Québec Contemporary Cinema
Quebec has always had a privileged relationship with documentary cinema, a tremendous melting pot of its artistic, social and political modernity. Nearly 60 years after the birth of direct cinema, juggling continuity and inventiveness, the local filmmakers are still pursuing a rich dialogue with their society. Here, you will find an anthology of contemporary films made by notorious documentary filmmakers or belonging to a new generation. Through a bright diversity of styles and viewpoints, these filmmakers all share a boundless creativity and an uninhibited freedom that question, challenge, reconcile and help to better understand today’s Quebec and the rest of the world
Visual identity created by Moïa Jobin-Paré
The THROUGH OUR LENS page lists all the Quebec films available on Tënk. It allows you to dive into an exploration of Quebec documentary cinema and discover an anthology of films made by both renowned and emerging documentary filmmakers. Through a dazzling diversity of forms and perspectives, these filmmakers have in common an overflowing creativity and an uninhibited freedom that questions, confronts, reconciles and helps us better understand Quebec and the world.
To perform a more detailed search on Quebec films, use our search engine !
Also discover fascinating interviews with local filmmakers in our Fragments section :
A project made possible by the financial support of
442 products
Death is Dangerous, it Could Hurt
Death is Dangerous, it Could Hurt
New product!Subscription access
Three rhythmic storylines are characterized by the rituals of everyday life and the vicissitudes of existence, coalescing around a common experience: that of shooting up as a mode of drug use.
Bloodhound Dog
Subscription access
Bloodhound dog handlers have an essential role in Québec’s hunting ecosystem. This short film meets one of them, Yves Martineau, and follows his long waits and intense research through the vastness of Canadian forest.
The Act of Beauty
Subscription access
Nestled at the heart of the Bic mountains, in this territory called Lower St. Lawrence, hides a community of wise and audacious people taking root. The collective farm Sageterre is the work of Jean Bédard, writer, philosopher but most importantly, a peasant. His writing calls for action. His work on the land cultivates ideas. Jean Bédard fights to see a new, more humane world, rise.
Interchange
Subscription access
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.
D'un coup de pinceau
Subscription access
While preparing a major exhibition, painter Francine Simonin agrees to let the camera film her at work with her models. She talks about the themes that preoccupy her: the Woman and women, origin, fertility, beauty, transgression... A portrait of a woman who has made the female body her fundamental source of inspiration.
Bonfires
Subscription access
Huge bonfires are lit by Protestants in Northern Ireland on July 12 each year, as part of the celebrations of the 1690 Battle of the Boyne. They are made from wooden pallets, tires, and garbage. To the Protestants, they are symbols of identity affirmation; to the Catholics, they mean arrogance and humiliation.
Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon)
Subscription access
In Saigon, family culture carries on as it has for centuries, even when blood ties are broken. Through a mosaic of intimate portraits, _Má Sài Gòn_ explores humanity’s universal desire for love, acceptance, connection and belonging through an LGBTQ+ lens. The film is a love letter – a bittersweet ode to a comforting yet disturbing mother, to a city that is as liberating as it is oppressive.
Baby Trans
_Baby Trans_ portrays Laure\*, a gentle and intense soul. As she begins feminizing hormone therapy, Laure learns to navigate the bodily, emotional, and identity changes she experiences. (\*The main protagonist featured in the documentary has since changed her name for Laure.)
« Quel numéro - What number ? » ou le travail automatisé
« Quel numéro - What number ? » ou le travail automatisé
Duration: 1h21The film deconstructs the promises of the 1980s "computer revolution" by placing humans, rather than machines, at the center of the narrative. Service sector workers—secretaries, telephone operators, cashiers, and postal employees—find themselves confronted with the arrival of new technologies that reshape their workplace. With lucidity, humor, and emotion, they share their experiences of these...
Quiet Forces
Subscription access
An impressionistic, narration-free essay capturing the daily lives of the sailors aboard the frigate _HMCS Ottawa_ during its mission in the Pacific Ocean between British Columbia and California.
Agony
In search of a 15-day lock-in, a filmmaker finds himself trapped on a trawler in the open sea, where his distress becomes entwined with the fate of what he films. A sensory experience oscillating between anticipation and panic, this first short film has become an act of atonement for a traumatized filmmaker.
Outside Center
After finding community on a rugby team in Munich, Jamaican-born Desmond tackles life by embracing his homosexual identity.
Bergen, Norway
"Yesterday, I found my abuser's address in my phone's memory. I don't have a name, I don't have a face, I only have his address." - Alexia Roc
Vibrations from Gaza
Subscription access
This film offers an insight into the experiences of deaf children in the colonized and confined coastal territory of Gaza, Palestine, particularly the violence to which they are subjected by Israeli military operations. Born and raised under the frequent onslaught of the occupying forces, children Amani, Musa, Israa and others recite vivid memories of their experiences of bombardment and the co...
The River Schooners
Subscription access
Pierre Perrault's third feature film on Île aux Coudres, Les Voitures d'eau tackles the problem of the builders and navigators of wooden schooners, in an age of iron ships, international competition and monopolies. Men of the sea, as skilful in deed as in word, the captains of the river's last schooners are experiencing the end of an artisanal era in which their sons can no longer find a place....
Le règne du jour
Subscription access
Four years after filming _Pour la suite du monde_, Pierre Perrault invites Alexis Tremblay, the renowned storyteller, and his wife Marie, central figures in the first film, to embark on a pilgrimage to France tracing the path of their ancestors.
For the Ones to Come
Subscription access
In this masterpiece of Quebec cinéma vérité, the inhabitants of Île aux Coudres set out to revive an ancient beluga fishing tradition that had disappeared many years ago. Through the preparations and intergenerational exchanges, the film authentically captures the daily lives, language, beliefs, and stories of the islanders. More than just an ethnographic documentary, _For the Ones to Come_ exp...
