Film Categories: French language

  • In the Dark (À l’ombre)

    A mother who has recently been incarcerated refuses to give up on her young son, no matter how fragile their connection may now be.

  • Parting Words (Derniers mots)

    In this short bittersweet drama, a young man is accompanied by his friends in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. The good looks of the paramedic distract them from the tension and awkwardness of not knowing what to say. As they arrive at the hospital, everyone is reminded that this may be their last goodbye.

  • Bonne mère

    Alfred leaves the north of France to find his estranged mother who’s become a prostitute in Marseille. He changes his identity and begins hooking in order to be close to her. “Bonne Mère” is a nostalgic poem of longing. Selected Screenings: 2008 Berlin International Film Festival

  • Défi des étoiles

    “Ladies and Gentlemen: Would you please now rise for our Canadian troops in the Persian Gulf War…for our Gold Medal – winning team, and for our Country?”

  • Peking Turkey

    Chris Wong takes his French-Canadian boyfriend “homo” for Christmas, despite his traditional Chinese parents’ disapproval. With the dramatics of three languages (English, French, and Chinese) swirling around the table, Pierre tries to make a bond with Chris’ parents and find the approval he wants. Audience Award for Best Short at the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival, 2009

  • Fragments de Corps

    Isabelle is a thirty-three year old female boxer from the south shore of Montreal. As an athlete, she inevitably relies on her body. The body is like a mechanical engine. Her gym, a cold building made of steel and concrete, is located in the industrial area of an anonymous and typical suburban town. Her body, made of flesh and muscles, is continually pushed to its limits. French with English subtitles.

  • Variations sur Marilou

    A repetitive experimental animation based on segments of the Serge Gainsbourg’s song of the same name. “VARIATIONS SUR MARILOU” is a meditation on desire, weakness and attraction that pays particular attention to the movements made by bodies, their presence in space and the traces left behind in the frame. French with English subtitles.

  • Canicule (Summer Day)

    A hot day in a working-class neighbourhood. There’s trouble in the air as young and old take to the streets. “Give me your tired, your poor Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me I lift my lamp beside the golden door” – Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus, 1883 Selected Screenings: Les Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québécois, 2011; L’Alternativa Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona, 2011

  • Au pays des esprits (Home of the Buffalo)

    Constructed from Canadian prairie archival images taken between 1920 and 1940, this film lyrically explores a son/daughter’s relationship with his/her father and the family’s relationship to their land.

  • Atlantiques

    Sitting by the campfire, Serigne, a young man from Dakar, tells his two friends the story of his sea voyage as a stowaway. “Melancholic and mysterious, the film urgently and elegantly addresses the perils of illegal migration” (Andréa Picard, TIFF Wavelengths). Tiger Award for Best Short Film, Rotterdam International Film Festival, 2010; No Violence Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2011.