Luc Proulx

La partie

Bernard is an austere man whose sole occupation is to care for his beloved Line, who is very ill. Their son organizes a sugaring off party that forces Bernard to reconnect with the exhilaration of spring.

A Happy Man

Pierre, a French professor of quantum physics, inherits an inn from his aunt Jeanne in the Lac St-Jean region. He arrives with his daughter and settles in the small village of Sainte-Simone-du-Nord, home to just 400 residents. The locals, however, greet these “strangers” with suspicion—especially the village mayor, who once had a falling-out with Jeanne, the Frenchwoman. He manages to rally the townspeople to make life difficult for these newcomers from across the Atlantic. Yet Pierre’s good humor is unshakable, and he refuses to be discouraged—even without electricity, heat, water, or a car.

Soho

Soho, an aspiring young woman of about 30, lives on the fringe with all those who, like her, believe that one day they will be a famous writer, a star dancer or a famous director. While waiting for that day, they take up yoga, positive thinking, or various forms of electronic macramé. One hot summer evening, Soho meets 18-year-old Choubie, the other generation with a bright future ahead of her. At 102o, in the shade, in a suburban basement, Soho realizes that she is no longer young, almost poor, and that meditation has not opened the doors of any paradise, even earthly.

What Remains

Following a criminal act perpetrated by a small group of young men, several questions remain unanswered. While François searches for them, he must maintain control over his emotions, but struggles with his impulses and rational thoughts.

The Passenger

Yakuza Naoki Sando discovers his daughter Hiroko in bed with his adopted son Kohji. Three years later, Kohji is working the streets as a hustler, still yearning for a way to earn his estranged father's approval to continue his borderline incestuous relationship. Hiroko sees a way back to her brother's arms when Sando's shady colleague Marc Tanner absconds to Canada with gambling funds destined for the big boss. Presumably with her father's permission, she calls Kohji and tells him to hurry to Montréal, recover the money and kill Tanner.

irlande cahier bleu

An anachronistic firefighter, a quotidian poet, and an expert soup-maker, Ducarmel also plays in a competitive basketball league. There’s only one problem with his hobbies: finding a babysitter to look after his daughter. Moreover, when he dozes off in the evening, he dreams… a little too forcefully. In his bizarre dream world, a beguiling blue book reigns, love looms, and he is the best basketball player of all time.

L'oreille d'un sourd

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.

Happiness is a Sad Song

The disjointed story of Anne-Marie, an unemployed publicist pounding the pavement in Montreal with her mini-cam, collecting testimonials on the subject of happiness. She meets a medley of characters whom she engages in engrossing, thought-provoking discussions.

Angelo, Fredo, and Romeo

Fredo just inherited his uncle's company but it bores him. Then he meets Angelo, a French movie director that introduces to the magical world of feature films. Suddenly, Fredo sees himself in different films. Soon, Fredo discovers that Angelo has a hidden agenda...

Trudeau

This docu-drama spans fifteen turbulent years in the political and personal life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, one of the most enigmatic and polarizing Prime Ministers in Canadian history. The film explores the many facets of his character and his vision for his country which has both inspired and frustrated Canadians.

The Fading

In the heart of a foggy and rural Quebec winter, Luce, a grieving mother faced with the disappearance of her son, is taken aback when three local hunters track down the alleged killer, a seemingly harmless young man. When it is proposed to her to take revenge on the latter, the spirit of the masses slowly takes possession of her tragedy as the group sinks into the forest.

L'érotisme et le vieil âge

The director deals with the subject of the sexuality of older people, an often taboo subject. The actress Louise Portal and her partner Jacques Hébert participated in this documentary. They share their experience with us.

The Widow of Saint-Pierre

In 1850, on the isolated French island of Saint-Pierre, a murder shocks the natives. Two fishermen are arrested. One of them, Louis Ollivier, dies in custody. The other, Neel Auguste, is sentenced to death by the guillotine. The island is so small that it has neither a guillotine nor an executioner. While those are sent for Auguste is placed under the supervision of an army Captain.

À toi les oreilles

While the townsfolk are celebrating the village's anniversary parade, Étienne tries the impossible: to show them how beautiful his family’s cacophony really is.

Skyline

A man tormented by old age reluctantly accepts to abandon the last remaining tie to his youth: his motorcycle.

The Three Madeleines

Three women who share a familial bond but little more come to know each other better in this beautifully-photographed drama. Marie-Madeleine (Sylvie Drapeau) is a photographer in her mid-30s who, for the first time, has come into contact with Mado (France Arbour), her biological mother, who put her up for adoption shortly after she was born. Marie-Madeleine is to take a long road trip for a magazine assignment, and she invites Mado along. Joining the two women is Marie-Madeleine's daughter (Isadora Galwey), who has yet to meet her German father. The three women share their thoughts and ideas as they travel through an idyllic setting to photograph birds. Les Fantomes des Trois Madeleine was shown at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors Fortnight series.