Cherry
Subscription access
A portrait of the artist Marie-Lise Chouinard, a radiant woman full of contagious vitality who, in her early thirties, received a grim diagnosis. _Cherry_ is a vibrant testament to her resilience, the power of friendship, and the unwavering strength of hope.
Some of My Friends
Subscription access
Seven portraits of people who present themselves at work and in daily life. Seven ways of being present to the world. People who are exceptional because they are like everyone else.
Death is Dangerous, it Could Hurt
Death is Dangerous, it Could Hurt
New product!Subscription access
Three rhythmic storylines are characterized by the rituals of everyday life and the vicissitudes of existence, coalescing around a common experience: that of shooting up as a mode of drug use.
Bloodhound Dog
Subscription access
Bloodhound dog handlers have an essential role in Québec’s hunting ecosystem. This short film meets one of them, Yves Martineau, and follows his long waits and intense research through the vastness of Canadian forest.
The Act of Beauty
Subscription access
Nestled at the heart of the Bic mountains, in this territory called Lower St. Lawrence, hides a community of wise and audacious people taking root. The collective farm Sageterre is the work of Jean Bédard, writer, philosopher but most importantly, a peasant. His writing calls for action. His work on the land cultivates ideas. Jean Bédard fights to see a new, more humane world, rise.
Interchange
Subscription access
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.
D'un coup de pinceau
Subscription access
While preparing a major exhibition, painter Francine Simonin agrees to let the camera film her at work with her models. She talks about the themes that preoccupy her: the Woman and women, origin, fertility, beauty, transgression... A portrait of a woman who has made the female body her fundamental source of inspiration.
Bonfires
Subscription access
Huge bonfires are lit by Protestants in Northern Ireland on July 12 each year, as part of the celebrations of the 1690 Battle of the Boyne. They are made from wooden pallets, tires, and garbage. To the Protestants, they are symbols of identity affirmation; to the Catholics, they mean arrogance and humiliation.
Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon)
Subscription access
In Saigon, family culture carries on as it has for centuries, even when blood ties are broken. Through a mosaic of intimate portraits, _Má Sài Gòn_ explores humanity’s universal desire for love, acceptance, connection and belonging through an LGBTQ+ lens. The film is a love letter – a bittersweet ode to a comforting yet disturbing mother, to a city that is as liberating as it is oppressive.
Baby Trans
_Baby Trans_ portrays Laure\*, a gentle and intense soul. As she begins feminizing hormone therapy, Laure learns to navigate the bodily, emotional, and identity changes she experiences. (\*The main protagonist featured in the documentary has since changed her name for Laure.)
« Quel numéro - What number ? » ou le travail automatisé
« Quel numéro - What number ? » ou le travail automatisé
Duration: 1h21The film deconstructs the promises of the 1980s "computer revolution" by placing humans, rather than machines, at the center of the narrative. Service sector workers—secretaries, telephone operators, cashiers, and postal employees—find themselves confronted with the arrival of new technologies that reshape their workplace. With lucidity, humor, and emotion, they share their experiences of these...
Quiet Forces
Subscription access
An impressionistic, narration-free essay capturing the daily lives of the sailors aboard the frigate _HMCS Ottawa_ during its mission in the Pacific Ocean between British Columbia and California.
Agony
In search of a 15-day lock-in, a filmmaker finds himself trapped on a trawler in the open sea, where his distress becomes entwined with the fate of what he films. A sensory experience oscillating between anticipation and panic, this first short film has become an act of atonement for a traumatized filmmaker.
Outside Center
After finding community on a rugby team in Munich, Jamaican-born Desmond tackles life by embracing his homosexual identity.
Bergen, Norway
"Yesterday, I found my abuser's address in my phone's memory. I don't have a name, I don't have a face, I only have his address." - Alexia Roc
Vibrations from Gaza
Subscription access
This film offers an insight into the experiences of deaf children in the colonized and confined coastal territory of Gaza, Palestine, particularly the violence to which they are subjected by Israeli military operations. Born and raised under the frequent onslaught of the occupying forces, children Amani, Musa, Israa and others recite vivid memories of their experiences of bombardment and the co...
The River Schooners
Subscription access
Pierre Perrault's third feature film on Île aux Coudres, Les Voitures d'eau tackles the problem of the builders and navigators of wooden schooners, in an age of iron ships, international competition and monopolies. Men of the sea, as skilful in deed as in word, the captains of the river's last schooners are experiencing the end of an artisanal era in which their sons can no longer find a place....
Le règne du jour
Subscription access
Four years after filming _Pour la suite du monde_, Pierre Perrault invites Alexis Tremblay, the renowned storyteller, and his wife Marie, central figures in the first film, to embark on a pilgrimage to France tracing the path of their ancestors.
For the Ones to Come
Subscription access
In this masterpiece of Quebec cinéma vérité, the inhabitants of Île aux Coudres set out to revive an ancient beluga fishing tradition that had disappeared many years ago. Through the preparations and intergenerational exchanges, the film authentically captures the daily lives, language, beliefs, and stories of the islanders. More than just an ethnographic documentary, _For the Ones to Come_ exp...
Cherry
Subscription access
A portrait of the artist Marie-Lise Chouinard, a radiant woman full of contagious vitality who, in her early thirties, received a grim diagnosis. _Cherry_ is a vibrant testament to her resilience, the power of friendship, and the unwavering strength of hope.
Some of My Friends
Subscription access
Seven portraits of people who present themselves at work and in daily life. Seven ways of being present to the world. People who are exceptional because they are like everyone else.
