Festival:
The 25th RIDM
Dates:
November 17-27
About:
Montreal’s premier nonfiction event showcases approximately 60 new and recent documentary features.
Among the offerings:
National Feature Competition:
CONCRETE VALLEY
Director: Antoine Bourges
In an expatriate community in Toronto, a Syrian couple struggles to adapt to their new country and with the feeling that life is on hold.
THE DEPENDENTS
Director: Sofia Brockenshire
Blending the past and present, a bold and sonically rich family portrait about home, displacement, and current major immigration movements.
J’AI PLACÉ MA MÈRE
Director: Denys Desjardins
An immersion into the personal experience of the filmmaker and his sister as they try to ensure their mother can end her days with dignity.
MY TWO VOICES
Director: Lina Rodriguez
Three Latin-American women share their memories and experiences of immigrating to Canada.
International Feature Competition:
EAMI
Director: Paz Encina
In a child’s voice, Eami recounts her journey to escape the invasion of her ancestral land.
EXCESS WILL SAVE US
Director: Morgane Dziurla-Petit
A window into a small French village, where an anecdote recounted by locals highlights the absurd paranoia shown by the media.
WAY OUT AHEAD OF US
Director: Rob Rice
In a small California community forgotten by the American dream, two parents keep the father’s health a secret from their daughter so as to not jeopardize her future.
New Visions Competition:
BACK HOME
Director: Nisha Platzer
In a combination of filmed memories and images of daily life, Nisha Platzer tries to piece together a portrait of the brother she lost as a child.
L’ ÎLE DE SUKWAN
Director: Perihan Incegoz, Jonathan Tremblay
With help from her parents, a child playing in the jungle of Thailand builds an imaginary island known only to her.
Medium-Length National & International Competitions
LE CHANT DE LA NUIT
Director: Felix Lamarche
The last days of Noella, an elderly woman who has chosen to receive medical assistance in dying at home.
FUKU NASHI
Director: Julie Sando
Fusing reality and fiction, the filmmaker undertakes a complex search for identity as she visits her grandmother in Japan.
Other Sections:
CHAYLLA
Director: Clara Teper, Paul Pirritano
A woman is followed on a difficult path to freedom, justice, and rebuilding her identity, as she attempts to leave a violent and toxic relationship.
DAVID CONTRE GOLIATH
Director: David B Ricard
Burdened by three unfinished short films, a filmmaker confronts his anxieties by launching into a playful and introspective deep dive.
DE L’AUTRE CÔTÉ
Director: Lessandro Socrates
Despite their austere lifestyle, the cloistered nuns of l’Abbaye Sainte-Marie des Deux-Montagnes are charismatic women with an incredible love of life.
DIVINE FACTORY
Director: Joseph Mangat
An immersion in manufacturing in the Philippines, where LGBTQ+ employees are subjected to precarious work conditions to produce religious items.
AN ETERNITY OF YOU AND ME
Director: Sanne This
A chronicle of the filmmaker’s fertility and artificial insemination treatments with gentle humor teasing out the absurd side of the drama.
L’ HISTOIRE JUGERA
Director: German Gutierrez
A personal work of memory capturing the uncertainty about the future of a country emerging from 52 years of civil war.
INNER LINES
Director: Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd
A poignant historical account and a haunting reflection on the eternal return of violence across time and space.
JET LAG
Director: Zheng Lu Xinyuan
A personal, non-linear odyssey that explores issues of family and identity as the filmmaker tries to return to China during the pandemic.
LE MYTHE DE LA FEMME NOIRE
Director: Ayana O’Shun
Black women share their experiences and knowledge, deconstructing and dismantling the racist and sexist stereotypes negatively impacting their identity.
LUMINUM
Director: Maximiliano Schonfeld
In this quirky hybrid film, two ufologists vow to unravel the mystery behind extraterrestrial sightings around the Paraná River in Argentina.
THEY MADE US THE NIGHT
Director: Antonio Hernandez
An intergenerational family’s daily life is punctuated by dreamlike visions in San Marquitos, Mexico, a town still missing from maps.
TOLYATTI ADRIFT
Director: Laura Sistero
Disenchanted youth drift old, remodeled cars across frozen lakes to relieve their angst.
WHAT ABOUT CHINA?
Director: Trinh T Minh-Ha
The multidisciplinary artist and theorist questions cinema, the ethnographic approach, and the construction of history through a compelling essay, as cerebral as it is tender.
what (not) to doc 