James Hyndman

Sigismond sans images

Albéric Aurtenèche

Théodore Pellerin, Marcel Sabourin

Sigismond Langlois is submitted to a psychiatric evaluation on account of his violent behavior. He just turned 18, and pretends he was born with no image. Throughout the questionnaire, he recounts the peculiar existence of a young man who never saw himself, neither in reflection nor on photo, to the point of sometimes doubting of his own existence. But today, Sigismond is determined to make himself heard.

Eldorado

Charles Binamé

Pascale Bussières, Robert Brouillette

This free-form Canadian drama chronicles the dysfunctional lives of six young people living in Montreal during the summer of 1994. All of the characters are in their twenties, and all are dissatisfied with modern life. Rita is hell on rollerblades and makes her free-wheeling living snatching purses and breaking into cars. She camps out in the apartment of her wealthy friend, Roxan who devotes her spare time to caring for the homeless. Lloyd is a skinhead Deejay for an alternative radio station. His self-important, outrageous ranting provides the background for the rest of the stories. Lloyd is in love with Loulou, a barmaid at a punk club. Loulou is involved in a boring relationship with liquor store clerk, Marc; she looks to Lloyd for excitement. Finally there is screwed-up Henriette, who is so busy venting her neurosis in her shrink's office that she has no time to listen to the doctor's advice.

Dans une galaxie près de chez vous, le film

Claude Desrosiers

Guy Jodoin, Stéphane Crête

The movie chronicles the long, futuristic voyage of a team of Québécois space explorers looking for a planet capable of sustaining life, in the year 2034, after the destruction of the ozone layer through excessive human pollution, prompting the need for a new planet to welcome humankind. The seven crew members venture outside their own galaxy to explore other star system in search of a new planet large enough to sustain 6 billion people. The few habitable planets encountered are ultimately abandoned either because they are already occupied (emphasizing the wrongdoing of invading other civilizations and cultures), or because upon closer inspection they are found to have other problems (cow-sized mosquitoes, high radiation levels, dog overpopulation, unsuitable living environment, ...).

Le polygraphe

Robert Lepage

Patrick Goyette, Marie Brassard

In this French Canadian thriller, an actress wins the role of a murder victim in a film based on the true story of an unsolved crime. She discovers her neighbor was the lover of the woman who was murdered in real life -- and is still a suspect.

The Fall of the American Empire

Denys Arcand

Alexandre Landry, Maripier Morin

A shy and insecure delivery driver (Landry) arrives on the scene of a robbery-gone-wrong and picks up two bags of cash and hides them in his truck . He is interrogated by two tough police detectives and manages to evade suspicion but he is warned that whoever owns the money will be looking for it. Only the help of a prostitute and a former biker recently released from jail might get him out of trouble.

Souterrain

Sophie Dupuis

Joakim Robillard, Théodore Pellerin

Maxime is a miner with a troubled past. After an explosion at his mine, Maxime attempts to find redemption by saving his fellow miners.

Souvenirs intimes

Jean Beaudin

James Hyndman, Pascale Bussières

In this French Canadian drama, the life of a paraplegic painter implodes when an old girlfriend comes back into his life and accuses him of raping her 15 years earlier.

Dans une galaxie près de chez vous 2

Philippe Gagnon

Guy Jodoin, Sylvie Moreau

The crew aboard the Romano Fafard spaceship continues their mission. Captain Patenaude and his acolytes land on planet: Crème hydratante pour le visage soulage la peau sèche (moisturing cream for the face soothes dry skin!) in hopes of finding the ship’s probe, accidentally crashed, that they must have in order to move the Earthlings. Their search is in vain, but it leads them to the tyrannical Governor Supreme who rules the planet. Just when the governor is about to tell them where to find a new probe, there’s a terrible explosion. Will the captain and the Romano Fafard find a liveable planet where they can move six billion Earthlings? And if so, when?

