Fragments
Movies from the great names of documentary cinema, from its origins to more recent productions. An exploration of the variety of writings, styles and approaches, through the masterpieces of renowned filmmakers… or more obscure ones.
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Fait vivir
Subscription access
This poetic documentary follows the Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra, a multicultural troupe of musicians and circus artists based in Montreal. Narrated by Manuk, a 5-year-old boy, the film chronicles their tour of Colombia, bringing the show Makondo to areas marked by armed conflict. Between the present and the past, homeland and adopted land, brother and sister, a film emerges as a balm for nostalgia a...
Crab Trap
Subscription access
At La Barra, an isolated and humid village on the pacific Coast of Colombia, Cerebro, leader of the native Afro Colombian Community, is at odds with the White Man, a landowner who wants to build a resort on the beach. Daniel, a strange man with city looks and manners, arrives in the place, looking for a boat to leave the country. Daniel, forced to leave, has to be part in the struggle of this v...
Tigers Can Be Seen in the Rain
Tigers Can Be Seen in the Rain
Duration: 30 minutesSubscription access
Drifting between moving-image formats and collaging local textures and bygone voices, Oscar Ruiz Navia’s film reflects on loss and mourning as experiences of temporal dislocation.
Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
Subscription access
From the Shatila camp in Beirut to the Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem, this film follows two teenage girls – Mona, 13, and Manar, 14 – who, separated by exile, get to know each other and form a friendship via the Internet, until a meeting becomes possible thanks to political events. Shot after the liberation of Southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation and at the outset of the Second Intifada, the f...
The Horse Palace
Subscription access
Amid the abandoned factories and crumbling buildings of Griffintown lies Montreal’s oldest stable, the last remnant of a bygone era. In this intriguing, anachronistic enclave, brushing up against modernity, time seems to have stood still. But ever since its aging owner decided to sell the property, the days of the Horse Palace are numbered…
Exarcheia: The Chanting of Birds
Exarcheia: The Chanting of Birds
Duration: 2h28Subscription access
_Exarcheia: The Chanting of Birds_ takes you on a dreamy nocturnal stroll through one of Greece’s most politically active neighbourhoods, situated in the heart of Athens, just below the Acropolis. In this lively and mythical space, you meet a coterie of characters whose ideals and aspirations are in constant flux. Set against the backdrop of the economic crisis, _Exarcheia_ is a poetical and po...
Metro
Subscription access
By taking a fresh look at the spaces that make it up and the life that inhabits it, _Metro_ observes the gestures, mechanics and underside of this monumental underground network that weaves the city together and irrigates it on a daily basis. From the roar of the ventilation system to the vast ceilings above, the film reveals a place of rare magnitude, with singular acoustics and a human presen...
Vies retrouvées
Subscription access
In an old abandoned farmhouse in Ardèche, a young man finds around fifty letters along with a forgotten notebook. Back in Paris, he discovers they are a love correspondence between a young peasant woman and a captain during the First World War. The film recreates this love story.
Ciné Bijou
Subscription access
Over images of an abandoned movie theater slated for demolition, the voice of Guy Gilles evokes the soul of these neighborhood cinemas—magical places that gave him a certain idea of freedom, escape, and dreams. An intimate and poetic tribute to the seventh art and to its temples, now threatened or gone.
Beirut, My City
In 1982, Jocelyne Saab's 150-year-old family home burns down. In tandem with the Lebanese playwright Roger Assaf, she decided to travel through her city, which was under siege by the Israelis, and to report on the situation in Beirut, the departure of the Palestinians and the incomprehension of the civilians who were suffering from the war.
For a Few Lives
Portrait of Raymond Eddé, a candidate in the Lebanese presidential elections and a staunch opponent of the sectarian war. During the 1975–1976 conflicts, he and his team actively searched for those who had gone missing in the war, whether Christian, Druze, or Muslim.
