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Quebec Society (29)
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24 Hours or MoreGilles Groulx 1973 1 h 53 minThis feature film made during an exceptionally feverish period of popular revolt that saw the coming together of Quebec’s 3 main unions (CSN, FTQ, CEQ) is a cinematic tract by socially engaged filmmaker Gilles Groulx. Propped against the backdrop of the 1970 October Crisis, the film is a frontal assault denouncing a “consumer society” viewed as the ultimate embodiment of evil. -
Alexis Tremblay: HabitantJane Marsh 1943 37 minThis short documentary illustrates rural French Canadian life in the early 1940s. The film follows Alexis Tremblay and his family through the busy autumn days as they bring in the harvest and help with bread baking and soap making. Winter sees the children revelling in outdoor sports while the women are busy with their weaving, and, with the coming of spring young and old alike repair to the fields once more to plough the earth in preparation for another season of varied crops. One of the first NFB films to be produced, directed, written and shot by women.
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The Battle of Rabaska - Chronicle of an Environmental ConflictMagnus Isacsson & Martin Duckworth 2008 1 h 18 minThis documentary is the story of citizen activists opposing a methane tanker terminal practically on their doorstep. Lucid and compelling, the film shows citizen action pitted against powerful lobbies and reminds us to be vigilant faced with Quebec's environmental and energy-related issues over the coming years.
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Comfort and IndifferenceDenys Arcand 1991 1 h 48 minEnglish sub-titled version of a film showing facts and opinions that lead to the Québec referendum on independence in 1980, with the participation of a historical character: Machiavelli.
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CordéliaJean Beaudin 1979 1 h 55 minGuilty of loving life! A dramatization of an actual court case in turn-of-the-century Québec. A lively, outgoing woman is accused of murdering her husband in collaboration with the hired hand. The townspeople do not appreciate her robust personality and the proceedings in court degenerate to a judgment of her character. Filled with stunning visual imagery, this feature film captures the spirit of the time and place. Particularly useful for those interested in history, law or women's issues. With English subtitles.
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Cotton Mill, TreadmillDenys Arcand 1992 2 h 39 minEnglish subtitled version of a film showing factories' shutdown. Quebec textile workers organize themselves for better, healthier working conditions while the multinationals strenghten their empire.
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The Cat in the BagGilles Groulx 1964 1 h 13 minThrough the coming of age of a twenty-year-old man, this film symbolizes the political coming of age of the people of Québec. In French with English subtitles.
Soundtrack album, John's Coltrane's Blue World, available from Impulse! / Universal Music Enterprises. -
The Children of Refus GlobalManon Barbeau 1998 1 h 14 minIn 1948, Paul-Émile Borduas' Refus global manifesto proclaimed the end of the "reign of fear" embodied by the Duplessis regime. Fifty years later, all the history books mention this document which laid the foundations of modern Quebec. Daughter of one of the signatories, filmmaker Manon Barbeau takes a fresh look at this period. She went to meet the sons and daughters of Barbeau, Borduas, Mousseau and Riopelle, "children of Refus global" who, like her, suffered the consequences of their parents' revolutionary gesture. None of them emerged unscathed from a childhood made up of worries and abandonment, but also of a richness that only art can bring. Especially when it appears to us, as it does here, in the light of emotion.
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A Day in June1958 25 minThis short documentary profiles Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in Montreal in 1959. The annual parade takes place every June 24th in memory of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the patron saint of Québec. Candid shots of youngsters preparing their costumes for the festivities are partnered with a lively jazz soundtrack. All the Montrealers and out-of-town tourists featured in this film avidly participate in a public festivity that is dear to their hearts.
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The Devil's ShareLuc Bourdon 2017 1 h 42 minQuebec, on the cusp of the 1960s. The province is on the brink of momentous change. Deftly selecting clips from nearly 200 films from the National Film Board of Canada archives, director Luc Bourdon reinterprets the historical record, offering us a new and distinctive perspective on the Quiet Revolution.
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A License to Remember: Je me souviensThierry Le Brun 2002 51 minDirector Thierry Le Brun sets off across the province of Quebec in his documentary, to learn just what the license plate slogan "Je me souviens" means to Quebecers. Quebec license plates don't sport cutesy tourist slogans like "Canada's Ocean Playground" or "Land of Living Skies." Instead, they draw attention to the past with "Je me souviens" ("I remember"), a motto that cuts to the heart of Quebec history and society.
