Docs on the Spot

The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is proud to open its 22^nd edition today Thursday, November 14, with the Quebec premiere of the film The Disappearance of my Mother, with director Beniamino Barrese and his mother Benedetta Barzini in attendance. The film is a touching, intimate portrait of a former fashion icon who now shuns the camera, wanting to disappear from this world of ubiquitous screens. The opening ceremony will start at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Auditorium (H-110) at Concordia University.

The screening will be followed by a party at RIDM Headquarters at the Cinémathèque québécoise (335 De Maisonneuve Blvd. E.), where several artists will take the stage starting at 9:30 p.m. Annie Sama, Fwonte, J.u.D and Akpossoul will help celebrate the opening of the year’s biggest documentary event.

A second screening of The Disappearance of my Mother, followed by a discussion with Beniamino Barrese, is scheduled for Thursday, November 21 at 4 p.m. at Cinéma du Parc.

Opening of the UXdoc Space

The beginning of the festival also marks the opening of the UXdoc space, which hosts interactive projects, installations and virtual reality experiences. Located in the Raoul-Barré room at the Cinémathèque québécoise, the space will feature 9 projects, including Stealing Ur Feelings by Noah Levenson, an augmented reality experience on facial recognition technology. Festivalgoers can also get an introduction to participatory documentary theatre with Hotspot by Patricia Bergeron, a new type of experience about the realities of migrant processing centres.

Local and international adventures

With Wilcox, Denis Côté takes us takes us to the heart of the wandering of a man in the Quebec nature. The Song of Empedocles by Sylvain L’Espérance and Marie-Claude Loiselle invites us to a documentary and philosophical journey in Greece. The posthumous feature film Mavericks, by Michka Saäl, pays tribute to the beauty of Montreal and its people as she captures the details of everyday life.

Right from the start, the festival will present several Quebec premieres with their Canadian and international directors in attendance, including 143 Sahara Street (Hassen Ferhani), nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up (Tasha Hubbard),  Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger (Alanis Obomsawin), and Conviction (Nance Ackerman, Ariella Pahlke, Teresa MacInnes).

Robert Fisk is a writer and Middle East correspondent and the protagonist of This is Not a Movie by Yung Chang. Fisk will open the Forum RIDM on Monday, November 18 with a discussion on his long career. This stimulating discussion, moderated by Le Devoir editor Brian Myles, will touch on field research and the question of truth in the era of fake news.

North American premieres

On the festival’s first weekend, festivalgoers will have the chance to see North American premieres of documentaries in which the filmmakers meet people on their sacred ground, such as No Gold for Kalsaka by Michel K. Zongo, which documents how a gold mine, whose operating permits had been held by multinationals, caused terrible social and environmental damage in Burkina Faso. In Les yeux de mon amour, Rui Silveira invites us to witness a ritual in which a Portuguese village is transformed by beautiful paper flowers.

Genre cross-pollination: the Laura Huertas Millan retrospective

Laura Huertas Millán – Decolonizing Ethnography is a retrospective of the Franco-Colombian filmmaker’s work, going to the heart of our imagination and emotions with a range of works of great formal and conceptual depth. Laura Huertas Millán will be present on November 15 and 16 after the screening of the two programs of her works, each comprising three short films.

Family screening

On Saturday, November 16, the RIDM is delighted to invite kids and their parents to a very special family screening followed by an activity and a snack. Programmed by the Carrousel du film de Rimouski.

Thanks to the RIDM’s partners

The RIDM wishes to thank its institutional, primary and associate partners for helping make this 22^nd edition a memorable one. Thanks to the ministère de la Culture et des Communications, SODEC, the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ville de Montréal, Telefilm Canada, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Bell Media, Canal D, the Canada Media Fund, Télé-Québec, FACTOR, Tourisme Montréal, the CSN, Radio-Canada, Université du Québec à Montréal, Concordia University, Post-Moderne, the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM), Studios Saint-Antoine, Mouvement des caisses Desjardins, PRIM, BDO, the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cineplex, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and Candlewood Suites Montréal.

Quebec’s only film festival dedicated to documentaries, the Montreal International Documentary Festival presents the best reality‐based films, including the works of established directors and new talents.

The 22^nd annual RIDM will take place from November 14 to 24, 2019.

at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Centre Pierre-Péladeau, Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin,

Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma Moderne and Concordia University.

Information : www.ridm.ca / info@ridm.ca

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