together like never before. Shot in Quebec, Iceland, Africa and Asia, Another House blends elements of memory, perception and lyricism into a remarkable cinematic mix that moves the story well beyond direct domestic issues into a visual realm that balances nature and humanity.
Jean Pierre Lefebvre’s short comments on history and film’s role in it.
Geneviève Saint-Louis, a bachelor and neurotic careerist, refuses any form of engagement. Her aunt Aline, a former cabaret singer, arrives at her home with the ulterior aim of avoiding placement in a reception center.
1952: Bishop Bilodeau visits a prison to hear the confession of Simon, a boyhood friend jailed for murder 40 years ago. However, once there, Bilodeau finds himself forced to watch a play put on by Simon and the other inmates depicting the two men's youths. As the play progresses, the tragic truth of Simon's crime comes to light.
Commissioned by the Toronto International Film Festival to mark the event's 25th anniversary in September 2000, the "Preludes" program consisted of ten short films by Canadian directors which were inspired in some way by the festival. Each film screened as a prelude to a feature film in the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival program. The full "Preludes" anthology was screened on the web in November 2000, and was given theatrical retrospectives at the TIFF Lightbox in the subsequent years.
After another cardiac arrest, Armand knows he doesn't have long left to live. But after more then 70 years in the same house, he doesn't want to die anywhere other than at home. His wife Rose has secretly decided she will die as she lived: with him.
Invited to participate in a western festival, a singer tries to unravel the mysterious death of a friend.
Two bored Montreal housewives (Monique Mercure & Louise Turcot), with inattentive husbands (Marcel Sabourin & Donald Pilon), and lots of time on their hands, amuse themselves by paying the local tradesmen something extra to give them amorous attention. Their entertainment leads to frantic confusion, however, when one of the visiting gentlemen - shall we say - 'expires'. The housewives deal with their unpleasant situation quite energetically.
Henri was raised by religious in a convent and lived with them until the women, now elders, moved, leaving him alone. Henri fixes lamps. Since his young age, he's been replacing burned light bulbs and illuminates people's lives. After following signs, he finds himself working in a lamp company. Through his new work, he meets an old man trying to never forget his glory days and a blind woman, teller in an adult cinema, with whom he falls in love.
Jean-Paul is a public servant, tired of toiling at his soul-destroying job. As a writer, he feels out of touch with the times and longs for inspiration.
Loik, a disfigured sailor, is posted to a remote lighthouse with Morlaix, a tyrannical head keeper. But soon, the two men find themselves besieged by a strange storm.
Every morning, Marcel confides in his tape recorder. It is from his reflections on life that this film takes us into the wake of his story.
An eccentric old grandmother decides to leave her nagging daughter's house to live on her own. Her teenaged granddaughter seizes the opportunity to go too.
A retired archivist is annoyed and confused by a group of protestors who are angered by a mural inside the retirement home where he resides that glorifies colonialism.
Two roommates discover that the family of one of their girlfriends is populated with vampires.
Two young adults discover love by a beautiful Montreal winter night.
After surviving an attempt on his life by his former partner, officer Cliff Garrett (Norris) exacts revenge on those who wronged him by going undercover as a hit man. He works to gain the reputation and trust needed in order to be accepted by the burgeoning Seattle-area criminal underworld, but it is all done in order to take it down from within.
Two monks come to a small village to lead a simple life but their first act of charity is to try and seduce one of the village women.
Beaupré the Giant marked his era with his 8’3” height. Gone too young and far from home in 1904, his journey as a phenomenon was only just beginning. In a stunning series of twists and turns, his mummified body will take more than 80 years to find its way home.
In this French Canadian film, when the provincial government tries to move two young farmers from their land to make way for development, the two fight back, accidentally killing a policeman and becoming outlaws in the process.
This plodding piece of cinematic ambiguity finds a married couple engaged in boring conversation in a window as scenery changes behind them. When they manage to talk about love, some of the tedium is lifted in the wake of their amorous verbiage. This black and white effort from Jean Pierre Lefebvre depends on symbolic impressionism rather than plot.
One day Jean-Baptiste Beauregard (Pierre Curzi) does not go out to face work or daily activities, instead he daydreams about the women in his past, about his teenage years, his failed marriage, and even his boyhood desires. His mental images follow each other across the screen, revealing that the women in his life are all the same (different wigs and costumes on the same actress), and his love life never changes either. This sameness can have a dulling effect on the viewers, indicating that if Jean-Baptiste's reminiscences were trimmed and his daydreams more varied and exciting, he would hold interest a little longer.
A robbery at the secluded country home of a wealthy old man goes horribly awry.
An Irishman falls in love in turn-of-the-century Quebec (in Canada).
An atmospheric mood piece photographed in the winter at the giant dam built by Hydro Quebec in the northern wilds of the province. The story concerns a worker's wife, who is bored with her dreary existence in the wilderness. She walks around in the snow recalling how she met her husband, then goes to the landing field to catch a departing plane. But she remains when her husband tells her how much his work means to him. This moving and very humanistic tale represents the NFB at its best.
A family that does not conform to the social norms of a small village must suffer the intolerance of the other villagers when the mentally-challenged son falls in love with the schoolteacher.
The six members of the working-class Bessette family each mimic a certain stage of the life of the iconic Brother André and are an incarnation of his values and characteristics.
A young Jesuit missionary reflects on his life and his faith while awaiting his execution at the hands of the Native Americans he came to convert.
A pilot who has not flown in years due to an accident has to deal with unexpected visitors and financial woes on the day he decides to return to the sky.