Le Brun rides a dog sled, goes ice fishing, visits an emu farm, joins the Carifiesta celebrations and even gets pulled over by the cops. Along the way he meets a cast of characters, both famous and unknown, with wildly differing views on the provincial motto. "Je me souviens" becomes a Rorschach ink blot into which Quebecers peer, each with their own interpretation, showing the concerns of the many communities that make up their land. -
Les raquetteursGilles Groulx & Michel Brault 1958 14 minThis short documentary records the celebration and ritual surrounding a snowshoe competition in Sherbrooke in the late 1950s. The film marked the beginning of a new approach to reality in documentary and prefigures the trademark style of the NFB's newly formed French Unit. Today, Les raquetteurs is considered a precursor to the birth of direct cinema. In French with English subtitles.
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The Memories of AngelsLuc Bourdon 2008 1 h 20 minThis visual love letter crafted by filmmaker Luc Bourdon uses clips from 120 NFB films to pay tribute to the city of Montreal in the '50s and '60s, with hat tips to its famous figures, places and residents.
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Men for SaleRodrigue Jean 2009 2 h 24 minIn this feature-length documentary, 11 male sex-trade workers are followed over the course of a year. They share their struggles to survive alcohol and drug-related addictions, abuse and stigmatization – but most of all, their troubled pasts.
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Mosaic VillageLucie Lachapelle 1996 50 minThis feature documentary zooms in on Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges borough, where over 75 ethnic groups live side by side in a dizzying swirl of sound and colour. One day, filmmaker Lucie Lachapelle began knocking on the doors that isolated her from her neighbours. The result is a vibrant film about freedom and uprootedness set to urban music composed by Montreal jazz artist Harold Faustin.
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Oumar 9-1-1Stéphane Drolet 1998 53 minThis feature documentary paints an engaging portrait of Oumar, an auto mechanic from Burkina Faso. Always ready to lend a helping hand, Oumar has become a vital, central part of his community, in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. People tend to gather round as he works, and talk often turns to weighty issues: feminism, polygamy, politics, religion. In eight months’ time, he is due to return for a visit with his family after six years away, so he is searching for hundreds of presents to take with him. Back home, when you leave the nest, it’s to look for wealth. Otherwise, failure awaits…
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PassifloraFernand Bélanger & Dagmar Gueissaz-Teufel 1985 1 h 24 minMontreal, September 1984. Within a span of five days, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium hosts Pope John Paul II and Michael Jackson. A perfect opportunity to explore the impact of the media on the masses. With caustic irony, this film gives voice to people excluded by Church doctrine: the gay and lesbian community, and women who’ve had abortions or been abused. Beyond documentary, fiction or news report, Passiflora is above all a film that packs a punch, leaves a mark and makes an impression, happily blending analysis, animation, acting, humour and song.
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The RocketJacques Payette 1998 42 minMeet Maurice Richard on and off the ice, and follow his spectacular career with the Montreal Canadiens--from the early '40s, when only a few thousand people turned out for pro hockey games, to the 1950s, when the Montreal Forum was bursting with delirious fans. Clarence Campbell, former president of the NHL, describes him as "the most exciting player I have ever seen in my life." The Rocket features footage from games and revealing interviews with Richard himself, the first star of the golden age of hockey.
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Referendum - Take 2/Prise deuxStéphane Drolet 1996 1 h 16 minOctober, 1995. The most important political event in recent Canadian history, the Quebec vote on sovereignty, is about to unfold. During the tense days leading up to the referendum for independence, 23 filmmakers from the NFB's English and French documentary studios take their cameras into the streets and homes of Quebeckers. Culled from 250 hours of footage, Referendum is an emotional portrait of a profoundly divided society. In a collage of powerful moments, the video recaptures the emotions of that time and measures them against today's political agenda. Implicit is the question: What next?
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The Riches of OthersMaurice Bulbulian 1973 1 h 34 minThis 1973 doc about social struggle draws a parallel between the exploitation of Quebec’s miners and mineral wealth and similar circumstances in Chile. The injustices inflicted on these men are condemned by both René Lévesque and Salvador Allende. The miners themselves are also given the opportunity to speak out. Richesse des autres offers 94 minutes of testimonies by Quebecers and Chileans on a situation that’s unanimously denounced.
