The Monastery (2019)

Option Zero

There are countless stories of Cubans reaching their dream destination of Florida as boat refugees. A lesser known route to the United States starts with a flight in a ramshackle plane to Guyana. Then the refugees travel to Colombia where they cross the jungle to arrive in Central America, from where they hope to reach the promised land of America—a hard and dangerous journey. Cuban filmmaker Marcel Beltrán visits them in a refugee camp in Panama, where one of the residents gives him an idea. Many people here have filmed their journey, she says, and these videos tell their real story. These jerky, shocking videos are interspersed with Beltrán’s footage of the camp, tangibly illustrating the difference between the hectic pace of the journey and the insecure life at the reception center.

No Address

This feature-length documentary by Alanis Obomsawin examines the plight of Native people who come to Montreal searching for jobs and a better life. Often arriving without money, friends or jobs, a number of them quickly become part of the homeless population. Both dislocated from their traditional values and alienated from the rest of the population, they are torn between staying and returning home.

The World's Worst Place to Be Gay?

Scott Mills travels to Uganda where the death penalty could soon be introduced for being gay. The gay Radio 1 DJ finds out what it's like to live in a society which persecutes people like him and meets those who are leading the hate campaign.

I, Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story

I, Pastafari is a documentary film about the world's fastest growing religion: The Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster. R'Amen.

Francesco

Francesco takes an unsparing look at the most pressing challenges of the 21st-century, asking deep questions about the human condition. The film is guided by Pope Francis who, with tremendous humility, wisdom, and generosity, offers moving lessons from his life that illuminate what it will take to build a better future. In doing so, he addresses issues such as climate change, immigration, peace and religious tolerance, LGBTQ support, gender and identity justice, and economic equality.

VOÏVOD: We Are Connected

From unlikely origins in northern Québec at the height of the Cold War, Voïvod’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi aesthetic, fuelled by a youthful obsession with their instruments, took them from underground success to sharing dates and tours with Iron Maiden, Rush, and Metallica. Despite adversity, and perhaps by cosmic intervention or just serendipity, Voïvod found guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain; subsequently, the band re-ignited their engines and laid a course back to Morgöth via numerous live shows around the world, a comeback album in Target Earth, singles, EPs, and finally, the late-career triumph, The Wake. In 2019, Voïvod were recognized by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with a Juno Award for best hard rock/metal album of the year for The Wake.

Into Great Silence

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

Without Mercy

The animated documentary - a mix of live-action footage and animation - tells of the brutal everyday life in the orphanages of the 60s / 70s. Often led by Christian orders, more than one million children were physically and physically abused here. The anonymous protagonist tells of her childhood and her very personal struggle against the nuns' arbitrariness and their ruthless authority.

Al Djanat, the Original Paradise

The death of a Burkinabé family’s patriarch and the division of his estate unearths conflict between his heirs and larger questions about inheritance, belonging and the communal customs of West Africa versus Westernized courts.

Hospital(ity) Chronicles

Through family archives, drawings, animations and performances that draw on her long experience with illness, Brigitte Lacasse takes an incisive, critical look at the Quebec health care system.

Bad Faith

On January 6, 2021, Americans witnessed an attack on the U.S. Capitol without precedent in our history. Armed militiamen and QAnon followers made headlines, but among them were a sea of crosses and Christian flags, rosaries and "Jesus Saves" signs. What motivated so many Christians to participate in this violent assault?

Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy

This documentary reveals amazing evidence connected to Moses’s ability to write the first books of the Bible and why most mainstream scholars are blinded to that possibility today.

The Story of the Swastika

In the week when Hindus celebrate the holy festival of Diwali, this documentary tells the story of one of their faith's most sacred symbols - the swastika. For many, the swastika has become a symbol synonymous with the Nazis and fascism. But this film reveals the fascinating and complex history of an emblem that is, in fact, a religious symbol, with a sacred past. For the almost one billion Hindus around the world, the swastika lies at the heart of religious practices and beliefs, as an emblem of benevolence, luck and good fortune.

Religieuses abusées, l'autre scandale de l'Église

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Creation or Evolution?

Has the age-old stand-off between science and religion taken a new turn? Can the Bible's account of creation be reconciled with modern scientific fact? How did so many life-forms come into existence? This carefully researched video sheds helpful new light on the debate.

A Heart Set Free: Charles Wesley

A biography of Charles Wesley, father of the Weselyan Church, hymn writer, and preacher.

Religulous

Commentator-comic Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to believers about their faith. Traveling around the world, Maher examines the tenets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and raises questions about homosexuality, proof of Christ's existence, Jewish Sabbath laws, violent Muslim extremists.

Atik, gardien du territoire

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Fog in February

On the eve of the publication of a biography of Claude Jutra, one of the most famous and celebrated filmmakers in Quebec and Canada, a leak leaked to the press reveals that the book contains anonymous allegations of pedophile acts committed by the filmmaker. The rumor spread like lightning, suddenly igniting the entirety of Quebec society. By finding today some of the main witnesses propelled overnight into the heart of an unparalleled media tornado, the documentary reconstructs with archive images and other previously unpublished images, the sequence of events which led to a rewriting of the story.

11 Días en Ayacucho

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A Bear Named Jesus

At Archer’s Aunty Gladys’ funeral, he hears a tap on the window — it’s a bear named Jesus, who has come for Archer’s mom. “A Bear Named Jesus” is an allegory for religious interference, with an aching yet humorous look at estrangement and mourning for the loss of someone still living.