Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment

A documentary about direct-cinema from its very beginnings (Nanook of the North) to the fake-direct-cinema of the Blair Witch Project. All the important direct-cinema filmmakers are portrayed and/or interviewed: Leacock, Wiseman, Maysles, Pennebaker, Reisz and others.

Back to the Land

Feature-length documentary as part of Pierre Perrault's Abitibian Cycle. The filmmaker questions the past and present of Abitibi and draws up, face to face, the promises of colonization in the 1930s and the great disappointment caused by the closing of the land in the 1970s. There are witnesses to the heroic era, including the cultivator Hauris Lalancette, as well as extracts from films by Father Maurice Proulx (1934-1940).

Belle famille

A working class family leaves St-Henri quarter in Montréal to build a new home in the countryside.

Friday: About Cars

"Montréal under the snow and the cold winter. It is the period of the year when the garage owners strike it rich. The automobile at the service of man? This small opus would rather show the contrary. This is one in a series of eight films titled “Chronicle of Everyday Life,” a project that filmmaker Jacques Leduc took four years to realize, and whose goal was to revisit Direct Cinema at a moment when it was already heavily “contaminated” by mainstream TV." - Anthology Film Archives

Cesar's Bark Canoe

"This documentary depicts a canoe being built in the traditional manner. Cesar Newashish, a 67-year-old Attikamek of the Manawan Reserve North of Montréal, uses only birchbark, cedar splints, spruce roots, and gum. With a sure hand he works methodically to fashion a craft unsurpassed in function or beauty of design. Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Native Peoples whose traditional craft it is. The film is free of spoken commentary but text appears on the screen in Cree, French, and English." - Anthology Film Archives

The Things I Cannot Change

"This feature documentary is considered to be the forerunner of the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. The film offers in inside look at 3 weeks in the life of the Bailey family. Trouble with the police, begging for stale bread, and the birth of another child are just some of the issues they face. Through it all, the father tries to explain his family's predicament. Although filmed in Montreal, the film offers an anatomy of poverty as it occurs throughout North America." - NFB

Little Burgundy

"This film is one of the first French Unit productions of the “Société Nouvelle/Challenge for Change” program. When an old area of Montréal is to be demolished to make way for a new low-income housing development, is there anything the residents can do to protect their own interests? The film documents such a situation in the Little Burgundy district of Montréal and shows how the residents organized themselves into a committee that successfully influenced the city’s housing policy." - Anthology Film Archives

Michel Brault, l'instinct de vue

Strobus / Banksiana : les racines d'un opus double

A first look at Strobus / Banksiana: a musical and visual work supported by two important protagonists of the Quebec forest: the white pine and the jack pine. Duu's second album, first double album : each half is distinguished by its sonic palette, its writing style, and the type of conifer that surrounds it. This short documentary offers an intimate glimpse into the creator's journey through the paths that led him to conceive this personal diptych, where he embraces his duality in this visceral desire to celebrate nature every day.

The Best Way Is by Accident

After the death of her adoptive father, a young filmmaker delves into his video archives only to realize that she never filmed him—except once, by accident. As the end of the world approaches, she now sets out to capture the extraordinary in the ordinary… which, too, is destined to disappear.

Zaroorat Ki Purti

Joel Hunt: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Joel Hunt served as a combat engineer from 1998-2007, with multiple tours in Iraq. While there, he endured more than 15 roadside bombs, and experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Today, with the help of his dog, Barrett, he uses sports to push through the challenges of having a TBI.

Hidden Heart

Hidden Heart follows the stories of three second generation British Muslim women who find love outside their faith. The film delves intimately into their struggle to reconcile modernity with tradition; their internal conflicts and fear of ostracism and sheds light on the hidden tensions in our modern society between integration and tradition and the people who are at the heart of it. The film explores a new vision of cultural identity, defying the notion of a so-called 'clash of cultures' and challenging barriers to understanding between different communities. Although focusing on the lives of British men and women, the film will strike a chord with any and all of those around the world living in a tight-knit community, under pressure to maintain their identity.

Brasília - A Última Utopia

Six episodes set in and focusing on the history of Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Episode list: A Paisagem Natural (dir. Vladimir Carvalho), O Sinal da Cruz (dir. Pedro Jorge de Castro), A Volta de Chico Candango (dir. Roberto Pires), Além do Cinema do Além (dir. Pedro Anísio), Suíte Brasília (dir. Moacir de Oliveira) and A Capital dos Brasis (dir. Geraldo Moraes).

