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 :
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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.
Oasis
Subscription access
At the dawn of their teenage years, Raphaël and Rémi are twins who see their fusional attachment crumble while one of them, suffering from an increasingly marked disability, remains a prisoner of childhood. During one last summer surrounded by nature, time seems to want to stand still.
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.
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.
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...
I Might Be Dead by Tomorrow
Subscription access
Patients arrive in the consultation room every day, broken, sick and scarred by life. In front of them sits a committed person who tries, without false hope, to repair bodies and psyches. At night, when the clinic doors are closed, the street outreach workers take to the streets to extend their support to all those unfortunate women who have chosen the streets as their home.
The Theory of Everything
Subscription access
_The Theory of Everything_ navigates its way between people and landscapes, between discourse and territory. Evocative landscapes whose silent presence speaks volumes. People who, asked to talk about themselves, about their connection to the world, discuss the land and the subsoil, the forests and the rivers, everything that shapes them. The people we meet are not experts. In their own way, the...
I Lost My Mom
Subscription access
In the style of a film diary, this documentary immerses us in the personal experience of the filmmaker and his sister as they try to ensure their mother can end her days with dignity in the CHSLD system. Amid this complex challenge, Denys Desjardins films his mother with incredible tenderness. He communicates her vulnerability and warm personality from a place of love and respect. This feature-...
Resources
Subscription access
In an employment assistance community organization, asylum seekers are offered jobs in slaughterhouses that will allow them to restart lives they were abruptly forced to leave behind. On a livestock farm, cows, pigs, and farmers are subjected to the rhythm of an industrial agricultural model. Outside, only the corn plants that serve to feed the animals pierce the aridity of desert-like soil. _R...
Bloom
Subscription access
Through moments in the lives of three groups of girls, images gleaned from the web and live streams of young women around the world, _Bloom_ delves into the world of today's teenage girls. We delicately observe a hyper-connected but lonely generation inhabited by great lucidity, an inner struggle with self-image obsession, and a need for self-affirmation in the face of a complex sense of aliena...
Forests
Subscription access
In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back th...
This House
Subscription access
Bridgeport, January 17, 2008. A teenage girl is found hanged in her room. While everything points to suicide, the autopsy report reveals something else. Ten years later, the director and cousin of the teenager examine the past causes and future consequences of this unsolved crime. Like an imagined biography, the film will explore the relationship between the security of the living space and the...
A Night Song
Subscription access
Penetrating through the interstices of the half-closed shutters, a summer light brushes its dappled shadows in Noëlla's apartment, as she is preparing to receive medical aid in dying. She is assisted by her caregiver, Pierre, who looks after the daily necessities. Dense and diffuse, the last days of a life reveal the tight weave that intertwines these seemingly infinitely repeated gestures to t...
The Family of the Forest
Subscription access
Gérard and Catherine left Belgium to live self-sufficiently in the boreal forest of Gaspésie, Quebec. Fifteen years later, as their three boys have grown up, what will become of this way of life?
The Worlds of Vincent
Subscription access
_The Worlds of Vincent_ is a personal and intimate journey at the heart of madness. An incursion in the world of schizophrenia, an encounter between a brother and his sister on the path of life, questioning mental illness, acceptance, family, love...
The Benevolents
Subscription access
_The Benevolents_ takes us into the world of Tel-Aide Montreal call center, as we follow a group of future volunteers. Through an intimate treatment, the film seeks to remind us of the importance of attentive ears in a society rife with solitude.
Sisters: Dream & Variations
Subscription access
Tyr and Jasa grew up in an artistic household where art was a way of life. Quirky and insightful sisters, Tyr is a musician and singer while Jasa is an interdisciplinary artist. Inspired by their great-grandmother’s recordings of Icelandic folk songs, they have developed artistic practices that draw on their colourful imaginations and Icelandic roots. Their exploration leads them to journey to ...
Prayer for a Lost Mitten
Subscription access
Night has fallen and Montreal is under a blanket of snow. At the City Transit Company, people line up at the lost and found office where upon reflection, losing something becomes a symbol of a deeper loss. This creative documentary is sometimes melancholic, sometimes festive yet always compassionate. In fact, it makes you appreciate Winter.
Happy Life
Subscription access
In this time of anxiety and turmoil, this film explores the unusual outlets where the torments of the body and mind are soothed. In a meditative journey to the heart of these analgesic places, this documentary essay paints a portrait of a society in search of meaning and comfort.
