Montreal, Monday, September 8, 2025 - The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is proud to announce six standout films from its 28th edition, which will take place from November 20 to 30, 2025. This selection of Quebec and international titles offers a glimpse of a bold program, at the intersection of the intimate and the political, the real and the imagined.
Anticipated Quebec films
I Lost Sight of the Landscape (J’ai perdu de vue le paysage) by Sophie Bédard Marcotte
Quebec | Production: Pierre-Mathieu Fortin (ONF) | Distribution: ONF
Quebec Premiere
With a personal and intimate approach, filmmaker Sophie Bédard Marcotte (L.A. Tea Time, Winter Claire) turns her camera on her neighbour, a playwright in the process of creating a play loosely based on the Myth of Sisyphus. Through reflections, rehearsals, writings and grant applications, a creative dialogue on art and life unfolds. A densely layered minimalist work, this cerebral, touching and funny film evokes the beauty of the unexpected and the necessary absurdity of perpetual renewal. Presented as a World Premiere at Visions du Réel, I Lost Sight of the Landscape stood out in 2024 during the Forum RIDM Rough Cut Pitch, revealing a unique and playful project.
Spare My Bones, Coyote! by Jonah Malak
Quebec | Production: Dominique Dussault (Nemesis Films) | Distribution: h264
Quebec Premiere
After a notable run at Hot Docs and DOXA, Spare My Bones, Coyote! by Jonah Malak will be presented to Quebec audiences for the first time. In 2023, the project was presented during the Forum RIDM Rough Cut Pitch, where it was already attracting significant industry attention. In this touching feature film, the border desert between Mexico and the United States tragically dries up the hopes of migrants who are attempting to cross on foot. In this arid and unforgiving environment, where many lives are lost to the shadows, a Mexican couple works tirelessly to recover the bodies of the missing — victims of the desert, but above all, of our indifference.
Big international titles
True North by Michèle Stephenson
United States, Canada | Production: Leslie Norville (Studio112)
Quebec Premiere
True North by Michèle Stephenson (Stateless, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project), presented in World Premiere at TIFF, will be screened at RIDM this year. In a 1968 interview, Roosevelt (Rosie) Douglas speaks out against racism in Canada, its exploitation of the Caribbean, and its history of slavery. The tone of the film is set by this Black rights activist and leader of the student protest at Sir George Williams University in Montreal, which challenged how the administration handled a racism complaint. The testimonials, illustrated by archival footage, anchor the event in its socio-political reality and recount the rise of a continent-wide protest movement. This work is a powerful act of remembrance.
Ancestral Visions of the Future by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
Germany, Lesotho, France, Qatar | Production: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (Mokoro Street Media)
Quebec Premiere
Screened at the Berlinale and at Locarno, Ancestral Visions of the Future by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese will be presented for the first time in Quebec. Presented as an ode to cinema and a tribute to his mother, this poetic and personal feature film is a continuation of the director’s work. Infused with a bewitching sound design, this fragmented narrative combines tangible and spiritual imagination to explore exile, belonging, memory, violence and colonialism. Composed of powerful symbolic images, the film revisits the seminal memories of the filmmaker’s identity and evokes the possibility of a collective future for Lesotho.
Imago by Déni Oumar Pitsaev
France, Belgium | Production: Alexandra Mélot (Triptyque Films)
Quebec Premiere
Winner of two awards at Cannes (French Touch Prize of the Jury at the Semaine de la Critique, Oeil d’or for Top Documentary), Imago by Déni Oumar Pitsaev will also be on the program. In this feature debut, the director returns to the Chechen diaspora of Pankisi Valley, in Georgia, with the dream of building a house on the land his mother gifted him. Each imagined layer of this home carries the weight of family expectations, a fractured paternal bond, and the legacy of war. His treehouse-like plans become a metaphor for his desire to belong on his own terms. Through patient observation and intimate dialogue, the filmmaker transforms his personal journey into a meditation on exile, identity, and memory.
Sirens Call by Miri Ian Gossing and Lina Sieckmann
Germany, Netherlands | Production: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Claus Herzog-Reichel (Filmfaust GmbH)
North American Premiere
Finally, after garnering international attention, particularly at the Berlinale, Sirens Call by Miri Ian Gossing and Lina Sieckmann will be presented at RIDM. Travelling across the United States, an ancient mermaid observes the human world with a meditative gaze. Her introspection evolves into the testimony of a collective experience, as she discovers the merfolk subculture, a community adopting the imagery of mythological sea creatures as a form of self-expression. The hybrid nature of these beings is reflected in the film’s form, which blurs the boundaries between documentary, science fiction and road movie. Set in a society bordering on dystopia, Sirens Call deploys a metaphor for identity, belonging, and resistance in marginalized communities.
RIDM’s complete program will be unveiled on Wednesday, October 29, 2025.
About RIDM
Striving to showcase the most stimulating and diverse visions of documentary cinema, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) offers audiences a unique program that brings together the works of established filmmakers and promising new talents, while focusing on creating encounters between artists and audiences.
The 28th annual RIDM will take place from November 20 to 30, 2025.
Information: ridm.ca / info@ridm.ca
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For interview or visual material requests, please contact:
Caroline Rompré | pixelleX communications | 514-778-9294 | caroline@pixellex.ca