Mad City Chickens

Witness if you will Gallus Domesticus--the backyard chicken. From healthy eggs to the family's new favorite pet, the chicken is forging a fresh place in the pecking order of human importance. From leading experts to suburban newbies, experience the humor and heart of what's fast becoming an international phenomenon--the return of the urban backyard chicken!

Que Pasada

An experimental take on the true crime genre along a stretch of highway in the American West.

We Are Zama Zama

In South Africa’s abandoned mines, men scrabble for gold, using hand hammers and bicycle head-lamps, often remaining underground for days, often without food. Their survival is dependent on their hands – and luck. They are gamblers, or Zama Zama, who hope to scrounge a living from exhausted veins despite crumbling mineshafts and criminal overlords because at home in Zimbabwe they have nothing, there is nothing. The video footage is shot by miners with GoPros and in spite of harrowing conditions, we see uplifting camaraderie, caring collaboration and inspiring good cheer, as we are taken into their subterranean lives, guided by director-producer-anthropologist Rosalind Morris. Above ground, they smile. Gangsters prey on them, and the women cough from the glass-like dust of the rocks they crush by hand. But still they smile. An extraordinary story of human endurance, not to be missed.

Red Children

Among the ”Red Guards“ of China’s Cultural Revolution were foreign children, the sons and daughters of both European and American ex-pats who left their home countries to help build Mao’s China. Eventually, Chinese society turned against them and they were persecuted as foreign spies. Some served time in prison, others were sent to labor camps.

The Bright Path

Eastern Ukraine, May 2014. Part of the historic Donbas region falls to pro-Russian separatists. Young journalist Stanislav Aseyev reports for several Ukrainian media outlets from Donetsk, his hometown. In May 2017, he is kidnapped and spends 962 days in detention, mainly in a former cultural center, converted into a prison, called Izolyatsia —or Isolation.

Verliebt in Stauden

Professor Dr. h.c. Karl Foerster - his cultivations and developments of wonderful perennials offer a wide range of possibilities for beautifying residential areas and gardens and creating space for recreation.

I Am Heath Ledger

The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.

Daguerréotypes

An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.

For the Love of Spock

The life of Mr. Spock, as well as that of Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played him for almost fifty years, written and directed by his son: Adam.

To Be Takei

Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.

My Mom Jayne

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

Human

A collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human. Through these stories full of love and happiness, as well as hatred and violence, it brings us face to face with the Other, making us reflect on our lives. From stories of everyday experiences to accounts of the most unbelievable lives, these poignant encounters share a rare sincerity and underline who we are – our darker side, but also what is most noble in us, and what is universal. Our Earth is shown at its most sublime through never-before-seen aerial images accompanied by soaring music, resulting in an ode to the beauty of the world, providing a moment to draw breath and for introspection. This film is a politically engaged work which allows us to embrace the human condition and to reflect on the meaning of our existence.

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Being James Bond

Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)

Captured during Billie Eilish's sold-out world tour, a concert experience from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation, presented in immersive 3D.

180° South

The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.

Dior and I

Behind-the-scenes documentary revealing what goes on inside the colourful, privileged, and sometimes stressful Christian Dior fashion house.

Above Majestic

A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.

Justin Bieber's Believe

A backstage and on-stage look at Justin Bieber during his rise to super stardom.

On the Adamant

The Adamant is a unique day-care centre. A floating structure located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits. The team running it tries to resist the deterioration and dehumanisation of psychiatry as best as they can.

Baraka

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Babies

A non-narrated documentary following the lovesome lives of four infants from birth to their first birthday. The babies featured are two from rural areas: Ponijao from Opuwo, Namibia, and Bayar from Bayanchandmani, Mongolia, as well as two from urban areas: Mari from Tokyo, Japan, and Hattie from San Francisco, USA.

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe

A look at the story behind Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from all of the Marvel films, the Marvel One-Shots and "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."!

Girl Rising

Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.

Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics

A documentary detailing the epic Rogues' Gallery of DC Comics from The Joker and Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Darkseid and more, this documentary will explore the Super Villains of DC Comics.

Samsara

Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.