Crystal Pillar, White Lady, The Whale—these are the names given by ice-climbing enthusiasts to the spectacular ice formations surrounding Quebec's Montmorency Falls. Ice Birds shows two experienced climbers scaling the breathtaking wall of the Crystal Pillar with precision and considerable daring, appearing from below as black spots on the vast landscape of one of nature's masterpieces.


Crystal Pillar, White Lady, The Whale—these are the names given by ice-climbing enthusiasts to the spectacular ice formations surrounding Quebec's Montmorency Falls. Ice Birds shows two experienced climbers scaling the breathtaking wall of the Crystal Pillar with precision and considerable daring, appearing from below as black spots on the vast landscape of one of nature's masterpieces.
1979-06-10
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0.0This quirky little short by Gilles Carle was filmed on the pierced rock that stands near Quebec’s Gaspé peninsula. It is perhaps the most photographed natural phenomenon on Canada’s East Coast. Shot in the 1960s, the film has a very psychedelic feel to it, with animation, special effects, and a trio of women to guide us through.
7.0With its 33,000 kilometers of marked trails and its tens of thousands of kilometers of off-trail circuits, Québec is a snowmobile paradise. In this documentary, a dozen French tourists, accompanied by their flamboyant guide, live an incredible adventure in Quebec's wilderness.
0.0“Nuuhkuum uumichiwaapim” (« My Grandmother’s Tipi ») is an exploration of the sensorial and textural experience of a grandmother’s tipi. It is based on memories of being in a tipi, observing in the bliss of cooking and the time in-between.
Yagorihwanirats, a Mohawk child from Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Quebec, attends a unique and special school: Karihwanoron. It is a Mohawk immersion program that teaches Mohawk language, culture and philosophy. Yagorihwanirats is so excited to go to school that she never wants to miss a day – even if she is sick.
0.0Robert Roussil, one of the central figures of Québec sculpture, left a profound mark on art history with his bold creations and unwavering commitment to freedom of expression. However, since his death in 2013, his legacy seems to be fading. This film seeks to revive the memory of this visionary artist by delving into his work and philosophy. Constructed from a rich body of archival footage, the documentary also draws on numerous interviews given by Roussil throughout his career. The film traces his journey from his early exile in France to his life in a mill in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, where he created most of his works. The narrative opens the doors to his home and studio, while also shedding light on his sculptures, still visible in Montreal, which continue to reflect his lasting influence.
8.0Ten years after an enormous open-pit gold mine began operations in Malartic, the hoped-for economic miracle is nothing more than a mirage. Filmmaker Nicolas Paquet explores the glaring contrast between the town’s decline and the wealth of the mining company, along with the mechanisms of an opaque decision-making system in which ordinary people have little say. Part anthropological study, part investigation into the corridors of power, Malartic addresses the fundamental issue of sustainable and fair land management.
0.0This feature-length film tells the story of the passion between Marie de l’Incarnation, a mid-seventeenth-century nun and God, her "divine spouse." Fusing documentary and acting by Marie Tifo, whom we follow as she rehearses for this demanding role, the film paints an astonishing portrait of this mystic who abandoned her son and left France to build a convent in Canada, where she became the first female writer in New France.
0.0Summer unveils a new blueberry season in northern Canada. The fields are covered in blue and workers from all over scramble before the frost puts an end to the harvest. And yet this time of year is much more than just picking: it's a time of music and connection.
0.0Everything about the Quebec visual artist Lyne Lapointe reflects the grip of art on her life. Lesbian and feminist, she tirelessly highlights in her work the challenging position of women in society and in the art world. This concern is the common thread in the story of her life and projects. Despite a serious accident that ended her first series, revolutionary urban creations that earned her international reputation, she reinvents her approach with the tenacity that characterizes her, ultimately becoming the subject of significant exhibitions in Quebec, Canada, and abroad.
0.0For the first time, cloistered sisters agree to be filmed for one year in all aspects of their lives. The nuns of Berthierville, the only Francophone community of Dominican nuns in North America for nearly a century, engage in a rare and unique documentary in which exceptional testimonies and archives intermingle.
0.0Canadian director Catherine Annau's debut work is a documentary about the legacy of Pierre Trudeau, the long-running Prime Minister of Canada, who governed during the 1970s. The film focuses particularly on Trudeau's goal of creating a thoroughly bilingual nation. Annau interviews eight people in their mid-30s on both sides of the linguistic divide. One tells of her life growing up in a community of hard-core Quebec separatists, while another, a yuppie from Toronto, recalls believing as a child that people in Montreal got drunk and had sex all day long. Annau has all of the interviewees discuss how Trudeau's policies affected their lives and their perceptions of the other side, in this issue that strikes to the heart of Canada's national identity.
0.0The story of the Quebec Mosque Shooting—the first ever mass shooting in a mosque in the West—is known around the world, but the story of the community that survived the attack is all but unknown. The Mosque: A Community's Struggle is an intimate portrait of the resilient Muslim community of Ste-Foy, Québec, as they struggle to survive and shift the narrative of what it means to be a Muslim, one year after the devastating attack that took the lives of six of their members. As the world moves on, this small mosque and its community fights Islamophobia, harassment and hate speech. How will the community heal and how will they stop the rhetoric that threatens to precipitate further violence?
0.0A cinematic and introspective look at the residents of a Quebec town—once the site of the world's largest asbestos mine—as they grapple with their community's industrial past. Striving to honour their heritage while reconciling with their history and forging a new path forward, the miners delve into the intricacies of progress and healing.
8.4From death-defying speed link-ups of the wildest faces in the Alps, to Olympian displays of strength and tenacity on the hardest boulders ever climbed, Reel Rock 2010 features a breathtaking journey through the vertical realm with the heroes of rock and snow.
7.3The complete 2011 REEL ROCK Film Tour: Six astounding short films covering every style of climbing on the planet. Starring Tommy Caldwell, Dean Potter, "Sketchy" Andy Lewis, Ashima Shiraishi, Will Gadd, Kevin Jorgeson, Corey Richards, Obe Carrion, Sean Leary, Tim Emmett, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko, Hans Florine, The Huber Brothers, and more.
10.0It is a fact that our winters are less and less cold. Therefore it is harder and harder to get the conditions for ice-climbing. Fortunately, man adapts to his environment and makes progress: this is how dry-tooling was born. This movie will make you discover this discipline: its history, its evolution and the current practice. You will also see how much excitement dry tooling can bring. Dry-tooling now allows to free-climb some routes which were impossible to climb without aid in the past.
0.0This short documentary film is a fascinating portrait of urban and rural Quebec in the late 1960s, as the province entered modernity. The collective work produced for the Quebec Ministry of Industry and Commerce calls on several major Quebec figures.
0.0Gilles Groulx's first film shot in 1955 with a camera borrowed from his brother and edited during his spare time when he worked as an editor at the Radio-Canada news service a few years before he joined the NFB. Silent film, presented as its author left it, where the soil and the dialectic of Groulx's work are already there: documentary realism, the social space to be explored, daily life, the relationship between individual and society, social disparities, the consumer society, seduction and happiness.
0.0This feature-length documentary brings together six of the rare television interviews given by Gilles Groulx between 1966 and 1983. Through these interviews, the filmmaker's ethical and aesthetic concerns are revealed. A striking coherence emerges in his thinking regarding his conception of cinema and the role the filmmaker should play in his culture and society.