Lessons on Life

Jean-Marc is a man without qualities living in times that are out of joint. His wife and children ignore him; he's a mid-level government functionary in Montreal doing his job without care. He has an active imagination of sexual conquest, but his only real feelings come when he visits his aged mother, whose health is failing. When his wife leaves abruptly to work in Toronto, Jean-Marc sets out to reorder things with his daughters, his social life, and at work. In a world that at best is a farce, does he stand a chance?

Scatterbrained Polly gets a job as a secretary in Gabrielle's art gallery. Polly aspires to be a professional photographer, and idolizes Gabrielle for her artistic ability. When Gabrielle rekindles an old romantic relationship with the younger painter Mary, Polly becomes jealous, and discovers Gabrielle isn’t exactly who she claims to be.

The story takes place during the colonization of the Laurentian region in Quebec towards the end of the 19th century (approx. 1885-90), near Sainte-Adèle. An unscrupulous man, Séraphin Poudrier, dominates the small community using his wealth. Mayor of the village, he will marry Donalda Laloge, after her father, unable to repay his debt, gives her to him in marriage. Donalda, a gentle and submissive woman who was promised to the handsome Alexis Labranche, rather, he will live his life according to the wishes of this petty and contemptuous miser, but will never let his situation get him down.

For more than 25 years, Marc Côté, street chaplain and parish priest, has lived with the poor and the homeless. Today, Marc is a worn-out man. Exhausted from running his church, which serves as a shelter, and overwhelmed by the bills they can no longer pay, Marc must face the facts: he will have to shut down his church. Like a call from Providence, he inherits a property in the Bas-du-Fleuve region and decides to take a group of homeless people with him, who, like himself, need a vacation.

After escaping unscathed from a car accident, photo model Simone decides that having a baby is the only way to give her vacant life some meaning. She asks her best friend Philippe to get her pregnant, and he reluctantly agrees, on the condition that they conceive somewhere in a desert, so they leave Montréal on a 24-hour round-trip to Salt Lake City to find a suitable spot.

A beautiful stripper hires renowned criminals to exact revenge on those who raped her in her motel room.

Yannick moves to a small, quiet town to study cinema. One day when he fell off his bike, he knocked at the door of the Beaulieu residence so he could clean the blood off his hands. But Jacques Beaulieu and his family had other plans for Yannick. Beaulieu is a righteous psychopath and fanatic chess player who wants to rid the world of evil. And even though Ian has done nothing wrong, he is beaten, tortured and tormented before Beaulieu makes him an offer: win at chess and he is free to go. And so Ian is now a pawn in Beaulieu 's game. A game in which he will either lose his mind or his life.

A group of actors putting on an interpretive Passion Play in Montreal begin to experience a meshing of their characters and their private lives as the production takes form against the growing opposition of the Catholic church.

Group of prostitutes who rely on each other to revolt against their sinister pimps. Their bid for freedom turns much more dangerous than they ever imagined.

Montreal, 1991. Delphis, 11 years old, grows up in a disadvantaged neighborhood and an unstable family environment. One evening, he decides to take control of his life and becomes The Hurricane. Armed with a lightning bolt on his headband and his middle finger held high, he flees a world that has no place for him. With the police and the Youth Protection Services on his trail, he leaves a mother in distress and has significant encounters in the street. Conquering himself, his adventure is like a road trip, from Hochelag' to Berri, from one family to another. Under the impetus of a hasty adolescence, his freedom thumbs his nose at the indifference towards the marginalized. Social etiquettes burst forth in an assertive tone and sustained rhythm. Between punk music and Marjo, The Hurricane hits us in the face, without waiting to die!

The story of Quebec's most beloved hockey player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, focusing on the struggles of a French Canadian in the National Hockey League dominated by Anglophones.

A film about the history and fate of the Metis rebel leader who opposed the Canadian government in two seperate rebellions.

The unexpected acquaintance with a young prostitute helps the venerable writer to overcome writer's block. Quite shocking story of her life inspires him for a new book.

1952, Québec - Alys Robi, vocalist at the top of her popularity and recognized worldwide, was interned in spite of herself, by her father. Medical authorities prescribe her the only cure for a possible cure: the lobotomy. Under the bright lights of the operating room, Alys sees her 28-year life flash before her eyes.

A TV film staging of Michel Tremblay's play "Sainte Carmen de la Main" by André Brassard.

A compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.

A film with emphasis on visuals and music, the plot concerns characters who meet in present time, mainly the male gypsy Jesus, and the female thief and con-artist Odona, who share parallel experiences from lives 2000 years in the past. These stories are juxtaposed.

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

A documentary portrait of aspiring actors from the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal. Over an extended period, Bachir Bensaddek followed ten students subjected to a rigorous workload and drawn into the endless cycle of auditions. We watch them live their lives as they struggle to carve out a difficult path in a world where solidarity exists alongside competition, and where the playful joy of theatre collides with the urgent need to build a career.

A two-part in-depth exploration of the evolution of the private film industry, seen through the eyes of more than 50 industry professionals. Part One (1939-1979) : Artists and professionals from the social and commercial film sectors recount the struggle to build a film industry that is privately operated yet publicly funded. Part Two (1980-2010) : Executives, policymakers, and industry professionals trace the origins of the major funding institutions and discuss the unintended consequences of building a cultural industry around performance metrics, revenue generation, and private profit.

A day in the life of two Québec families reunited for their children's wedding.

It's summer in Pin-Ponville! Pin-Pin, Pon-Pon and Pouet-Pouet, the firefighters of the city are going to the Happiness Camping for their summer vacation to accomplish their long time dreams. Pin-Pin wants to build the most beautiful sand castle, Pon-Pon wants to catch the biggest fish in the world and Pouet-Pouet wants to catch the most beautiful butterfly there is. Hilarity ensues.

Ocean seemed to be unchanging and inexhaustible for ages. But the effect of mankind actions on its biodiversity and its temperature is alarming. In this documentary, Hubert Reeves, supported by scientists and explorers, offers to rediscover what threatens it and, most of all, its extraordinary ability of renewal.

For more than twenty years, Hubert Reeves has put science, his media influence, and his energy at the service of a cause: biodiversity.