La femme de l’hôtel (A Woman in Transit)

Director Léa Pool
Year 1984
Run Time 89min
Genre Drama
Andrea Richler (Baillargeon) is a well-known director who returns to her hometown of Montreal to film a big-budget musical. At her hotel, she has an unsettling encounter with an elderly woman (Marleau). This encounter is forgotten until later, when we begin to realize that the events in this mysterious stranger’s life are somehow mirroring the fictional events of Andrea’s film.

Truth may indeed be stranger than fiction in this intriguing drama by one of Canada’s best female filmmakers. Winner of two Genies and the Toronto International Film Festival’s Best Canadian Feature Film award, this intimate and emotional film is sure to captivate.

Director

Léa Pool

Pool has earned three Genie Award nominations for Best Direction. Her films include Emporte Moi, Mouvements du désir, Lost and Delirious, La dernière fugue and the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc. Her recent films include the doc Double Sentence and the features La passion d'Augustine and Et au pire, on se mariera.

Writers

Michel Langlois, Léa Pool, Robert Gurick

Cast

Paule Baillargeon, Serge Dupire, Louise Marleau, Marthe Turgeon, Gilles Renaud

Producer

Bernadette Payeur

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, Classics, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

French

La passion d’Augustine (The Passion of Augustine)

Director Léa Pool
Year 2015
Run Time 103min
Genre Drama

Céline Bonnier stars as Mother Augustine, a passionate and resilient Catholic nun who teaches music to children of all backgrounds in a convent school in rural Quebec in the 1960s. When her rebellious but musically gifted niece (Lysandre Ménard) joins the convent, Mother Augustine must confront a past that she strives to forget.

With the looming changes brought by Vatican II and Quebec's Quiet Revolution, the local government threatens to shut down the school in favour of public education, and Mother Augustine must search her soul for a solution – or perhaps a new calling. She and her fellow nuns are forced to confront the waves of modernity, but can Augustine move forward, or will she perish with tradition?

The film was nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards including Best Actress for Bonnier, and Best Original Score.

Director

Léa Pool

Pool has earned three Genie Award nominations for Best Direction. Her films include Emporte Moi, Mouvements du désir, Lost and Delirious, La dernière fugue and the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc. Her recent films include the doc Double Sentence and the features La passion d'Augustine and Et au pire, on se mariera.

Writers

Léa Pool, Marie Vien

Cast

Céline Bonnier, Lysandre Ménard

Producers

Lyse Lafontaine, François Tremblay

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, Female Filmmaker, History

Original Language

French

Don’t Tell Santa You’re Jewish!

Director Jody Kramer
Year 2010
Run Time 4min
Genre Animation
A young Jewish girl is worried that Santa will treat her differently from the other kids.

Director

Jody Kramer

Writer

Jody Kramer

Producer

Jody Kramer

Genre

Animation

Interests

Arts and Culture, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Director Bharat Nalluri
Year 2017
Run Time 104min
Genre Drama

After a string of flops, Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey) finds inspiration from his own life to write his most famous work, A Christmas Carol. With a tight deadline and doubt over how successful a Christmas book can be, Dickens must work around the clock and ends up living out the novel’s most famous scenes in his own study, in order to find the story that would come to be beloved by millions.

Also featuring screen legend Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge, The Man Who Invented Christmas is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the creation of a classic and beloved novel, and a charming portrait of one of the most famous authors of all time.

“A surprisingly fresh movie about a story we all know very well.” - Peter Howell, The Toronto Star

Director

Bharat Nalluri

Writers

Susan Coyne, Les Standiford, Charles Dickens

Cast

Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce

Producers

Niv Fichman, Robert Mickelson, Vadim Jean, Ian Sharples, Susan Mullen

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, Asian Filmmaker, Biography, History

Original Language

English

Aboriginality

Directors Dominique Keller, Tom Jackson (Cree)
Year 2007
Run Time 5min
Genre Action/Adventure, Animation
A young boy is transported through his television set to the scene of a traditional Indigenous hoop dance, encountering his family's cultural heritage in a new way. Includes spoken word rap in English and in Cree.

Directors

Dominique Keller, Tom Jackson (Cree)

Writer

Dominique Keller

Cast

Dallas Arcand (Kipohtakaw)

Producers

Dominique Keller, Bonnie Thompson

Genres

Action/Adventure, Animation

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Châde Wathte Yuta Wagichibi (Dancing with a Good Heart)

Director Heather Ketchemonia (Anishinaabe)
Year 2019
Run Time 3min
Genre Documentary
Students of the Morley Community School’s Pow Wow Academy reflect on the strength they’ve gained through their dancing.

Director

Heather Ketchemonia (Anishinaabe)

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Baba (Dance)

Director Jonathan Lawley
Year 2006
Run Time 3min
Genre Experimental
Different people, cultures and styles of dance come together in one expression of love and life. Choreographed by Tré Armstrong.

Director

Jonathan Lawley

Writer

Jonathan Lawley

Cast

Stacey Armstrong, Cassidy DeFreitas, Alana Elmer

Producer

Wayne Lawley

Genre

Experimental

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories

Original Language

Other Language

Blind Vaysha

Director Theodore Ushev
Year 2016
Run Time 8min
Genre Animation, Drama
This Oscar-nominated NFB animated short tells the story of Vaysha, a young girl born with one green eye and one brown eye. But colour isn’t the only thing that’s different about Vaysha’s gaze. While her left eye sees only the past; her right sees only the future. Like a terrible curse, Vaysha’s split vision prevents her from inhabiting the present. Blinded by what was and tormented by what will be, she remains trapped between two irreconcilable temporalities. “Blind Vaysha,” they called her. 

In this metaphoric tale of timeless wisdom and beauty based on the eponymous short story by Georgi Gospodinov, filmmaker Theodore Ushev reminds us of the importance of keeping our sights on the present moment.

Director

Theodore Ushev

Writers

Georgi Gospodinov, Theodore Ushev

Cast

Caroline Dhavernas

Producers

Marc Bertrand, Julie Roy

Genres

Animation, Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, Global Experiences, Literary Adaptation

Original Languages

English, French

Bone Mother

Directors Sylvie Trouvé, Dale Hayward
Year 2018
Run Time 8min
Genre Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
A traveller wanders deep into the forest to visit Baba Yaga, a mysterious woman who is said to possess the powers of life and death.

Directors

Sylvie Trouvé, Dale Hayward

Writers

Lanan Adcock, Dale Hayward, Sylvie Trouvé

Cast

Rafael Petardi, Renee Madeline Le Guerrier

Producers

Michael Fukushima, Jelena Popovic

Genres

Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interests

Arts and Culture, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences

Original Language

English

Bus No. 9

Director Michael Downing
Year 1999
Run Time 3min
Genre Drama, Experimental
A chance encounter at a bus stop becomes an excuse for a sultry tango pas de deux.

Director

Michael Downing

Cast

Chinny Hoan, Marc Roumy

Producers

Jonathan Orson, Joel Awerbuck

Genres

Drama, Experimental

Interest

Arts and Culture

Original Language

English