Movies

  • ôtênaw

    Movie

    Directed by Conor McNally • 2017 • Canada • 41’

    ôtênaw is a film documenting the oral storytelling of Dwayne Donald, an educator from Treaty 6, Edmonton, Canada. Drawing from nêhiyawak philosophies, he speaks about the multilayered histories of Indigenous peoples’ presence both within and around...

  • Under the Husk

    Movie

    Directed by Katsitsionni Fox • 2017 • United States • 27’

    UNDER THE HUSK follows two Mohawk girls on their journey to become Mohawk women. Friends since childhood, Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are members of the traditional community of Akwesasne on the U.S./Canada border. Together, they under...

  • Signal and Noise

    Movie

    What are the sounds of Guantánamo Bay Detention Center? In 2015, poet Jordan Scott set out to record the ambient sounds of the prison as a means of bypassing its strict media censorship rules. Today, former detainee, Mansoor Adayfi, recalls how sound shaped his experiences there— both of torture ...

  • The Klabona Keepers

    Movie

    Directed by Tamo Campos & Jasper Snow Rosen • 2022 • Canada • 69’

    The Klabona Keepers is an intimate portrait of the dynamic Indigenous community that succeeded in protecting the remote Sacred Headwaters, known as the Klabona, in northwest British Columbia from industrial activities. Spanning 15...

  • Island Earth

    Movie

    Directed by Cyrus Sutton • 2016 • USA • 61’

    A rich and complex tale of a young indigenous scientist’s journey through the corn fields of GMO companies and loi patches of traditional Hawaiian elders reveals modern truths and ancient values that can save our food future.

    To feed all the humans on...

  • Migrant Dreams

    Movie

    Directed by Min Sook Lee ∙ 2016 ∙ Canada ∙ 88'

    Available to stream for free until Dec 23rd.

    MIGRANT DREAMS tells the undertold story of migrant agricultural workers struggling against Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that treats foreign workers as modern-day indentured labourers...

  • Zinco

    Movie

    Directed by Serene Husni • 2013 • Canada, Jordan, Palestinian Territory • 21’

    ZINCO is an urban chronicle of the construction material used in building Palestinian refugee homes in Al Talbieh Camp in Jordan. By retracing the transformations of habitats from tents of canvas to buildings of reinfo...

  • Notes on Displacement

    Movie

    Directed by Khaled Jarrar • 2022 • Germany, Palestine, Qatar • 74’

    The news is full of images of overcrowded boats and vast tent camps. But how much do we really know about what refugees are going through? Notes on Displacement takes a deep dive by following a single family on a grueling journey...

  • Lessons for Polygamists

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2017 ∙ Canada

    Employing animation and collage, LESSONS FOR POLYGAMISTS takes place inside the diary of an adolescent girl growing up in a polygamous household. She lists the lessons she would convey to Dad, if only she could.

    Every teenager knows better than the adults i...

  • Islands of Forgotten Cinemas

    Movie

    Directed by Ivan Ramljak • 2016 • Croatia • 35'

    A poetic documentary about the lost film culture in small villages on Croatian islands, during the second half of the last century. Six witnesses of the time are remembering their favorite films and events related to their viewing and screening exp...

  • (of)fences

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2002 ∙ Canada ∙ 6m

    In the context of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, in April 2000, a group of filmmakers and video artists came together to consider the repercussions of free trade and to collaborate on a project that resulted in “Blah, Blah, Blah. (Re)Viewin...

  • Invoking Justice

    Movie

    Directed by Deepa Dhanraj • 2011 • India • 85’

    In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 establ...

  • Truxx

    Movie

    Directed by Harry Sutherland • 1978 • Canada • 19’

    October 22nd, 1977. Truxx, a popular gay bar on Montreal’s Stanley Street, was raided by swarms of police officers with ballistic vests and machine guns. That night, 144 people present were arrested (most on the false charge of being “found-ins ...

  • Culture Jam: Hijacking Commercial Culture

    Movie

    Directed by Jill Sharpe • 2002 • Canada • 57'

    A new breed of revolutionary stands poised along our information highways waging war on logos and symbols. They’re “Culture Jammers” and their mission is to artfully reclaim our mental environment and cause a bit of brand damage to corporate mindshar...

  • The Fifth Region

    Movie

    Directed by Aeyliya Husain & Gabriel Nuraki Koperlaqualuk • 2018 • Canada • 46’

    The 5th Region is a short narrative film that discusses the lives of Nancy and Joshua who are Inuit but raised in southern Canada. All their lives they struggled with aspects of their identities and now begin to rede...

