The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) unveils the first five titles of its 29th edition, taking place from November 19 to 29, 2026. Bringing together highly anticipated films from here with outstanding works from around the world, this first announcement offers a glimpse of a rich program that reflects a world undergoing profound transformation.
Local cinema with an international flair
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BRIAN MULRONEY by Matthew Rankin
A feature-length documentary told in six episodes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and its Quebec Premiere at RIDM, where the filmmaker will return after having served on the festival jury in 2021.
Synopsis : Matthew Rankin’s unique artistry once again explores the creative potential of archives and found footage to revisit a chapter of the country’s history. Through a technical, aesthetic and narrative approach, this spirited film paints a fascinating (and fascinated) psychedelic portrait of politician Brian Mulroney as he seeks to become the Progressive Conservative Party’s leader and Canada’s Prime Minister, and even restore Canadian unity. With a delightful sense of humour and the surprising, liberal use of images from news and ads, Rankin reveals the behind-the-scenes of political power plays, and above all, an adept, charismatic, ambitious and merciless politician. This admiring and satirical feature-length film demonstrates the power of propaganda, showing the major transformation of the federal Conservative Party since the turn of the 1980s.
AN INCOMPLETE CALENDAR by Sanaz Sohrabi
Having premiered at Cinéma du Réel, where it won the First Film Loridan-Ivens Award and the GNCR - Young Jury Award, this rigorous and fascinating feature continues its remarkable festival run as it is presented to Quebec audiences for the first time.
Synopsis : This film starts with a musical album titled Rhymes and Songs, produced in 1980 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as to highlight the cultures of its member countries and help bring them together. Based on a colossal body of research, this rigorous and fascinating film shows how this intergovernmental organization approaches building solidarity between its founding countries, while bolstering oil as a powerful political influence in the fight for liberation in the Global South, including in Palestine. With panache, artist and researcher Sanaz Sohrabi brings together a variety of visual archives in this work that aesthetically resembles a collage and that analyzes the collective trajectory of an unfulfilled utopia.
Unframing Documentary
PLATEFORMS by Karl Lemieux
Platforms is part of “Unframing Documentary”, a section of RIDM’s program that showcases works that push the boundaries of the documentary filmmaking format. This project will be the centrepiece of an installation presented at the artist-run centre OBORO, in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada.
Synopsis : Off the shores of Scotland, a group of workers dismantles out-of-service oil rigs. Like iron giants, they overpower the landscape as they await their destruction. Through its mechanical eye, the camera watches over and dissects the operation with precision. Then, this seemingly detached gaze takes a sensitive approach to the event. The 16 mm film plays on screen, its material qualities bringing to mind a future archive. With a perspective that swings from representation to abstraction, Platforms offers an inside look into an operation on a global scale and transforms it into a site of speculation, where it becomes possible to question the oil industry’s imaginary world and teleology. If an end is possible, does it really start here?
Du Festival de Cannes aux RIDM
GABIN by Maxence Voiseux
Premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight, Gabin, the debut feature by Maxence Voiseux, will be presented as a special screening at RIDM, in collaboration with the Quebec City Film Festival (FCVQ).
Synopsis : For ten years, Maxence Voiseux’s camera lovingly follows Gabin as he grows up in a village in the north of France. The son of a butcher and a dairy farmer, the young boy develops a deep love for animals while discovering the harsh realities of exhausting jobs that take a toll on his family dynamics. Caught between his father’s dream of passing down the family business, wanting to help his mother fulfil her difficult work and the call of his own path, he finds his way with passion, maturity and dedication. From ages ten to eighteen, Gabin navigates doubt, expectations and the desire for freedom. Maxence Voiseux paints a family portrait that is not only sincere but also intimate and deeply moving.
SUMMER DRIFT by Céline Carridroit & Aline Suter
Following its acclaimed World Premiere in the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival, the hybrid work Virages (Summer Drift), directed by Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter, arrives at RIDM for its North American Premiere.
Synopsis : To earn a living, Johanna assembles luxury watches in a factory in Geneva. On top of her daily routine, this autobiographical cartoonist and heavy metal fan is passionate about mechanics and car racing. While trying to fix up her old VW Beetle to get back into drag racing, she faces the demons of her past in an exhilarating cycle of reparation and affirmation, punctuated with well-placed touches of humour. Shot on film over four years, this magnificent story inspired by Johanna’s real life reveals a multi-talented woman who impresses with her worldview and her dedication to her ambitions by redefining her own path.
The complete RIDM line-up will be unveiled at an early-evening event at the Cinémathèque québécoise on Wednesday, October 28, and announced online that same day.