Comme un fleuve (Flowing Home)

Director Sandra Desmazières
Year 2021
Run Time 15min
Genre Animation

Over the course of 20 years, two sisters try to remain connected through a series of letters after their family is pulled apart by the Vietnam War.

Content note: Depictions of war and violence (in animation)

Director

Sandra Desmazières

Writer

Sandra Desmazières

Cast

Linh Dan Pham, Sara Martins

Producers

Julie Roy, Dora Benousilio

Genre

Animation

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Newcomer Stories

Original Language

French

Recrue (Rebel)

Director Pier-Philippe Chevigny
Year 2019
Run Time 15min
Genre Drama
A young boy brought along by his father on a vigilante border patrol looking for illegal immigrants starts to question the morality of the group’s actions.

Director

Pier-Philippe Chevigny

Cast

Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Édouard-B. Larocque, Émile Schneider, Sasha Migliarese

Producer

Geneviève Gosselin-G

Genre

Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

French

Lights for Gita

Director Michel Vo
Year 2002
Run Time 7min
Genre Animation
In her first winter in Canada after her family moved from India, Gita finds a special way to celebrate Divali, the Hindu festival of lights.

Director

Michel Vo

Genre

Animation

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Global Experiences

Original Languages

English, French

Sonatine

Director Micheline Lanctôt
Year 1984
Run Time 91min
Genre Drama

Actor and filmmaker Micheline Lanctôt won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for her second feature, the story of two teenage girls whose close bond, dreams, and sentimental whims are presented in a series of vignettes that move gradually from the seemingly trivial to the extremely dark.

 

Structured around three parts, the first follows teenage Chantal (Pascale Bussières), who pursues an infatuation with a bus driver (Pierre F. Fauteux), ultimately costing him his job. The second segment follows Louisette (Marcia Pilote), who has run away from home but finds temporary affection from a Bulgarian sailor (Kliment Denchev) in the port. In the third and final chapter, the two girls come together and make a grim, disturbing plan.

 

Micheline Lanctôt won the Genie Award for Best Director for the film.

Director

Micheline Lanctôt

Writer

Micheline Lanctôt

Cast

Pascale Bussières, Kliment Denchev

Genre

Drama

Interest

Female Filmmaker

Original Language

French

Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy Is at the Hairdresser’s)

Director Léa Pool
Year 2008
Run Time 97min
Genre Drama

It's the summer of 1966. The sun is shining and the world is full of possibilities. But for 15-year-old Élise (Fortier), there are issues simmering beneath the surface of her happy family life.

When a shocking discovery drives her mother to leave the family, everyone is stunned. Amid the chaos, Élise decides it's up to her to take matters into her own hands and solve the problems. While her father and two brothers withdraw into their inner world, Élise is not discouraged. Trying to keep her family's troubles a secret, she discovers that no one around her has a life as perfect as it seems at first glance.

A tender and touching story of coming of age in difficult circumstances, Mommy's at the Hairdresser's is a film full of rich, vivid colors that are wonderfully evocative of hot summer days. It's not exactly the summer Élise was expecting, but it will be a summer unlike any other.

Director

Léa Pool

A Member of the Order of Canada, Pool has earned three Genie Award nominations for Best Direction. Her films include Emporte Moi, Mouvements du désir, Lost and Delirious, La dernière fugue, Et au pire, on se mariera and Hôtel Silence, as well as the documentaries Pink Ribbons, Inc and Double peine. La passion d'Augustine won 15 awards, among them six Prix Iris, including Best Film and Best Director.

Writer

Isabelle Hébert

Cast

Marianne Fortier, Élie Dupuis, Hugo St-Onge-Paquin

Producers

Lyse Lafontaine, Michael Mosca

Genre

Drama

Interests

Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, LGBTQ2S+, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

French

Babine

Director Luc Picard
Year 2008
Run Time 112min
Genre Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

In the small village of Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, whenever something bad happens, the villagers blame Babine, the son of the village witch. Babine was born an outsider, and has spent his life being teased. When the local church burns down, the new priest becomes determined to find the culprit, and puts the blame on Babine, deciding he must be punished once and for all.

Babine is an offbeat comedy and a charming fairy tale filled with eccentric characters and has a strong message of acceptance that will resonate with audiences of all ages.

Director

Luc Picard

Luc Picard is a celebrated actor with over 50 film and television credits and two Jutra Awards to his name. He has directed Audition, Babine, Ésimésac, and a segment in the anthology film 9. Les rois mongols earned six Canadian Screen Award nominations. His latest film is Confessions and he recently starred in Arsenault & Fils and French Girl.

