18th Edition

Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)

The best of reality film bringing together great thinkers and new talents to discover.

The 18th annual Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) will be held from November 12 to 22. With 144 films from 42 countries and more than a hundred guests, the RIDM is, more than ever, an essential destination for anyone who appreciates reality based cinema.

The festival will present 25 world and international premieres, 23 North American premieres, 23 Canadian premieres and 43 Quebec premieres. With 49 short and feature films from Quebec, the RIDM is once again proving itself to be a fine launch platform for local works.

The RIDM is very pleased to open the festival with the world premiere of the new film by Pascal Sanchez, Les vaillants. A proud standard­‐bearer for Quebec’s long tradition of direct cinema, this immersion in the life of a public housing project in Montreal’s Saint-­Michel neighbourhood is a profoundly compassionate work that goes straight to the heart. To close the festival, the RIDM presents one of the most original and acclaimed films of the festival season. Straddling the line between fiction and documentary, Olmo and the Seagull by Petra Costa and Lea Glob takes us inside the lives of an actor couple whose routine is disrupted by pregnancy. A luminous work about the links between life and creativity.

International Feature Competition
The ten films in the international feature competition are a strong, diverse group that collectively reflect the vitality of the documentary genre and its unique ability to take the pulse of the world as it is.

Canadian Feature Competition
The  many  different approaches  taken  in  the  12  films  in  the  Canadian  feature  competition  are  very  much  in  the same league  as  their  international  counterparts,  demonstrating  convincingly  that  Quebec  and  the  rest  of  Canada boast  an enviable  group  of  talented  documentarians.

RETROSPECTIVES
Thom  Andersen
This year the festival will celebrate  the  career  of Thom Andersen, one  of  North  America’s  most  influential documentary filmmakers.  A leading figure in the essay genre, Andersen has twin passions for the history of cinema and  architecture,  as exemplified by his revered film Los  Angeles Plays Itself. He will give a guest lecture on the topic at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

A Photographer’s Eye: photography and the poetic documentary
The festival has invited the filmmaking and photography team of Melanie Shatzky and Brian M. Cassidy (The Patron Saints, Francine) to  program a series of documentaries made by important photographers, or films whose aesthetic is grounded in still photography. The 20 titles in this retrospective will illustrate the fascinating relationships between still and moving pictures. The selection includes famous names in photography and cinema  such as Helen Levitt, Ed van der  Elsken, William Klein, Agnès  Varda, Chris  Marker, Johan  van  der  Keuken, Harun  Farocki, JH Engström, Roger  Ballen,  Richard  Billingham, Ulrich  Seidl and Jem Cohen (who will present his new film, Counting), and illustrious Canadian artists including Arthur Lipsett, Guy Borremans, Michel Lamothe and Donigan Cumming.

For the full line-up of movies and events visit: www.ridm.ca

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