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September Five at Saint-HenriHubert Aquin 1962 27 minThis short film is a series of vignettes of life in Saint-Henri, a Montreal working-class district, on the first day of school. From dawn to midnight, we take in the neighbourhood’s pulse: a mother fussing over children, a father's enforced idleness, teenage boys clowning, young lovers dallying - the unposed quality of daily life.
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St-Henri, the 26th of AugustShannon Walsh , Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette , … 2011 1 h 25 minA collaborative work made in the spirit of cinéma-vérité, St-Henri, the 26th of August was directed by Shannon Walsh and16 fellow documentary filmmakers. Chronicling life in a former working-class Montreal neighbourhood over a 24-hour period, St-Henri, the 26th of August follows several compelling stories and characters. The film is an homage to the 1962 Hubert Aquin classic À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre.
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The Shimmering BeastPierre Perrault 1982 2 h 7 minA moose hunt is the pretext for this film. Nine men and their Indian guide withdraw to the wilderness to spend one week together away from their daily routines. The film charts the social dynamics of this diverse group, how they relate to one another--alternately revealing and disguising their feelings. A rich mix of personalities lends relief to the human topography in this documentary about an annual event that brings out the best and worst in men. The filmmaker chose not to embellish what the camera recorded.
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Such a Simple GameGilles Groulx 1964 29 minThis short 1964 documentary depicts the national sport of French Canadians: hockey. Seen "from the inside" this seemingly simple game turns out to be not so simple. Hockey is dream of mythic proportions that mirrors the aspirations of an entire people. Its heroes are national figures. At the Montreal Forum, there is total symbiosis between the crowd and the Habs. In 1955, idol Maurice Richard is suspended for striking a referee. The people take to the streets in unison and the riots begin...
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Tales of Sand and SnowHyacinthe Combary 2004 48 minIn a quest to rediscover the spiritual values of his own people, an African filmmaker from the Gourmantche tribe of Burkina Faso visits the Atikamekw of Northern Quebec. The resulting documentary is a dialogue between those who divine the future in the sand with those who use snow-encased sweat lodges to reconnect with the spiritual world.
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They Called Us "Les Filles du Roy"Anne Claire Poirier 1974 56 minStructured as a love letter, this feature film is an impressionistic history of the women of Québec down through the ages: the Indigenous woman, the fille du Roy, the nun, the settler's wife, the soldier's wife, and, finally, today's woman.
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Where Are You?Gilles Groulx 1969 1 h 35 minThis experimental feature-length drama by Gilles Groulx follows three main characters who embody different attitudes about consumerism. A window onto Quebec in the late 1960s, this protest film explores these characters’ daily lives, their trials and aspirations.
Where Are You? is an innovative and militant work, buoyed by hard-hitting film language that includes subtitles and intertitles, quotations, offscreen voices and songs and references to advertising. -
The Wind at My DoorPierre Goupil & Rénald Bellemare 2014 1 h 14 minThis feature documentary offers an intimate portrait of living with bipolar disorder. Filmmaker Pierre Goupil (Celui qui voit les heures, La vérité est un mensonge) reveals his uneasy relationship with his illness and his journey as an artist in a society that struggles to accept those on the fringe. A product of the 1960s intellectual scene, Goupil continues to question the world and fight for global solidarity. The Wind at My Door celebrates life amid suffering, while reaffirming the importance of social ties and political commitment. An ode to the freedom of individuals over the powers that would enslave them, Goupil's film acknowledges both the terrible winter and the long-awaited spring of renewed creation.
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Zero ToleranceMichka Saäl 2004 1 h 15 minBeing young is tough, especially if you're Black, Latino, Arab or Asian. In a city like Montreal, you can get targeted and treated as a criminal for no good reason. Zero Tolerance reveals how deep seated prejudice can be. On one side are the city's young people, and on the other, its police force. Two worlds, two visions. Yet one of these groups is a minority, while the other wields real power. One has no voice, while the other makes life-and-death decisions.
When a policy of zero tolerance to crime masks an intolerance to young people of colour, the delicate balance between order and personal freedom is upset. A blend of cinéma vérité and personal testimonies, this hard-hitting film will broaden your mind and change your way of thinking. In French with English subtitles.