  • Ken, Tov, Beseder

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2010 ∙ Canada

    KEN, TOV, BESEDER is a constructed short narrative piece, both allegorical and literal. A Palestinian man working in his garden in West Jerusalem is interrupted. The phone rings as he walks out of his home, through Jerusalem streets, past the Damascus gate, ...

  • In The Middle Of The Street

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2002 ∙ Canada

    The loss of individual lives in Israel/Palestine as a result of the Israeli occupation is too much for any of us to comprehend at this point. The number of injuries and the psychic toll is even greater. We do not see the full picture. Most often the perspe...

  • My World Is Upside Down

    Movie

    Directed by Petra Seliškar • 2016 • Slovenia - Macedonia - Croatia • 74'

    A music documentary based on the work of Slovenian artist Frane Milčinski Ježek. His satirical poems and songs from the 1950s and 60s today sound more urgent and topical than ever, and are covered by musicians ranging from ...

  • Choir Boys

    Movie

    Directed by Magnus Isacsson • 1999 • Canada • 75'

    For more than 125 years, meals have been served for a large number of homeless people in the reception centre L‘accueil Bonneau in Montreal, Canada.

    A few years ago, a choir of around twenty men was formed from the regular clientele of the centr...

  • Power

    Movie

    Directed by Magnus Isacsson • 1995 • Canada • 78'

    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 ...

  • The Return

    Movie

    Directed by Hale Güzin Kızılaslan • 2015 • Turkey • 20'

    Memories and identities had long been eradicated or buried in Eastern Anatolia after the disappearance of its Armenian inhabitants; some managed to survive, but only secretly. THE RETURN tells one such story of confrontation, remembrance an...

  • Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution

    Movie

    Directed by Myriam Fougère • 2012 • Canada • 63'

    A parallel, lesbian-feminist revolution was born out of the women’s and civil rights movements of the 60’s and 70’s. Filmmaker Myriam Fougère’s takes us on a road trip through the United States and Canada as she revisits the activists of the time ...

  • Dragged

    Movie

    Produced by Olivia Di Poi and Hannah B. Moore • 2019 • Canada • 31'

    DRAGGED explores the wonderfully weird world of Montreal drag. Meet the kings, queens, and royalty who make up this vibrant community and support your local drag!

    All proceeds generated from the streaming of this video are spl...

  • Maxime, McDuff, and McDo

    Movie

    Directed by Magnus Isacsson • 2002 • Canada • 52'

    This is the story of two young men, Maxime and Pascal, who sow the wind and reap a storm. Things quickly get out of control when these two employees attempt to form a union at a Montreal McDonald’s. Their initiative to form a union at a Montreal ...

  • Un Syndicat Avec Ça?

    Movie

    Realisè par Magnus Isacsson • 1999 • Canada • 63' • Français

    Les employés d'un restaurant McDonald de la Rive-Sud de Montréal ont décidé de se syndiquer. En cas de réussite, cet établissement sera le seul McDonald syndiqué en Amérique du Nord. Les enjeux sont énormes, tant pour la multinationale...

  • post_cunt

    Movie

    Directed by Lari Jalbert • 2018 • Canada • 20'

    Imagine how bodies will relate to each other in the future, how intimacy will be radically different. Imagine trans and queer bodies having access to ways of mutating organically; reshaping their mortal flesh with their own hands or those of others ...

  • Granny Power

    Movie

    Directed by Jocelyne Clarke & Magnus Isacsson • 2014 • Canada • 78’

    GRANNY POWER is a documentary about a very original activist movement – the Raging Grannies. Spanning 10 years, the film follows several passionate, activist grandmothers and their “gaggles” as they fight for peace, social justi...

  • Scarlet Road

    Movie

    Directed by Catherine Scott • 2011 • Australia • 70'

    Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression, Australian sex worker Rachel Wotton specializes in a long overlooked clientele— people with disabilities. Working in New South Wales—where prostitution is legal— Rachel’s philosophy is that human...

  • Ovarian Psycos

    Movie

    Directed by Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle • 2016 • United States • 72'

    Riding at night through streets deemed dangerous in Eastside Los Angeles, the Ovarian Psycos use their bicycles to confront the violence in their lives. At the helm of the crew is founder Xela de la X, a single ...

  • Sarabah

    Movie

    Maria Luisa Gambale & Gloria Bremer • United States - Senegal • 2011 • 60'

    Rapper, singer and activist, Sister Fa is a hero to young women in Senegal and an unstoppable force for social change. A childhood victim of female genital cutting (FGC), she decided to tackle the issue by starting a gras...