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.
Oasis
Subscription access
At the dawn of their teenage years, Raphaël and Rémi are twins who see their fusional attachment crumble while one of them, suffering from an increasingly marked disability, remains a prisoner of childhood. During one last summer surrounded by nature, time seems to want to stand still.
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.
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.
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...
I Might Be Dead by Tomorrow
Subscription access
Patients arrive in the consultation room every day, broken, sick and scarred by life. In front of them sits a committed person who tries, without false hope, to repair bodies and psyches. At night, when the clinic doors are closed, the street outreach workers take to the streets to extend their support to all those unfortunate women who have chosen the streets as their home.
The Theory of Everything
Subscription access
_The Theory of Everything_ navigates its way between people and landscapes, between discourse and territory. Evocative landscapes whose silent presence speaks volumes. People who, asked to talk about themselves, about their connection to the world, discuss the land and the subsoil, the forests and the rivers, everything that shapes them. The people we meet are not experts. In their own way, the...
I Lost My Mom
Subscription access
In the style of a film diary, this documentary immerses us in the personal experience of the filmmaker and his sister as they try to ensure their mother can end her days with dignity in the CHSLD system. Amid this complex challenge, Denys Desjardins films his mother with incredible tenderness. He communicates her vulnerability and warm personality from a place of love and respect. This feature-...
Resources
Subscription access
In an employment assistance community organization, asylum seekers are offered jobs in slaughterhouses that will allow them to restart lives they were abruptly forced to leave behind. On a livestock farm, cows, pigs, and farmers are subjected to the rhythm of an industrial agricultural model. Outside, only the corn plants that serve to feed the animals pierce the aridity of desert-like soil. _R...
Bloom
Subscription access
Through moments in the lives of three groups of girls, images gleaned from the web and live streams of young women around the world, _Bloom_ delves into the world of today's teenage girls. We delicately observe a hyper-connected but lonely generation inhabited by great lucidity, an inner struggle with self-image obsession, and a need for self-affirmation in the face of a complex sense of aliena...
Forests
Subscription access
In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back th...
This House
Subscription access
Bridgeport, January 17, 2008. A teenage girl is found hanged in her room. While everything points to suicide, the autopsy report reveals something else. Ten years later, the director and cousin of the teenager examine the past causes and future consequences of this unsolved crime. Like an imagined biography, the film will explore the relationship between the security of the living space and the...
A Night Song
Subscription access
Penetrating through the interstices of the half-closed shutters, a summer light brushes its dappled shadows in Noëlla's apartment, as she is preparing to receive medical aid in dying. She is assisted by her caregiver, Pierre, who looks after the daily necessities. Dense and diffuse, the last days of a life reveal the tight weave that intertwines these seemingly infinitely repeated gestures to t...
The Family of the Forest
Subscription access
Gérard and Catherine left Belgium to live self-sufficiently in the boreal forest of Gaspésie, Quebec. Fifteen years later, as their three boys have grown up, what will become of this way of life?
The Worlds of Vincent
Subscription access
_The Worlds of Vincent_ is a personal and intimate journey at the heart of madness. An incursion in the world of schizophrenia, an encounter between a brother and his sister on the path of life, questioning mental illness, acceptance, family, love...
The Benevolents
Subscription access
_The Benevolents_ takes us into the world of Tel-Aide Montreal call center, as we follow a group of future volunteers. Through an intimate treatment, the film seeks to remind us of the importance of attentive ears in a society rife with solitude.
Sisters: Dream & Variations
Subscription access
Tyr and Jasa grew up in an artistic household where art was a way of life. Quirky and insightful sisters, Tyr is a musician and singer while Jasa is an interdisciplinary artist. Inspired by their great-grandmother’s recordings of Icelandic folk songs, they have developed artistic practices that draw on their colourful imaginations and Icelandic roots. Their exploration leads them to journey to ...
Prayer for a Lost Mitten
Subscription access
Night has fallen and Montreal is under a blanket of snow. At the City Transit Company, people line up at the lost and found office where upon reflection, losing something becomes a symbol of a deeper loss. This creative documentary is sometimes melancholic, sometimes festive yet always compassionate. In fact, it makes you appreciate Winter.
Happy Life
Subscription access
In this time of anxiety and turmoil, this film explores the unusual outlets where the torments of the body and mind are soothed. In a meditative journey to the heart of these analgesic places, this documentary essay paints a portrait of a society in search of meaning and comfort.