Amoureux fou

When Remy, an ad consultant, falls in love with Sarah, the newest star of an ad campaign, sparks fly. The only problem is that they are both married. Sarah's husband knows she will eventually get tired of Remy while his wife just can't let go. At first she throws him out, begs him to come back, cheats on him, hates him, and finally slumps into the worse depression ever. It is amazing what love can do...

Sous bois

During an unusual event, seven-year-old Max finds a way to confront a schoolmate who constantly threatens him. This act of courage demonstrates his father how to forgive.

Bonzaïon

To liberate his friend who's been taken hostage by a sorcerer who's after a large ransom, a young man decides to take control of a marijuana plantation, not knowing that it belongs to his dad and that the marijuana production goes to an artist's agent.

Ravenous

In an isolated rural community of Quebec, Canada, some inhabitants attack other people, hungry for human flesh. A few survivors gather and go deep into the forest to escape them.

The Art of Speech

Koroviev, a police officer who teaches poetry in a brigade of police poets, is in search of a precious Bible annotated by Pierre Maheu, the captain of the St. Elias, a legendary ship. His quest leads him to befriend a young thief who introduces him to a mysterious woman named Coriandre.

A Sunday in Kigali

In April 1994, the middle-aged Canadian journalist Bernard Valcourt is making a documentary in Kigali about AIDS. He secretly falls in love for the Tutsi waitress of his hotel Gentille, who is younger than him, in a period of violent racial conflicts. When the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda begins, Bernard does not succeed in escaping with Gentille to Canada. When the genocide finishes in July 1994, Bernard returns to the chaotic Kigali seeking out Gentille in the middle of destruction and dead bodies.

Le Pays des âmes (a jazz fable)

In today's Montreal, the devil, through discreet manners of seduction, takes liberty upon death. A brave trumpet player in love with a damned soul must fight him.

An Imaginary Tale

In this tragicomedy, Toni is the director of a staged rendition of Othello in Montreal. It is a pet project of his, financed by his loving mafia uncle. Unbeknownst to him, the audiences are also rounded up (and paid) by the same uncle. Some of them have seen every performance of this tragic play, and are understandably bored, so when the backstage romantic shenanigans of the actors result in absurd situations onstage, the audience is delighted. There are a huge number of romantic situations going on in this film at the same time. One of them involves Gaston a somewhat world-weary jazz musician, and Florence, a glamorous middle-aged woman who has been pining for him for years. Another involves to members of the musician's jazz trio. Yet another involves the play's Desdemona, Soledad, the girlfriend of the man playing Othello, who can't keep his hands off his (female) dresser.

The Far Shore

Navigating the treacherous social tides of high school, Marine is cut adrift by Océane, her older sister who’s caught in the thrall of an older man. Meanwhile, their mother struggles to keep her head above water.

The Party

At a maximum security prison, there is preparation for the annual party where entertainers and strippers are scheduled to perform. But not everyone is having fun. A man is sent to solitary, his wife has a nervous breakdown, and a convict prepares to make a daring escape.

February 15, 1839

In 1839, months after the British army has repressed the insurrection of the Patriots, hundreds of rebels are still in prison. The morning of February 14, Marie-Thomas Chevalier De Lorimier and Charles Hindelang learn that they will be hung in 24 hours, with three others. While they await their death the condemned spend time and consult with companions and loved ones as well as entrust to those their last wills. At dawn, the five Patriots will walk to the scaffold, knowing will they die.

Babine

The adventures of Babine, the son of a witch and a village pariah, as he ventures forth into the world and narrowly evades death.

My Very Own Circus

A girl who comes from a long line of circus performers tries to fulfill her dream of going to private school.

Gerry

Born into a modest family, Gerry Boulet found fame with the Québec rock group Offenbach. After a life of drug and alcohol abuse and a great love story, Gerry died of cancer in 1990.

The Crime of Ovide Plouffe

Ovide Plouffe has married Rita. She still tries to attract other men even after their marriage. Unhappy Ovide feels for Marie - a young French woman he had met. But his catholic background and surrounding can't let him love another woman or divorce from his wife. So Ovide finishes with Marie and plans a trip with Rita hoping for reconciliation. At the last instant he announces to Rita that he can't make the trip. She goes alone. The plane explodes, and Ovide is suspected and arrested for this horrible crime.

Old Buddies

Pierrot is serene and has no fear of his premature death. He asks his childhood friend Jacques to help him end his days well. This unusual approach will lead the two friends to a peaceful end.

Truffle

Chaos ensues after global warming transforms a working-class Montreal neighborhood into a world Mecca for truffles.

Full Blast

A strike at a sawmill in a small Canadian town puts Steph and Piston out of work. They want to resurrect their band but Marie-Lou, Piston's ex-wife and the band's former lead singer is not enthusiastic about the idea. Meanwhile Steph is having realtionship trouble with Rose, an older woman that he's been seeing and drifts first to Marie-Lou and then to Charles, who once left town but is now back.