  • The Cancer Journals Revisited

    Movie

    Directed by Lana Lin • 2018 • United States • 98'

    THE CANCER JOURNALS REVISITED is prompted by the question of what it means to re-visit and re-vision Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde’s classic 1980 memoir of her breast cancer experience today. At the invitation of filmmaker Lana Lin, who...

  • The Archivettes

    Movie

    Directed by Megan Rossman • United States • 2018 • 61'

    Founded in the 1970s in a New York City apartment, The Lesbian Herstory Archives is now the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians. For more than 40 years, the all-volunteer organization has striven to combat lesbian i...

  • Defiant Lives

    Movie

    Directed by Sarah Barton • 2017 • Australia • 85'

    DEFIANT LIVES is a triumphant film that traces the origins of the worldwide disability rights movement. It tells the stories of the individuals who bravely put their lives on the line to create a better world where everyone is valued and can part...

  • Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

    Movie

    Zacharias Kunuk • 2010 • Canada • Inuktut • 54'

    Nunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new doc...

  • Kivitoo: What They Thought of Us

    Movie

    Director Zacharias Kunuk • 2018 • Canada • Inuktut • 43'

    In 1963 families living on the land at Kivitoo were relocated by RCMP to Qikiqtarjuaq, a town 50 km to the south, with the promise they could return, only to return to find their homes bulldozed and belongings destroyed. Combining archival...

  • Bitter Paradise: The Sell Out of East Timor

    Movie

    Directed by Elaine Brière • 1997 • Canada • 56'

    As Canadians we pride ourselves on our international reputation as peacekeeper and power broker. But there is a dark side to our foreign policy – a policy that encourages and subsidizes business and cultural ties with Indonesia, a country responsib...

  • Betrayed - The Story of the Canadian Merchant Seamen's Union

    Movie

    Directed by • Elaine Brière • Canada • 2004 • 56'

    Although Canada is surrounded by three oceans, there is not a single deep-sea ship flying the Canadian flag. But sixty years ago, Canada had the fourth-largest merchant fleet in the world.

    "BETRAYED: THE STORY OF THE CANADIAN MERCHANT SEAMAN'S U...

  • Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza)

    Movie

    Directed by Nicolas Wadimoff • 2009 • Switzerland - France - Qatar • 85'

    Shot a few weeks after the end of Israel’s January 2009 offensive, this sensitively crafted doc captures the human suffering and devastation wrought on Gaza’s Palestinian residents as they struggle daily to survive. “Where ...

  • Salmon Confidential

    Movie

    Directed by Twyla Roscovich • 2013 • Canada • 69'

    In light of the recent extension of Salmon farm licenses in British Columbia, Cinema Politica On Demand highlights this important documentary by Twyla Roscovich. SALMON CONFIDENTIAL is about the Canadian government's cover up of what is really ki...

  • Te Rua

    Movie

    Directed by Barry Barclay • 1991 • English • 105'

    A hundred years after the theft of three irreplaceable tribal carvings from New Zealand, two persevering Māori activists decide it’s time for ancient grievances to be put right. Rewi Marangai, a successful lawyer and Peter Huaka, a performance po...

  • My Life Without Air

    Movie

    Directed by Bojana Burnać • 2017 • Croatia • 75'

    How much can you fit between two breaths? MY LIFE WITHOUT AIR is a thrilling view of the wondrous world of a man whose most important moments in life take place underwater during one highly controlled breath. Unrelentingly shifting the boundaries ...

  • Mother Europe

    Movie

    Directed by Petra Sališkar • 2013 • Slovenia - Macedonia - Croatia • 90'

    MOTHER EUROPE takes a look at Europe through the eyes of a six year old child, Terra. Born in the Balkans, but raised as a citizen of the world by her Cuban-Macedonian father and Slovenian mother, little Terra quickly learn...

  • Deir Yassin Remembered

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2006 ∙ Canada

    DEIR YASSIN REMEMBERED considers the repercussions of a largely forgotten massacre of almost 100 Palestinians in 1948. The massacre at Deir Yassin was pivotal to Palestinian dispossession. Though Deir Yassin has been partially acknowledged by Israelis, many ...

  • The Pā Boys

    Movie

    Directed by Himona Grace • 2014 • 93'

    Grace’s exploration of masculinity and Māori identity in The Pa Boys is full of passion, creativity and anguish. The film follows a fictional Reggae band as it tours Aotearoa and struggles to keep cohesion and community among its members. At the heart of th...

