The Emperor's New Clothes

Power

When Hydro-Québec announced its intention to proceed with the enormous James Bay II hydroelectric project, the 15,000 Cree who live in the region decided to stand up to the giant utility. With unprecedented access to key figures like Cree leader Matthew Coon Come and American environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr., Power is the compelling, behind-the-scenes story of the Cree's five-year battle to save the Great Whale River and their traditional way of life.

Uranium

Explores the consequences of uranium mining in Canada. Toxic and radioactive waste pose profound, long-term environmental hazards. Miners suffer a substantially increased risk of getting cancer. Most mining occurs on Indigenous People's land, violating their traditional economic and spiritual lives. Given our limited knowledge of the risks associated with uranium mining, why continue?

View from the Summit

This feature documentary takes us back to April 20, 2001, as Quebec City prepares to host the 3-day Summit of the Americas. A 4-kilometre fence has been erected, cutting off the Upper Town from the rest of the city. Thirty-four heads of state from the Americas will meet behind closed doors to discuss agreements for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Those opposed to the FTAA are mobilizing and gathering in Quebec City, too. Several thousand delegates have come to participate in the People's Summit, and tens of thousands will march in protest. Six thousand police officers fill the streets and it looks as if the historic Quebec capital is under siege. The local population fears the worst. Will the Quebec capital become a battleground? Shot in cinéma vérité style by 7 of Quebec's best documentary filmmakers, View from the Summit vividly portrays what happens when passionate and creative protesters clash with the ideologies of those in power.

My Real Life

Montréal-Nord is one of those areas we euphemistically call “disadvantaged.” A place where drugs, poverty, delinquency, suicide and all kinds of dysfunction are depressingly commonplace. This is where the late Magnus Isacsson decided to film 18 months in the lives of four young men aged 17 to 22: Danny, Alex, Mickerson and Michael. Music is central to all of their lives. More than just a pastime, hip-hop is their outlet for coping with their demons. With the help of their teacher, mentor and friend Don Karnage, and driven by a fierce desire to overcome hardship, they learn to be adults. Winner of the award for Best Canadian Feature Film at the most recent Montreal International Documentary Festival, Ma vie réelle is an exceptionally astute document in which listening and generosity gain the power to defeat misery.

Art in Action

Art in Action is a portrait of two provocative Montreal artists, Annie Roy and Pierre Allard whose urban installations sound the alarm concerning important social issues.

La bataille de Rabaska

Opération SalAMI : les profits ou la vie ?

Silver Rivers

In 2001, the government of Quebec announced a new program to issue permits for the construction of private hydroelectric dams at specific sites. Upset, the population took things into their own hands and decided to act. Citizens formed collectives to protect their waterways, among the most beautiful in the province. This documentary follows several artist and citizen groups who led a crusade to force the Québec government to abandon private hydro-electrical production. It is a thorough inquiry on the environmental impact and other repercussions of such projects.

Requiem for the American Dream

Through interviews filmed over four years, Noam Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality – tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority – while also looking back on his own life of activism and political participation. He provides penetrating insight into what may well be the lasting legacy of our time – the death of the middle class, and swan song of functioning democracy.

Inequality for All

Based on Reich's 2010 book Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, the film examines widening income inequality in the United States. U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich tries to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap. He publicly argued about the issue for decades, and producing a film of his viewpoints was a "final frontier" for him. In addition to being a social issue documentary, Inequality for All is also partially a biopic regarding Reich's early life and his time as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton's presidency. Warren Buffett and Nick Hanauer, two entrepreneurs and investors in the top 1%, are interviewed in the film, supporting Reich's belief in an economy that benefits all citizens, including those of the middle and lower classes.