Genre: Thriller
La turbulence des fluides (Chaos and Desire)
A Quebecois seismologist living in Tokyo returns to her hometown to investigate the strange disruption of the tides along the St Lawrence, in Manon Briand’s atmospheric and deftly humorous drama.
Suspecting that the cessation of the tides might indicate an impending earthquake, Alice (Pascale Bussieres) arrives in Baie-Comeau, Quebec to solve the mystery.
Confronted by numerous people from her past, unusual weather and the inexplicable behaviour of the locals (including Genevieve Bujold as the owner of a local diner who is convinced of a supernatural explanation), Alice’s scientific certainty begins to waver Though many of the locals’ stories don’t stand up to scrutiny, she starts to suspect that something beyond her comprehension may be happening.
"So visually energetic and smartly written that one never stops enjoying the sheer pleasure of looking at it." – Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
Director
Manon Briand
Writer/director Briand’s other features include 2 secondes and the TV movie Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story. For her feature La turbulence des fluides, Briand earned a Jutra Award and many other nominations. Her first short film, Les sauf-conduits, won Best Canadian Short Film at TIFF.
Writer
Manon Briand
Cast
Julie Gayet, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Geneviève Bujold, Pascale Bussieres
Producers
Roger Frappier, Luc Vandal, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Interests
Environment, Female Filmmaker
Original Languages
English, French
Small Town Murder Songs
A modern gothic tale of crime and redemption about an aging police officer (Peter Stormare) from a small Ontario Mennonite town who hides a violent past until a local murder upsets the calm of his newly reformed life. Also starring Jill Hennessy.
Director
Ed Gass-Donnelly
Writer
Ed Gass-Donnelly
Cast
Peter Stormare, Jill Hennessy
Producers
Ed Gass-Donnelly, Lee Kim
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interest
Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Spider
Director
David Cronenberg
Writer
Patrick McGrath
Cast
Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne
Producers
Catherine Bailey, David Cronenberg, Samuel Hadida
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Original Language
English
Un zoo la nuit (Night Zoo)
Director
Jean-Claude Lauzon
Cast
Corrado Mastropasqua, Lorne Brass, Gilles Maheu, Roger Lebel
Producers
Roger Frappier, Pierre Gendron
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Family Relationships, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
French
Les affamés (Ravenous)
In the bleak aftermath of an outbreak of zombies in rural Quebec, Bonin (Marc-André Grondin) struggles to survive along with the rapidly dwindling remaining population. When he encounters a group hiding in a house that is in the path of an invading horde of the undead, he must decide whether or not to save them, as doing so would put him and his companions in danger.
Les affamés is a brilliant and fresh take on the zombie genre, maintaining a tense atmosphere with exceptional moments of horror. It won the Best Canadian Feature prize at TIFF in 2017 and swept the Jutra Awards (now the Prix Iris) with ten wins, including Best Film and Best Direction.
“Robin Aubert's idiosyncratic and nuanced drama breathes fresh life into the zombie apocalypse subgenre.” - John Leydon, VarietyDirector
Robin Aubert
Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés premiered at TIFF 2005. Aubert also directed the feature films À quelle heure le train pour nulle part, À l’origine d’un cri, and Tuktuq, and starred in De père en flic, the critical hit Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre, Jeune Juliette, and Mon cirque à moi. His latest film, Les Affamés won Best Canadian Feature at TIFF 2017 and ten Prix Iris. He is currently completing his next film, Tu ne sauras jamais.
Writer
Robin Aubert
Cast
Charlotte St-Martin, Marc-André Grondin, Monia Chokri, Micheline Lanctôt
Producers
C.S. Roy, Stéphanie Morissette
Genres
Action/Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller
Original Language
French
Enemy
A mild-mannered history professor seeks out his exact lookalike after spotting him in a movie. A tense, adventurous thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal in a dual performance.
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Writers
José Saramago, Javier Gullón
Cast
Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent
Producers
Miguel A. Faura, Niv Fichman
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
Arts and Culture, Literary Adaptation
Original Language
English
ARQ
Director
Tony Elliott
Writer
Tony Elliott
Cast
Rachael Taylor, Robbie Amell, Shaun Benson
Producers
Mason Novick, John Finemore, Kyle Franke
Genres
Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller
Original Language
English
Pouvoir intime (Intimate Power)
A security guard at a government ministry tries to plan a heist with the help of some ex-cons, but it may all be blown apart by another security guard who takes his job very seriously.
Director
Yves Simoneau
Writers
Yves Simoneau, Pierre Curzi
Cast
Marie Tifo, Pierre Curzi, Jacques Godin
Producer
Claude Bonin
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Original Language
French
Hobo with a Shotgun
This cult favourite started as a fake movie trailer in Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse. It includes several Canadiana Easter eggs and a memorable performance from Rutger Hauer, who at one point delivers a dramatic monologue to an audience of newborn babies.
A gleeful, gory sendup of 70s exploitation films, Hobo with a Shotgun delivers plenty of shocks, mayhem and vigilante justice, “one shell at a time.”
Director
Jason Eisener
Writer
John Davies
Cast
Molly Dunsworth, Gregory Smith, Rutger Hauer
Producers
Niv Fichman, Rob Cotterill, Paul Gross
Genres
Action/Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Interest
Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
L’Inhumain (The Inhuman)
Mathieu (Samian) may be a brilliant and successful neurosurgeon, but his life is far from perfect. When his long-term prescription drug habit is exposed, and his wife discovers he’s been having an affair, Mathieu faces professional and personal consequences. His father’s sudden death prompts Mathieu’s return to the northern Anishinaabe community of his youth and the remote forest cabin where he goes to scatter his father’s ashes. But what begins as a respite from his chaotic life to a place he thought he’d left far behind becomes a battle with something far darker. Haunted by painful memories and hunted by the legendary Wendigo, Mathieu faces demons both figurative and literal.
A rare French-language Indigenous genre film, L’inhumain is the directorial debut of Anishinaabe producer and writer Jason Brennan. It’s a thrilling and evocative parable about the dangers of feeding the monster inside.
Director
Jason Brennan (Anishinaabe)
Writer
Jason Brennan (Anishinaabe)
Cast
Samian (Algonquin), Véronique Beaudet, Jeanne Roux-Cote, Sonia Vigneault
Producer
Jason Brennan (Anishinaabe)
Genres
Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Indigenous Filmmaker
Original Language
English