The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is proud to unveil the full lineup of its 25th edition, which will take place from November 17 to 27, 2022. In numbers, this year’s selection tallies up to 134 films from 49 countries that aim to reflect the current state of the world, while also showcasing the sheer breadth of creativity and diversity in documentary cinema. Several discussions and activities, all free of charge, are also included in the lineup, thus enabling important conversations around documentary to take place, and bringing the ‘encounters’ (or ‘rencontres’) component of the festival to the forefront.
For this anniversary edition, the RIDM carries on with its mission to bring together the films of both established directors and new talents. A whopping 58 emerging filmmakers will present their first or second works at this year’s edition. The festival is also delighted to welcome 27 international filmmakers to its event, and to acknowledge the work of female directors, by presenting again this year a program in which a majority of films were made by women.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
International Feature Competition
The 11 films in the international feature competition showcase emerging works that tap into the many possibilities open to documentary film.
-5 Dreamers and a Horse by Vahagn Khachatryan & Aren Malakyan
-Anhell69 by Theo Montoya
-Day After... by Kamar Ahmad Simon
-Dry Ground Burning by Adirley Queirós & Joana Pimenta
-Eami by Paz Encina
-The Eclipse by Patar Mitric
-Excess Will Save Us by Morgane Dziurla-Petit
-Foragers by Jumana Manna
-Herbaria by Leandro Listorti
-One Take Grace by Lindiwe Matshikiza
-Way Out Ahead of Us by Rob Rice
The 7 films in the national feature competition turn the spotlight on the daring approaches of Canadian filmmakers and the issues that matter to them.
- Concrete Valley by Antoine Bourges
- The Dependents by Sofía Brockenshire
- Geographies of Solitude by Jacquelyn Mills
- J'ai placé ma mère by Denys Desjardins
- My Two Voices by Lina Rodriguez
- ROJEK by Zaynê Akyol
- Self-Portrait by Joële Walinga
Geared towards feature film debuts, the New Visions competition reaffirms the RIDM’s commitment to the next generation.
- back home by Nisha Platzer
- L'île de Sukwan by Perihan Incegöz & Jonathan Tremblay
- Bloom by Fanie Pelletier
- Veranada by Dominique Chaumont
International Short and Medium-Length Competition
The 14 short and medium-length films selected this year employ a broad range of approaches.
- L'Arche by Amira Louadah
- Churchill, Polar Bear Town by Annabelle Amoros
- Fuku Nashi by Julie Sando
- Laboratory NO.2 by Edris Abdi & Awara Omer
- Mulika by Maisha Maene
- Nazarbazi by Maryam Tafakory
- No star by Tana Gilbert Fernández
- Nothing To See Here by Nicolas Bouchez
- Nowhere to Go but Everywhere by Erik Shirai & Masako Tsumura
- Ptitsa by Alina Maksimenko
- Seasick by João Vieira Torres
- Strigov by Barbora Bereznáková
- urban solutions by Arne Hector & Vinícius Lopes & Luciana Mazeto & Minze Tummescheit
- Will You Look at Me by Shuli Huang
National Short and Medium-Length Competition
The 16 films in the national short and medium-length competition are a testament to the talent of local filmmakers.
- Blue Garden by Natalie Murao
- Change of Scenery by Noa Blanche Beschorner
- A Night Song by Félix Lamarche
- Cloud Gate 2 by OK Pedersen
- Forests by Simon Plouffe
- Infinite Distances by Pablo Alvarez Mesa
- Landscape Suspended by Naghmeh Abbasi
- Manitushiss by Réal Junior Leblanc
- Mecánicos piratas de Lima by Carlos Ferrand
- Ode to Loneliness by Rawane Nassif
- One Home to Another by Dominique van Olm
- The Visible Spectrum by Maxime Corbeil-Perron & Sarah Seené
- Summer Nights by Virgile Ratelle
- Yvon / The Eternal by Benoit Massé
- Zug Island by Nicolas Lachapelle
PANORAMA
ESSENTIALS : New works from must-see filmmakers and the hottest films of the festival year.
AGAINST THE GRAIN : Bold works that challenge our perception of the world and cinema.
HORIZONS : Unique journeys and universal stories: humanity close up.
THE STATE OF THE WORLD : Works exploring relevant issues followed by spirited discussions.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Unframing Documentary: Viewpoints on Diverse Narrative Practices
This special program spotlights documentary storytelling formats and practices other than film, such as a live performance of music and projections, documentary theatre, sound creations and virtual reality. On the agenda: the live music and images performance by artist Philippe Léonard with the band C H R I S T entitled What Now? presented in the Norman McLaren Space, in collaboration with Suoni Per Il Popolo. A round-table discussion on documentary creation in cinema and theatre will follow the November 19 performance of the play Ciseaux, at Espace Libre, in a happy-hour format. Geneviève Labelle and Mélodie Noël Rousseau (Pleurer Dans’ Douche) will speak with Fanie Pelletier (Bloom).
Three public listening sessions will also take place: the presentations of the latest Kino-radio creations organized by Transistor Média; the launch of Projet Polytechnique : Faire face, a podcast by Radio-Canada OHdio, produced by Porte Parole in collaboration with Picbois Productions, with the release of the first episode to be followed by a discussion moderated by Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau; and a session comprised of three sound creation documentaries: Le souffle de Beyrouth by Marine Vlahovic, Fuga by Felix Blume, and ECHAP by Noémie Fargier, Iga Vandenhove and Vanessa Vudo.
