In 1920 a group of young Montreal women artists formed the nucleus of what would later become known as the Beaver Hall Hill Group. Members recount how they created an artistic environment of mutual support that lasted for more than three decades.
Chez Schwartz takes us inside a year in the life of Schwartz's Deli - the unique 75-year-old landmark on Montreal's historic Main. Filmed through changing seasons, from the quiet of early morning preparation to the frenetic bustle of packed lunch times and never ending line-ups, to the more relaxed ambiance late at night - Chez Schwartz is an evocative, cinematic portrait of a small spunky deli known worldwide equally for its atmosphere and smoked meat.
Does privacy still exist in 2019? In less than a generation, the internet has become a mass surveillance machine based on one simple mindset: If it's free, you're the product. Our information is captured, stored and made accessible to corporations and governments across the world. To the hacker community, Big Brother is real and only a technological battle can defeat him.
A Dutch documentary about the history of the anarchist punk band Crass. The film features archival footage of the band, and interviews with former members Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher.
This film speaks to the uniquely inherent traits that drummers and percussionists possess as natural explorers of music and sound, and how this particular story explores the challenge of translating foreign voices of percussive expression into the dialect of a Western classical orchestra setting. Five accomplished percussionists, Drum, and a rock star composer, Stewart Copeland, come together with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to create a groundbreaking work.
This feature documentary is a fascinating and spirited portrait of the life and times of the legendary Quebec politician and four-time mayor of Montreal Camillien Houde. Using rare archival footage and interviews with ex-colleagues, aides and friends, the film presents a comprehensive profile of this incredible, and, to some, infamous, man.
Finland has long been the promised land for long hair and heavy rock music, however jazz has it’s own place here too! Then again maybe jazz is just the general name we give to music we can’t quite classify. And the original soundscapes brought forth by guitarist Heikki Ruokangas are just that; hard to classify. In Ruokangas’ creations, elements of jazz meld together with the strums and tweaks of modern classic guitars to create an aggressive medley of sound. The end result is a skillful and intense break from traditional guitar song.
Traces the lives of the Hartings, a blind Montreal family of three who make their living singing in the city's subway stations. The Hartings lost their only sighted child Hassan in a tragic drowning accident, and have since turned to the teachings of Russian mystic Grigori Grabovoi, hoping to resurrect their son. Resurrecting Hassan is an exploration of this family's legacy of grief, tragedy and abuse; the film will follow them on their path to redemption.
Montreal — one of the few remaining affordable cities in North America — is now in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis. An intimate portrait of socio-political resistance, this multilayered film explores the human impact of real estate speculation on the cities of tomorrow.
A documentary film about the life of pianist and jazz great Thelonious Monk. Features live performances by Monk and his band, and interviews with friends and family about the offbeat genius.
Gabriel Drolet-Maguire, a designer living in Montreal, takes us into their artistic world to discuss their HIV diagnosis. This is a timely and hopeful look at past and present day HIV/AIDS activism in Quebec.
Atlanta musicians behind some of the biggest names in music embark on an uncertain journey into the spotlight with a new genre of music that fuses trap music with jazz.
BREAKING POINT brings viewers back to those tense, critical moments when Canada's future as a country was at stake.
Examines the legacy, cultural impact, and body of work of American R&B/punk/jazz/soul/disco band Earth, Wind & Fire, and will feature exclusive access to the band’s archives of visual, audio, and written material, as well as the support of the estate of Maurice White and the band.
‘Lady Day’ was one of the greatest jazz vocalists the world ever heard. In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of Billie Holiday. Before her mysterious death in 1978, Lipnack Kuehl had taped over 200 hours of interviews. The tapes have never been heard. Now they form the basis of an atmospheric, multi-layered documentary that captures the many complex facets of a proud black woman, violent drug addict, loyal friend, vindictive lover and unforgettable singer of ‘God Bless The Child’, ‘Saddest Tale’ and the haunting ‘Strange Fruit’.
Les Mathématiques du Roi Heenok
La dérive douce d’un enfant de Petit-Goâve
In the past 20 years, some 300,000 English-speaking people have left Montréal, convinced they had no future in a Québec that had become increasingly French, increasingly nationalistic. In this video we meet some of the people who are moving away and recall the days, in the last century, when there were more English-speaking people than French in Montréal. The video poses a controversial question: Will the city, with its youth leaving in great numbers, become a community of the elderly, unable to renew itself?
We follow Roach, a 17-year-old ex-junkie and squeegee punk living on the streets of Toronto and Montreal. As part of the filmmaking process, he's been given a camera to document his world. The footage he gets is urgent, because there's a war against squeegee kids. This documentary is from the point of view of the kids themselves, in order to provide alternative voices. Roach's camera is positioned behind "enemy" lines: living in derelict buildings, squeegeeing for money, being hunted by police.
African drummer leaves village, makes it big in the world. Great drumming!!