RIDM is back for its 27th edition, from November 20 to December 1st 2024, with a promising program as rich as it is diverse. The programming team is proud to unveil its opening and closing films, inviting you on cinematic journeys to the antipodes, both in style and in scope.

 

Opening film: PREPARATIONS FOR A MIRACLE by Tobias Nölle

 

 

Inaugurating this new edition, RIDM has opted for PREPARATIONS FOR A MIRACLE by Swiss director Tobias Nölle, a discreet name on the international documentary scene, but gaining recognition for its narrative and aesthetic audacity. This film, recently presented at Visions du Réel festival, is a fascinating hybrid of activist documentary and science fiction. 

From a future where humanity no longer exists, an android designed to record appears in Germany, in a pre-apocalyptic present. Through the combination of her eyes, her acquired knowledge and her conversations with her robotic counterparts, she constructs an understanding of reality. The perception of machine exploitation is articulated, as is an offbeat analysis of the actions of humans trying to oppose the destruction of a forest or the expropriation of a farm adjoining a huge, expanding open-pit mine. With creativity and humor, this fertile hybrid of activist documentary and science-fiction fable reflects on the notion of subjective points of view, while prompting us to question the development of technology and the way in which resources are exploited, which, despite the admirable and combative resistance of a minority, is leading humanity to its doom.

 

Closing film: NINAN AUASSAT: WE, THE CHILDREN by Kim O'Bomsawin

  

Wrapping up the festival in style, director Kim O'Bomsawin will be in the spotlight with her eagerly awaited NINAN AUASSAT: WE, THE CHILDREN. A key figure in documentary filmmaking in Quebec and beyond, O'Bomsawin is renowned for her sensitive, hard-hitting look at Indigenous realities.

This film follows three groups of young people from three different nations (Atikamekw, Eeyou and Innu), while turning the camera on many others in these communities. With respect and complicity, Kim O'Bomsawin paints a sensitive portrait of Indigenous youth between childhood and early adulthood. Anchoring their multiple voices in their territory, which often becomes an infinite playground, as well as an essential cultural resource, they express themselves on their lives, their dreams, their concerns, their desire to participate actively in their respective communities. Revealing the importance of transmission and respect for elders, while discussing the individual and collective traumas resulting from Quebec and Canadian colonialism, NINAN AUASSAT: WE, THE CHILDREN embraces an assertion of identity, and the desire for a future imbued with love.

With this 27th edition, the RIDM continues to assert itself at the junction for documentaries that explore, question and move. In choosing these two films, RIDM showcases its commitment to celebrate both emerging and established voices. On one side, Tobias Nölle, whose popularity is still growing, but whose originality has won the attention of critics and our programming team. On the other, Kim O'Bomsawin, a respected filmmaker, whose newer projects are eagerly awaited by audiences and film professionals alike.

Get ready to travel: from the dystopian future to Indigenous youth. RIDM 2024 promises a journey as fascinating as it is unforgettable!