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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Now, Please Think About Yesterday
Now, Please Think About Yesterday
New product!Duration: 44 minutes
Subscription access
How are the questions about happiness designed and used as key tools to evaluate the quality of our life? The desire to shift how we read and interpret our socio-economic moment and the space we inhabit in light of emotional and behavioural parameters is evident at the political level. The Gallup World Poll, one of the foremost companies specializing in public opinion polls, is the source of th...
Misleading Innocence (Tracing What a Bridge Can Do)
Misleading Innocence (Tracing What a Bridge Can Do)
New product!Duration: 1h40
Subscription access
This film, conceived by Francesco Garutti and directed by Shahab Mihandoust, explores the controversial story of the planning and politics of a series of overpasses that span the parkways of Long Island, New York. These bridges were commissioned in the 1920s and 1930s by the public administrator Robert Moses. The story suggests that the bridges were designed to prevent the passage of buses, the...
Untitled (The Things Around Us)
Untitled (The Things Around Us)
New product!Duration: 1h00
Subscription access
The video assembly _Untitled (The Things Around Us)_ presents a heterogeneous scenario of constituent elements—environments, conditions, objects, and figures—that play a distinct role in the conceptual processes and design methods of the Brussels-based architecture and urbanism agency 51N4E and the research agency Rural Urban Framework (RUF). Formulated as a catalogue of “things,” in the philos...
To Build Law
Duration: 1h40
Subscription access
_To Build Law_ follows Berlin-based architectural studio bplus.xyz (b+) as they establish a policy lab, HouseEurope!, to propose industry reforms and shift cultural norms. The film closely observes the b+ team during various phases of conceptualization and development of a European Citizens’ Initiative meant to incentivize renovation over demolition and new construction. Through this bottom-up ...
Manicouagan
Duration: 3h22
A driven but intimate work, this film recounts the history of Manicouagan (North Shore, Quebec) a legendary territory shaped by the impact of an asteroid 215 million years ago. From the St. Lawrence River to north of the 51st parallel, the legendary Route 389 brings us to the heart of this meteor crater to meet some extraordinary individuals (astrophysicists, geologists, truck-stop manager, hik...
Orbits
Subscription access
Marie-Christine, who lost her sight some years ago, explores life in a particularly sensory way—through her fingertips. Through her personal experience, she arouses her son’s curiosity and sense of wonder about the beauty of the universe. Drawing from a constellation of highly textured analogue images and a rich tapestry of sound, _Orbits_ journeys into the sensorial depths of Marie-Christine’s...
Debouttes!
Subscription access
_Debouttes!_ is an audio documentary recounting an important and forgotten part of Québec’s history. In 1971, members of the Front de libération des femmes du Québec (FLF) carried out a bold action to denounce the sexist justice system and its Jury Act, which stipulated that only wealthy men could serve on juries in Quebec. Shouting “Discrimination!” and “Justice is bullshit!”, seven women stor...
Marie-Paule is moving
Subscription access
An intimate portrait of a grandson's grandmother who leaves her home to go and live in a nursing home.
The Rose Family
Subscription access
In October 1970, members of the Front de libération du Québec kidnapped minister Pierre Laporte, unleashing an unprecedented crisis in Quebec. Fifty years later, Félix Rose tries to understand what led his father and uncle to commit these acts. The result of ten years of research, _The Rose Family_ brings to life moments and figures that were previously known only through a few photographs, and...
I Love Everything
Free access
At the age of eight, José invites us to discover his village, Nutashkuan, and everything he loves about it.
Here and There
At the beginning of the summer of their 16th year, Adam, Ana, and Dahlia turn to their families and friends to question their cultural heritage. Through intimate conversations, _Here and There_ juxtaposes the different influences and realities that shape the development of the cultural identities of second and third-generation immigrants.
Leveret Road
Jeanne, 10, a neuroatypical with a passion for skateboarding and snowboarding, has been diagnosed with dysorthographia, ADHD, dyscalculia and a developmental coordination disorder. She faces a decline in her academic performance and must learn to maintain her confidence and focus on her strengths.
Where the Grass is greener
This trip on the edge of surrealism transports the audience through the various corners of the suburbs in order to find where the grass is greener. An unsettling exploration of a seemingly peaceful place that takes a look beyond the white picket fence.
The Dissolution of the Landscape
The Dissolution of the Landscape
Subscription accessThrough visual metaphors, the film offers an incursion into an inner landscape, a dive into subconscious, a mix of childhood memories and recurrent dreams, between surrealism and automatism.
The Act of Beauty
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.
Joseph Samuel Jacques Julien
Jacques is 59 years old and has spent his entire career as a salesman in Quebec City. The past few months have been especially challenging for him: mourning the loss of his wife, he finds it difficult to regain his footing. Should he change his life? Change his identity? Amidst a growing political turmoil, the narrator remains hopeful, insisting that Jacques still has reason to hope.
Light Plays
Old footage from 16mm film is scratched, drawn upon, and experimentally animated with a quantum dots solution. The film seems at first about sound, the moon, and exotic birds, but it is more about narration, experimentation, and playfulness.
