P’tits loups section Every night, to counter the dreariness of his days toiling in a factory, Nina’s father tells bedtime stories. A little hedgehog is the unlikely hero of his tales. One day, the father is fired from the factory. When it’s time to be tucked in, Nina finds herself alone, eager to hear the […]
Cinema Stories section “The silent past is a horror film.” To this day, most of us are unaware of the history of Filipino cinema. Our rare incursions into this rich, fascinating body of work are usually limited to Lav Diaz, Lino Brocka and Mike De Leon. Khavn takes a plunge into the world of silent […]
Les nouveaux alchimistes section After a near-fatal accident, multidisciplinary artist Guido Van der Werve awakens from his coma to serious brain trauma and scant hopes of recovery. However, his extraordinarily philosophical outlook allows him to make a miraculous recovery. And what if the starting point of this healing journey were a childhood marked by pain […]
National Competition Star, aged 19, is hospitalized after her most recent suicide attempt. When she meets An, the queer Chinese immigrant who’s been assigned as her caretaker, the two unexpectedly bond. Exploring inner torment and loneliness, Ashley McKenzie brings her heroine’s subjectivity to life through a radical aesthetic that distills tactile imagery, inventive camerawork and […]
Histoires du cinéma Kiba the Vicious Wolf, a penniless samurai, agrees to help a blind woman boss oversee a shipment of gold through her village and protect it from a horde of criminals anxious to get their hands on it (a rogue’s gallery including a deaf-mute killer with a monkey on his shoulder). The complex […]
National competition section Judith is at a crossroads. Mourning the recent death of her mother, she defines herself through her family, living in denial of her Japanese roots. During a retreat with her emotionally stilted husband and two sensitive daughters on a remote island in British Columbia, her encounter with an ostensibly happy couple shatters […]
Histoire(s) du cinéma In Sleep (1964), Andy Warhol scrutinized the sleep of his then-lover, artist John Giorno, for over five hours. Six decades later, Radu Jude pays tribute to this classic of avant-garde cinema with Sleep #2, a radical, mischievous, meticulous look at the evolving microcosm surrounding Warhol’s grave in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. By day […]
Les nouveaux alchimistes Screening with filmmaker Dominic Gagnon in attendance A team of astronauts is launched into space during the pandemic. As the planet takes a pause, its inhabitants share their experiences of COVID-19 and the consequences it might have on their mental health. Following the filmmaker’s usual modus operandi, Space Down is made up […]
Nouveaux Alchimistes Two electronic voices converse in the darkness. Tenderly, affectionately, they talk to each other, or maybe to the spectator, creating a meditative communion with the bodies appearing on screen. For his first feature, Portuguese director Jorge Jácome teamed up with the Dançando com a Diferença dance troupe and the Teatro Praga theatre company […]
Temps ø section Bruce Lee, nunchaku in hand, has just died and gone to the Underworld. There he is welcomed by a lecherous King of the Underworld, who sends him into the arms of a motley band of baddies. Clint Eastwood, James Bond and, to top it all off, Zatoichi, the Godfather, the Exorcist, Dracula […]