Thanks to the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and in collaboration with Québec/Canada XR, this year marks the return of the UXdoc program with the following line-up of interactive works: The Choice VR by Joanne Popinska, The Changing Same by Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster and Yasmin Elayat, Replacements by Jonathan Hagard, Lou by Annick Daigneault and Martine Asselin, and William by Sonia Bonspille Boileau. These works will be on view in the Luce-Guilbeault Foyer of the Cinémathèque québécoise from November 17 to 27.
Focus Brazil: Navigating the Future
This year, the RIDM turns its attention to Brazil, a country whose progressive social transformations of the past 20 years have enabled a bona fide cinematic golden age. Presented in collaboration with Olhar de Cinema – Festival international de Curitiba, the Focus Brazil program offers a snapshot of Brazil’s vibrant documentary boom, through works that are both innovative and critical. The feature films Swing and Sway by Chica Barbosa and Fernanda Pessoa, The Dead and the Others by Renée Nader Messora and João Salaviza, Waiting for the Carnival by Marcelo Gomes, Cavalo by Rafhael Barbosa and Werner Salles Bagetti, and Landless by Camila Freitas will be presented, in addition to the short and medium-length films The Word Became Flesh by Ziel Karapotó, GRIN by Roney Freitas, Isael Maxakali and Sueli Maxakali, Summertime by Wewito Piyãko, and Karioka by Takumã Kuikuro.
Vidéo Femmes: Fragments of a Feminist Legacy
Founded in 1973, the Vidéo Femmes collective established itself as a cornerstone of Quebec’s feminist art scene, with a catalogue of more than 400 works dealing mostly with the status of women. Presented in collaboration with SPIRA, the films presented span the first 15 years of Vidéo Femmes. The screenings will be accompanied by discussions with the filmmakers and many other guests. Included in the line-up are: Vidéo Femmes par Vidéo Femmes by Nicole Giguère and Lynda Roy, Une nef… et ses sorcières by Hélène Roy, Chaperons rouges by Helen Doyle and Hélène Bourgault, On fait toutes du show-business by Nicole Giguère, Le sida au féminin by Lise Bonenfant, Histoire infâme by Nicole Giguère, and C’est une bonne journée by Johanne Fournier and Françoise Dugré. La bouilloire by Héloïse Bargain will be presented as a companion piece.
Doc-to-Doc: 25 Years of Encounters
To mark the 25th anniversary of the festival, the RIDM has invited five homegrown filmmakers, whose latest works will screen in official competition this year, to program a documentary that has helped shape or inform their creative process. Thus, Sofía Brockenshire, Carlos Ferrand, Dominique Chaumont, Zaynê Akyol, and Simon Plouffe will take part in the Doc-to-Doc: 25 years of encounters section presented by Télé-Québec. These filmmaker-programmers will take turns presenting Fausto by Andrea Bussmann (November 21), The Song of Empedocles by Sylvain L'Espérance and Marie-Claude Loiselle (November 22), Journey’s End by Jean-François Caissy (November 23), A Moon of Nickel and Ice by François Jacob (November 24), and Whoever Dies, Dies in Pain by Robert Morin (November 25), followed by a conversation with the filmmakers who inspired them. The Doc-to-Doc evenings are free of charge and open to all.
INTERSECTIONS
As a way to showcase the creativity of indigenous artists, as well as the importance of the issues they bring to light, the RIDM and Wapikoni Mobile come together for a fifth consecutive year to program seven shorts that will screen prior to films selected in the national feature competition. Audiences will be able to discover 7 by Jim Matlock, A Rainbow to Turtle Island by Robbie Tait Jr., Aski Masinikan by Bryan Coocoo, Fursona by Aly Labbé-Hervieux, Les ciseaux by Katia Kurtness, Nimeshkanaminan by Laura Fontaine and Yasmine Fontaine, and Puamun by Josée Benjamin.
Soirée de la relève Radio-Canada
Hosted by Matthieu Dugal, the Soirée de la relève Radio-Canada allows the public to discover short documentaries by Quebec’s latest crop of emerging filmmakers.This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for audiences to take in the talents of a new generation set to shine brightly on our screens.This year’s six shortlisted films are Miluk tshi shutshelimunau by Isabelle Kanapé, Agonie by Arnaud Beaudoux, Correspondance by Laurence Ly, NDDJ (Notre-Dame-du-Jambon) by Grace Divya Singh, Surface by Adèle Foglia, and Tio Kevin by Kayla Fragman. These films will be available to stream free of charge on ICI TOU.TV starting November 21.
Held at the Cinémathèque Québécoise for the eighth time, the RIDM is pleased to invite both the young and the not-so-young on Sundays, November 20 and 27, to family screenings that will introduce budding filmmakers to documentary-inspired cinema. Family screenings feature a selection of short films for ages six and up, curated by the Carrousel international du film de Rimouski. The line-up is a vibrant and captivating panorama of human, plant, and animal life, via the short films Dans la nature by Marcel Barelli, J’aime toute by José Mestenapéo, La peau de l’ours by Valérie Mréjen, Le vol du dinosaure by Munro Ferguson, Patouille, des graines en parachute by Inès Bernard-Espina, Mélody Boulissière and Clémentine Campos, and Quand je suis triste by Lilit Altunyan.
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