A married man and his family take in his brother, who is coming out from a religious order. They decide to realise the old family dream, migrate to Florida. But it won't be as easy as they think.
A 30-year old man is forced out of his inert and absent-minded existence when it's complicated by the three women in his life.
A day in the life of a Quebec magazine writer - his fortieth birthday - from his dream before waking to his last act before sleeping. He looks back over his life, his thoughts, and his loves.
Defence attorney Gina Antonelli is sent to an Arctic village to defend 19 year-old Pauloosie, accused of committing a violent crime. Her rival, prosecutor Daniel Metz seeks the maximum sentence possible under Canadian law, but Gina comes to understand the reasons why the Inuits own justice system has worked for thousands of years. Pauloosie is caught between two rivaling justice systems, and his acceptance of guilt according to the Inuit system, will lead to imprisonment according to the Canadian system.
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.
Sigismond Langlois is submitted to a psychiatric evaluation on account of his violent behavior. He just turned 18, and pretends he was born with no image. Throughout the questionnaire, he recounts the peculiar existence of a young man who never saw himself, neither in reflection nor on photo, to the point of sometimes doubting of his own existence. But today, Sigismond is determined to make himself heard.
A meditation on society's attitudes and beliefs, as explored through a New France fur trapper's relationship with a Native woman that spans centuries.
In a little village at the end of the 1890's, a young woman offends all the 'right-thinking' villagers by allowing men in her house in the absence of her husband. When he is found dead, all of the suspicion is directed towards the liberal woman. She is judged more for her morality then for the crime she is accused of. Her culpability is still a subject of debate today.
A beautiful stripper hires renowned criminals to exact revenge on those who raped her in her motel room.
Benjamin, a 10 year-old boy, lives with his mother Charlotte since his dad, Christophe, left. Charlotte is expecting a child from Henri, but is hesitant to tell her son, whom doesn't know about his soon-to-be stepfather. The day of the Epiphany, Benjamin accepts to go help his grandmother Flore prepare the house for the holiday, since the family celebrates Christmas on January 6th also. The boy has prepared a nice gift for his young cousin Simon, suffering from an odd congenital disease. The night of the party, many surprises await the attendees.
Ben comes to volunteer for the first time at Paolo's retirement home, but something strange is going on there.
A pleasant fantasy about the setbacks experienced by a young man who loves costumes. His wife having left him, he goes after her to live some rather funny adventures.
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.
Three friends go on a fishing trip. Well ... that's what everyone believes.
A group of actors putting on an interpretive Passion Play in Montreal begin to experience a meshing of their characters and their private lives as the production takes form against the growing opposition of the Catholic church.
Chaos ensues after global warming transforms a working-class Montreal neighborhood into a world Mecca for truffles.
The uneventful middle-class life of Lebanese sisters Houwayda and Joëlle spirals into turmoil after Houwayda announces that she is accompanying Pierre, her Québecker husband, on a sabbatical year in France.
Juliette, 15, is the only child of an eminent judge and has had the best of education in the best of schools. Her father is in the limelight because he’s been chosen to preside over one of the most important trials of the past 10 years: the case of Réal Lamontagne, a notorious criminal accused of killing a child. Roméo, 17, is the son of the accused. Even though they come from diametrically opposed universes, Juliette and Roméo fall for each other.
In this French Canadian drama, the life of a paraplegic painter implodes when an old girlfriend comes back into his life and accuses him of raping her 15 years earlier.
In the near future, as humanity prepares to set foot on Mars, Jacob Obus, an elderly musician, takes pride in slowing down time by playing instruments inspired by women's bodies, designed by his friend Arthur. A love triangle develops when Jacob and Arthur both fall in love with Avril, a young photographer. Enter Eugène Spaak, Arthur's father, an inventor and cosmologist who unveils a new theory about man's desire to reach Mars and helps Jacob find the true meaning of life and love.
Four young women are participating on Idole Instantanée, a reality show produced by Omni Global, in which a complete stranger turns into a music star in just 24 hours.
A comedy drama about the fall, mourning and rebuilding of oneself around three brothers in their fifties who will have to reconnect after the death of their father who died prematurely from an unfortunate Ice Bucket Challenge.
A young woman arrives to Montreal to find love. A fortune teller tells her that a wealthy man meant for her is right around the corner so she goes looking even among her odd rag tag group roommates.
A young man making a documentary stumbles into a place of magic he never imagined truly existed.
At 97, filmmaker Fernand Dansereau delivers a vibrant and inspiring final documentary! He draws us into rich and sensitive exchanges: on the joy of creating with two painter friends, on aging as an artist with Marcel Sabourin and Denys Arcand, on old age with Janette Bertrand and Guy Rocher, on everyday wisdom with philosophers, and on spirituality and mourning with a few friends. He also talks about the future of the planet with his grandchildren.
A film about the actions of the Metis rebel leader who opposed the Canadian government in two seperate rebellions.
One of Canada's talented directors, actress Micheline Lanctot expresses an effective, engaging approach in this simple, poignant drama about Armand (Jocelyn Berube), a handyman with one problem romance after another. The quiet Armand settles into Montreal after his wife has left him and before long, he continues the momentum when an ill-considered liaison with a nubile woman ends on her insistence. Next, Armand gives his heart to a frustrated housewife, though this decision is hardly well thought out. In the meantime, a gay man who rents out a room in his apartment has unfulfilled longings directed at the unsuspecting handyman. L'Homme a Tout Faire won a Silver Medal for "Best Picture" at the 1980 San Sebastian Film Festival.