Now, Please Think About Yesterday
Now, Please Think About Yesterday
New product!Duration: 44 minutes
Subscription access
How are the questions about happiness designed and used as key tools to evaluate the quality of our life? The desire to shift how we read and interpret our socio-economic moment and the space we inhabit in light of emotional and behavioural parameters is evident at the political level. The Gallup World Poll, one of the foremost companies specializing in public opinion polls, is the source of th...
Misleading Innocence (Tracing What a Bridge Can Do)
Misleading Innocence (Tracing What a Bridge Can Do)
New product!Duration: 1h40
Subscription access
This film, conceived by Francesco Garutti and directed by Shahab Mihandoust, explores the controversial story of the planning and politics of a series of overpasses that span the parkways of Long Island, New York. These bridges were commissioned in the 1920s and 1930s by the public administrator Robert Moses. The story suggests that the bridges were designed to prevent the passage of buses, the...
Untitled (The Things Around Us)
Untitled (The Things Around Us)
New product!Duration: 1h00
Subscription access
The video assembly _Untitled (The Things Around Us)_ presents a heterogeneous scenario of constituent elements—environments, conditions, objects, and figures—that play a distinct role in the conceptual processes and design methods of the Brussels-based architecture and urbanism agency 51N4E and the research agency Rural Urban Framework (RUF). Formulated as a catalogue of “things,” in the philos...
To Build Law
Duration: 1h40
Subscription access
_To Build Law_ follows Berlin-based architectural studio bplus.xyz (b+) as they establish a policy lab, HouseEurope!, to propose industry reforms and shift cultural norms. The film closely observes the b+ team during various phases of conceptualization and development of a European Citizens’ Initiative meant to incentivize renovation over demolition and new construction. Through this bottom-up ...
Manicouagan
Duration: 3h22
A driven but intimate work, this film recounts the history of Manicouagan (North Shore, Quebec) a legendary territory shaped by the impact of an asteroid 215 million years ago. From the St. Lawrence River to north of the 51st parallel, the legendary Route 389 brings us to the heart of this meteor crater to meet some extraordinary individuals (astrophysicists, geologists, truck-stop manager, hik...
Orbits
Subscription access
Marie-Christine, who lost her sight some years ago, explores life in a particularly sensory way—through her fingertips. Through her personal experience, she arouses her son’s curiosity and sense of wonder about the beauty of the universe. Drawing from a constellation of highly textured analogue images and a rich tapestry of sound, _Orbits_ journeys into the sensorial depths of Marie-Christine’s...
Debouttes!
Subscription access
_Debouttes!_ is an audio documentary recounting an important and forgotten part of Québec’s history. In 1971, members of the Front de libération des femmes du Québec (FLF) carried out a bold action to denounce the sexist justice system and its Jury Act, which stipulated that only wealthy men could serve on juries in Quebec. Shouting “Discrimination!” and “Justice is bullshit!”, seven women stor...
Marie-Paule is moving
Subscription access
An intimate portrait of a grandson's grandmother who leaves her home to go and live in a nursing home.
The Rose Family
Subscription access
In October 1970, members of the Front de libération du Québec kidnapped minister Pierre Laporte, unleashing an unprecedented crisis in Quebec. Fifty years later, Félix Rose tries to understand what led his father and uncle to commit these acts. The result of ten years of research, _The Rose Family_ brings to life moments and figures that were previously known only through a few photographs, and...
I Love Everything
Free access
At the age of eight, José invites us to discover his village, Nutashkuan, and everything he loves about it.
Here and There
At the beginning of the summer of their 16th year, Adam, Ana, and Dahlia turn to their families and friends to question their cultural heritage. Through intimate conversations, _Here and There_ juxtaposes the different influences and realities that shape the development of the cultural identities of second and third-generation immigrants.
Leveret Road
Jeanne, 10, a neuroatypical with a passion for skateboarding and snowboarding, has been diagnosed with dysorthographia, ADHD, dyscalculia and a developmental coordination disorder. She faces a decline in her academic performance and must learn to maintain her confidence and focus on her strengths.
Where the Grass is greener
This trip on the edge of surrealism transports the audience through the various corners of the suburbs in order to find where the grass is greener. An unsettling exploration of a seemingly peaceful place that takes a look beyond the white picket fence.
The Dissolution of the Landscape
The Dissolution of the Landscape
Subscription accessThrough visual metaphors, the film offers an incursion into an inner landscape, a dive into subconscious, a mix of childhood memories and recurrent dreams, between surrealism and automatism.
The Act of Beauty
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.
Joseph Samuel Jacques Julien
Jacques is 59 years old and has spent his entire career as a salesman in Quebec City. The past few months have been especially challenging for him: mourning the loss of his wife, he finds it difficult to regain his footing. Should he change his life? Change his identity? Amidst a growing political turmoil, the narrator remains hopeful, insisting that Jacques still has reason to hope.
Light Plays
Old footage from 16mm film is scratched, drawn upon, and experimentally animated with a quantum dots solution. The film seems at first about sound, the moon, and exotic birds, but it is more about narration, experimentation, and playfulness.