Night Zoo

Marcel, recently released from prison, attempt to rebuild his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (now a prostitute) and especially his father Albert (who thinks he's been away on a long trip abroad), while being pursued by two corrupt cops (one of whom bears a longstanding grudge against him) for drug money he's alleged to possess.

Chaos and Desire

Suspecting that the cecassion of the tides may indicate an impending earthquake, Seismologist Alice arrives in her hometown of Baie-Comeau, Quebec to commence her investigation. Soon confronted by numerous figures from her past, the unusual weather and inexplicable behavior of the citizens lead Alice to believe that something beyond her comprehension is occurring to her old hometown...

He Shoots, He Scores

After a horrible bus accident, a hockey team return to form.

Montreal Stories

Six stories about Montreal. 1: A young housewife from Toronto samples the nightlife using basic French. 2: The tale of a painting of Montreal's first mayor, Jacques Viger. 3: During a hockey game, Madeleine tries to tell Roger she wants a divorce after forty years of marriage. 4: A visitor to a conference on pictographs arrives at the airport, where the female customs officer steals a momento from each person. 5: As she is being driven to the hospital in an ambulance after an auto accident, Sarah recalls her life. 6: At a diplomatic reception, an older woman reminisces about her grand love in Montreal.

The Rocket

The story of Quebec's most beloved hockey player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, focusing on the struggles of a French Canadian in the National Hockey League dominated by Anglophones.

Séraphin: Heart of Stone

The story takes place during the colonization of the Laurentian region in Quebec towards the end of the 19th century (approx. 1885-90), near Sainte-Adèle. An unscrupulous man, Séraphin Poudrier, dominates the small community using his wealth. Mayor of the village, he will marry Donalda Laloge, after her father, unable to repay his debt, gives her to him in marriage. Donalda, a gentle and submissive woman who was promised to the handsome Alexis Labranche, rather, he will live his life according to the wishes of this petty and contemptuous miser, but will never let his situation get him down.

The Necessities of Life

In 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family

Chili's Blues

At a Montreal railway station, passengers are stranded because of a snowstorm. One of the stranded, Pierre-Paul, discovers a young schoolgirl on the brink of suicide. While he searches for someone to intervene, Chili, the young girl, disappears, only to reappear of her own accord after Pierre-Paul's fruitless search. This brief encounter leads to flashback revelations and interaction among the supporting characters also stranded in the storm.

Il faut que je parle à mon père

One day, David leaves town to pay a visit to his father. A somewhat ordinary trip to the country. But looking closer, thousands of little details catch your attention. In usual films, these details are arranged to build a story, while we tried to subject the story to its details.

Take Me to a Nice Place

After mankind drove itself to the brink of extinction, a zealous lone survivor hunts his way across remote Canadian landscapes in search of knowledge and materials in order to reshape humanity. Ten years later, a woman raises 10 same-age children and prepares them for the sacrifices they must make in order to save the human race.

Streetheart

Louise is living in Montreal, unemployed. Her sister Paulette often gives her a hard time. She only gets to see her poetry-quoting married boyfriend Julien once a week. She hangs out a lot at the dance studio in her building... Louise decides to offer an hour of her time to strangers on the street. "An hour of myself", to do whatever they want to do. But one hour precisely, that's it. This leads to many different situations, some funny, some sexy, some sad. Louise talks to someone who later turns out to have been an undercover reporter. The reporter anticipates a bad end for Louise...

News, news

That winter in Montréal, there is a girl. Three captains are wooing her. Cinema killed Jean-Baptiste Lamirande, the disastrous Liberator, who comes back to life just before Christmas. Héloïse, an amnesiac actress who lost her watch, has been reported missing.

Waiting for April

Waiting for April is a romantic, epic cop comedy freely inspired by songs and medieval fables collected by storyteller Michel Faubert. Detective Haffigan investigates a mysterious singing bone, a talisman endowed with dangerous powers, and chased after by a coterie of second-rate outlaws. The bone turns out to be in possession of Mithridate, a seductive actor with a gorilla’s right arm. Haffigan expresses romantic interest in the charming comedian, but he rebuffs her, instead setting his sights on Eleonore, a cashier at the Bank of Permanent Fog, who promises to liberate him from the bone’s curse.

L'automne sauvage

After two boys are found dead and scalped in a remote cabin, a corrupt police chief puts the blame on an innocent indigenous man. Charlie Miton, who left this town a decade ago and never thought he'd come back, returns to help clear the name of his friend and find the truth.

The Train

Quebec, 1960s. Agathe, an asthmatic child, lives with her mother Thérèse, a melancholic artist. At night, the recurring siren of a train fuels her vision of a parallel world where travelers from the future pass through. As a teenager, Agathe meets Frank, a young writer, who allows her to cross the border between the present and the future.

The Octopus Factor

A man confronts painful memories of a love affair now over. But he is perplexed by the appearance of a disgusting creature that he just can't get rid of. But can one really release oneself from the abominable things that haunt us?