Palestinian Women
Filmmaker Jocelyne Saab gives a voice to Palestinian women, often overlooked victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Patron Saints
Laced with black humor, _The Patron Saints_ is an unorthodox documentary about a home for the aged and disabled. By turns lyrical and unsettling, the directors eschew more traditional approaches to the subject, opting for a mesmerizing atmospheric treatment and turning narration over to the home's youngest patient and his candid confessions.
God Provides
Shot in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and bound by elements of fiction, this unexpected documentary short is a glimpse into faith-based sentiment and inexplicable loss. While a man searches for his kitchen appliances in the bushes, elsewhere a grinning preacher takes souvenir snapshots for his congregation, and a woman with a disability journeys to a quieter place.
Interchange
Straddling the line between photography and cinema, _Interchange_ is a near-wordless observational depiction of life alongside a stark and imposing Montreal highway. _Interchange_ weaves portraits, landscapes, architecture and objects in its reflection on the city’s inhabitants, its traffic jams, the shipping of commercial goods and the nature of time itself.
A Man Imagined
Subscription access
67-year-old Lloyd gives filmmakers Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky a glimpse into his life on the margins of society. Blurring the boundaries of non-fiction cinema, the film reveals his gentle spirit and soulful solitude shaped by his troubled past.
Me Broni Ba (My White Baby)
_Me Broni Ba_ is a lyrical portrait of hair salons in Kumasi, Ghana. The tangled legacy of European colonialism in Africa is evoked through images of women practicing hair braiding on discarded white baby dolls from the West. The film unfolds through a series of vignettes, set against a child's story of migrating from Ghana to the United States. The film uncovers the meaning behind the Akan ter...
Drexciya
_Drexciya_ portrays an abandoned swimming pool on Riviera Beach in Accra, Ghana. During the postcolonial era, at the beginning of Kwame Nkrumah's reign, the Riviera Beach Club was a luxurious hotel that thrived until the mid-1970s. The once-Olympic pool, now in a state of advanced disrepair, is now used for other purposes by the local community.
Kwaku Ananse
Drawing upon the rich mythology of Ghana, this magical short film combines semi-autobiographical elements from Owusu's life with local folklore to tell the story of a young American woman who returns to West Africa for her father's funeral.
Fait vivir
Subscription access
This poetic documentary follows the Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra, a multicultural troupe of musicians and circus artists based in Montreal. Narrated by Manuk, a 5-year-old boy, the film chronicles their tour of Colombia, bringing the show Makondo to areas marked by armed conflict. Between the present and the past, homeland and adopted land, brother and sister, a film emerges as a balm for nostalgia a...
Crab Trap
Subscription access
At La Barra, an isolated and humid village on the pacific Coast of Colombia, Cerebro, leader of the native Afro Colombian Community, is at odds with the White Man, a landowner who wants to build a resort on the beach. Daniel, a strange man with city looks and manners, arrives in the place, looking for a boat to leave the country. Daniel, forced to leave, has to be part in the struggle of this v...
Tigers Can Be Seen in the Rain
Tigers Can Be Seen in the Rain
Duration: 30 minutesSubscription access
Drifting between moving-image formats and collaging local textures and bygone voices, Oscar Ruiz Navia’s film reflects on loss and mourning as experiences of temporal dislocation.
Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
Subscription access
From the Shatila camp in Beirut to the Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem, this film follows two teenage girls – Mona, 13, and Manar, 14 – who, separated by exile, get to know each other and form a friendship via the Internet, until a meeting becomes possible thanks to political events. Shot after the liberation of Southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation and at the outset of the Second Intifada, the f...
The Horse Palace
Subscription access
Amid the abandoned factories and crumbling buildings of Griffintown lies Montreal’s oldest stable, the last remnant of a bygone era. In this intriguing, anachronistic enclave, brushing up against modernity, time seems to have stood still. But ever since its aging owner decided to sell the property, the days of the Horse Palace are numbered…
Exarcheia: The Chanting of Birds
Exarcheia: The Chanting of Birds
Duration: 2h28Subscription access
_Exarcheia: The Chanting of Birds_ takes you on a dreamy nocturnal stroll through one of Greece’s most politically active neighbourhoods, situated in the heart of Athens, just below the Acropolis. In this lively and mythical space, you meet a coterie of characters whose ideals and aspirations are in constant flux. Set against the backdrop of the economic crisis, _Exarcheia_ is a poetical and po...