Writer

Fred Pellerin

Cast

Vincent-Guillaume Otis, Luc Picard, Alexis Martin, Isabel Richer, René Richard Cyr

Producer

Lorraine Richard

Genres

Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interest

Bullying

Original Language

French

Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme (The Journal of Aurélie Laflamme)

Director Christian Laurence
Year 2010
Run Time 108min
Genre Comedy, Drama, Family
She's shy, she's misunderstood — wait, hold that thought. Who’s that cute boy behind the counter at the pet store? Fourteen-year-old Aurélie Laflamme (Verville) feels a little alien on this strange planet of ours, so when she makes a new friend, things begin to look up… to the stars, perhaps, where Aurélie imagines she's from.

Based on the first novel of Québecois author India Desjardins, this quirky and endearing coming-of-age story about a girl lost in her own world is sure to delight.

Director

Christian Laurence

Montreal director Laurence has been working in film and TV for more than 15 years, focusing primarily on short films, including L’astronaute and Songs We Sing. Le journal d'Aurélie Laflamme, his first feature film, was nominated for three Jutra awards. He recently directed the TV mini-series La Derape, Manuel de la vie sauvage, and Haute démolition.

Writers

Christian Laurence, India Desjardins

Cast

Marianne Verville, Genevieve Chartrand, Aliocha Schneider

Producer

Claude Veillet

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Family

Interests

Literary Adaptation, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

French

La turbulence des fluides (Chaos and Desire)

Director Manon Briand
Year 2002
Run Time 115min
Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller

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

Briand is a filmmaker and writer whose first short film, Les sauf-conduits, won Best Canadian Short Film at TIFF. She also directed a segment of the anthology Cosmos. Her features include 2 secondes, La turbulence des fluides (Chaos and Desire, for which she won a Jutra Award), Liverpool and Tous Toqués !, all of which she wrote and directed.

Writer

Manon Briand

Cast

Julie Gayet, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Geneviève Bujold, Pascale Bussières

Producers

Roger Frappier, Luc Vandal, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Interests

Environment, Female Filmmaker

Original Languages

English, French

Bon Cop Bad Cop 2

Director Alain Desrochers
Year 2017
Run Time 126min
Genre Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Eight years after they met in Bon Cop Bad Cop (above), the comically mismatched duo of straightlaced Ontario cop Martin Ward (Feore) and scruffy Quebec cop David Bouchard (Huard) reunite to investigate yet another major crime in this long-awaited sequel. When their separate investigations unexpectedly cross paths, the pair must join forces to investigate a crime ring south of the border, giving the film plenty of hilarious opportunities to poke fun at the cultural differences between the two Canucks and their American counterparts.

Director

Alain Desrochers

Desrochers began his filmmaking career with over 100 music videos and commercials. His first feature, La Bouteille (The Bottle), earned him a Genie nomination for Best Direction. He has over 50 directing credits to his name, including the features Nitro, Cabotins (Has-Beens), Nitro Rush, Gerry, Security, and Bon Cop Bad Cop 2, as well as episodes of Les limiers, La marraine, Bad Blood, Transplant, and Le Bonheur, among many others.

 

Writer

Patrick Huard

Cast

Colm Feore, Patrick Huard, Erik Knudsen, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse

Producers

Pierre Even, Patrick Huard, François Flamand

Genres

Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Interest

Family Relationships

Original Languages

English, French

1991

Director Ricardo Trogi
Year 2018
Run Time 141min
Genre Comedy, Romance

Twenty-one-year-old Ricardo (Boucher) is a screenwriting student in Montreal, where he dreams about striking up a romance with his classmate Marie-Ève (Gosselin). When she announces that she’ll be going on an exchange trip to Italy, Ricardo can only see one option for himself: to follow her — and his heart — on the trip, and perhaps reconnect with his own Italian roots along the way. Of course, nothing on the trip goes as he expects, and connecting with Marie-Ève seems further away than before.

The charming and funny story is based on director Ricardo Trogi’s own coming-of-age experiences, and was a box office smash and winner of the Golden Screen Award (for biggest Canadian box office gross of the year). The film was nominated for 16 Prix Iris awards and won five, including those for best film and best director.

Director

Ricardo Trogi

Writer and director Trogi’s first film, Québec-Montréal, earned him a Jutra Award for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. His credits also include Horloge biologique, Le Mirage, and the coming-of-age trilogy 1981, 1987, and 1991. He recently co-wrote two seasons of La Maison-Bleue and directed the feature Le Guide de la famille parfaite.

Writer

Ricardo Trogi

Cast

Sandrine Bisson, Jean-Carl Boucher, Mamoudou Camara, Giuseppe Cantore, Juliette Gosselin

Producer

Nicole Robert

Genres

Comedy, Romance

Interest

Biography

Original Language

French