Les Pots Cassés

François Bouvier

Gilbert Sicotte, Marie Tifo

Her publisher forces Marianne to rewrite the manuscript of a novel she wrote and burned in a fit of anguish. Her obsession with her story where the characters she creates murder her own husband becomes overwhelming. She comes to believe he is leading a double life and she imagines the worst. As a matter of fact, her husband Robert is leading a double life: every day, at noon, for a year, he has locked himself up in a small hotel room to also write a novel.

Le marais

Kim Nguyen

Gregory Hlady, Paul Ahmarani

Two social outcasts in 19th century Eastern Europe, Alexandre and Ulysse, become friends and settle down to live alone on the edge of a marsh that is reputedly haunted by demons, monsters and goblins. These two men have been outcasts all their lives. Alexandre was raised in a nomad family that traveled from town to town, being rejected by the people of his homeland. Due to his physical abnormalities, Ulysse has always been pushed aside ever since his childhood. When a strange murder is committed in a nearby village, the peasants turn their suspicions on Alexandre and Ulysse, because they are different. In the eyes of the villagers, they are demons that must be hunted, burned and killed.

Nous sommes les autres

Jean-François Asselin

Pascale Bussières, Émile Proulx-Cloutier

Soho

Jean-Philippe Duval

Pascale Montpetit, James Hyndman

Soho, an aspiring young woman of about 30, lives on the fringe with all those who, like her, believe that one day they will be a famous writer, a star dancer or a famous director. While waiting for that day, they take up yoga, positive thinking, or various forms of electronic macramé. One hot summer evening, Soho meets 18-year-old Choubie, the other generation with a bright future ahead of her. At 102o, in the shade, in a suburban basement, Soho realizes that she is no longer young, almost poor, and that meditation has not opened the doors of any paradise, even earthly.

Boris sans Béatrice

Denis Côté

James Hyndman, Simone-Elise Girard

Living somewhere in present-day Quebec, Boris Malinowski has achieved all his goals. A freethinker, open-minded and proud, he also displays a certain arrogance when it comes to his successes. For some time now, his wife Béatrice, a Canadian government minister, has been bedridden, suffering from a mysterious depression. To escape from his wife’s agony, Boris begins a relationship with a colleague, Helga, and gets close to Klara, a young woman who works as a maid in Boris’s home. The sudden appearance of a stranger in his life forces Boris to come face-to-face with the world, with everything he takes for granted, with all his certainties.

Caboose

Richard Roy

Gildor Roy, Céline Bonnier

An abandoned caboose becomes a junkie's hideout, a multiple murder has been committed. A police investigation leads nowhere, the crime remains unsolved, and Marceau, a hardened cop, resigns in the aftermath. But his troubles don't end there: someone is stalking him and his life is in danger. To save himself, Marceau recruits Camille, a young woman drummed out of the police academy for her inability to fire a gun. They make a pact: Camille agrees to flush out Marceau's potential murderer and Marceau, in exchange, undertakes to remunerate and train her. Camille plunges into Marceau's seedy underworld and encounters a raft of suspects. As Camille sinks deeper and deeper into this sordid world, she comes to terms with its violence and understands that the line between good and evil is narrow indeed. From this insight she draws the strength that had previously eluded her. Marceau's legacy... But who, exactly, is Marceau?

Rowing Through

Masato Harada

Colin Ferguson, Leslie Hope

Based on the real-life story of American rower Tiff Wood (Colin Ferguson), an athlete determined to realize his goal of winning gold at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Wood's dream is shattered when the U.S. boycotts the games, and he must refocus his life towards making the team four years later, with the odds against him.

La beauté de Pandore

Charles Binamé

Pascale Bussières, Jean-François Casabonne

Director Charles Biname rounds out his trilogy of Canadian urban malaise films (Eldorado and Le coeur au poing being the first two works) with this film about a one night stand gone horribly, horribly wrong. Not long after Vincent (Jean-Francois Casabonne) meets the vivacious Pandore (Pascale Bussieres) at the Montreal port for a business meeting, the two are soon rolling around in a hotel room. Vincent's ardor cools for the lass when he learns of her ominous secret, and his button-down wife Ariane (Maude Guérin) walks out on him.