Metro
Subscription access
By taking a fresh look at the spaces that make it up and the life that inhabits it, _Metro_ observes the gestures, mechanics and underside of this monumental underground network that weaves the city together and irrigates it on a daily basis. From the roar of the ventilation system to the vast ceilings above, the film reveals a place of rare magnitude, with singular acoustics and a human presen...
Vies retrouvées
Subscription access
In an old abandoned farmhouse in Ardèche, a young man finds around fifty letters along with a forgotten notebook. Back in Paris, he discovers they are a love correspondence between a young peasant woman and a captain during the First World War. The film recreates this love story.
Ciné Bijou
Subscription access
Over images of an abandoned movie theater slated for demolition, the voice of Guy Gilles evokes the soul of these neighborhood cinemas—magical places that gave him a certain idea of freedom, escape, and dreams. An intimate and poetic tribute to the seventh art and to its temples, now threatened or gone.
Beirut, My City
In 1982, Jocelyne Saab's 150-year-old family home burns down. In tandem with the Lebanese playwright Roger Assaf, she decided to travel through her city, which was under siege by the Israelis, and to report on the situation in Beirut, the departure of the Palestinians and the incomprehension of the civilians who were suffering from the war.
For a Few Lives
Portrait of Raymond Eddé, a candidate in the Lebanese presidential elections and a staunch opponent of the sectarian war. During the 1975–1976 conflicts, he and his team actively searched for those who had gone missing in the war, whether Christian, Druze, or Muslim.
Palestinian Women
Filmmaker Jocelyne Saab gives a voice to Palestinian women, often overlooked victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Patron Saints
Laced with black humor, _The Patron Saints_ is an unorthodox documentary about a home for the aged and disabled. By turns lyrical and unsettling, the directors eschew more traditional approaches to the subject, opting for a mesmerizing atmospheric treatment and turning narration over to the home's youngest patient and his candid confessions.
God Provides
Shot in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and bound by elements of fiction, this unexpected documentary short is a glimpse into faith-based sentiment and inexplicable loss. While a man searches for his kitchen appliances in the bushes, elsewhere a grinning preacher takes souvenir snapshots for his congregation, and a woman with a disability journeys to a quieter place.
Interchange
Straddling the line between photography and cinema, _Interchange_ is a near-wordless observational depiction of life alongside a stark and imposing Montreal highway. _Interchange_ weaves portraits, landscapes, architecture and objects in its reflection on the city’s inhabitants, its traffic jams, the shipping of commercial goods and the nature of time itself.
A Man Imagined
Subscription access
67-year-old Lloyd gives filmmakers Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky a glimpse into his life on the margins of society. Blurring the boundaries of non-fiction cinema, the film reveals his gentle spirit and soulful solitude shaped by his troubled past.
Me Broni Ba (My White Baby)
_Me Broni Ba_ is a lyrical portrait of hair salons in Kumasi, Ghana. The tangled legacy of European colonialism in Africa is evoked through images of women practicing hair braiding on discarded white baby dolls from the West. The film unfolds through a series of vignettes, set against a child's story of migrating from Ghana to the United States. The film uncovers the meaning behind the Akan ter...
Drexciya
_Drexciya_ portrays an abandoned swimming pool on Riviera Beach in Accra, Ghana. During the postcolonial era, at the beginning of Kwame Nkrumah's reign, the Riviera Beach Club was a luxurious hotel that thrived until the mid-1970s. The once-Olympic pool, now in a state of advanced disrepair, is now used for other purposes by the local community.
Kwaku Ananse
Drawing upon the rich mythology of Ghana, this magical short film combines semi-autobiographical elements from Owusu's life with local folklore to tell the story of a young American woman who returns to West Africa for her father's funeral.