  • Even in the Desert

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael • Canada • 2006 • 32'

    EVEN IN THE DESERT is a personal reportage focusing on concrete actions by Israelis, Palestinians and international activists working together in the face of and against current agendas to displace Palestinians and to limit their movements. The video t...

  • A hot sandfilled wind

    Movie

    Directed by b.h. Yael ∙ 2006 ∙ Canada • 16'

    A HOT SANDFILLED WIND is a 13-minute lyrical piece, based on a poem by Nadia Habib. An appeal for recognition against despair, it emphasizes that beyond the politics of occupation, Israelis and Palestinians live in proximity, side by side.

    PALESTINE T...

  • Children 404

    Movie

    Directed by Askold Kurov & Pavel Loparev • 2014 • Russia • 70'

    CHILDREN 404 spotlights the lives of Russian LGBTQ+ youth struggling with decisions to remain in their home country or build a new life abroad, while offering a glimpse at the country's deeply rooted conservatism. In 2013, Russian Pr...

  • Mauri

    Movie

    Directed by Merata Mita • 1988 • New Zealand • 90'

    Mauri is the story of Rewi, a man haunted by a past which threatens to engulf his future. The story is set among the colourful characters of a once thriving settlement, Te Mata, upon whom the encroachment by Europeans spells disaster.

    Now isol...

  • The Shirley Card

    Movie

    Directed by Sonya Mwambu • 2017 • Canada • 3’

    Gesturing to the racial bias behind Kodak’s mid-century “Shirley Cards,” Mwambu brings deeply textured layers of Black artistry, history and the racial politics of popular culture.

    All proceeds generated from the streaming of this video are split be...

  • Ngāti

    Movie

    Directed by Barry Barclay • 1987 • English • 93'

    A boy is dying from leukemia; a young Australian doctor visits only to discover his hidden Māori heritage; the local freezing works are threatened to close down. Centered around the community of a small fictional Māori village in the late 1940s, t...

  • Camfranglais

    Movie

    Directed by Myléne Augustin & Feven Ghebremariam ∙ 2018 ∙ Canada ∙ 12'

    Summer 2117 will be revealing for Sam, an 18-year-old Cameroonian girl. Freshly elected to the tribal council that governs her country, she joins the national delegation that is invited to Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). This trip is ...

  • Solitudes

    Movie

    Directed by Marwen Tlili & Quentin Ducados Tayeb Hadji • 2018 • Canada • 18'

    Lamine, a Senegalese student in Quebec, decides to film a carsharing ride between Rimouski and Montreal. In the course of his discussions with Rémi, a young filmmaker focusing on ‘minorities’ and Nataly, an Indigenous w...

  • Couleur du Moment

    Movie

    Directed by Jeremy Sandor • 2018 • Canada • 15'

    Couleur du Moment follows five employees during their last day on the job at a colour forecasting agency. The workers still go about business despite having been replaced by algorithms that design new digital colours to be experienced in the widely...

  • In Spring One Plants Alone

    Movie

    Directed by Vincent Ward ∙ 1980 ∙ New Zealand ∙ 45'

    Outside the boundaries of state protection in Aotearoa (also known as New Zealand), an elderly mother carries the daily work of survival and looks after her mentally-ill son. Their world unfolds between the surrounding mountains and the pastora...

  • Here and Mars

    Movie

    Directed by Mariam Zaidi • 2018 • Canada • 5'

    JK is a 26 year-old astronaut from India selected to go on a mission to Mars in the year 2035. As she gets ready for her momentous day, she reflects on her past and the people who helped her get to where is she is now.

    All proceeds generated from th...

  • Two Cars, One Night

    Movie

    Directed by Taika Waititi • 2004 • New Zealand • 11'

    Set in the carpark of a rural pub in Te Kaha, New Zealand, this award- winning short comedy from Taika Waititi tells the story of two brothers, Romeo and Ed, who wait in the car while their parents are inside drinking. Romeo spots Polly, an el...

  • Tama Tū

    Movie

    Directed by Taika Waititi • 2005 • New Zealand • 18'

    Every culture has its stories and its heroes. For the Māori, the men of the 28th Battalion are legendary. Numerous books and films have been made commemorating the Māori Battalion, who fought the Axis forces in Greece, North Africa and Italy. ...

  • Lost Alien

    Movie

    Directed by tobias c. van Veen • 2018 • Canada • 25'

    Blending documentary techniques with surrealist and silent filmmaking, LOST ALIEN captures the Afrofuturist cosplay of ZiggZaggerZ the Bastard as a photosensitive black alien stranded on a sunlit planet. Having lost her way from the continuum ...

  • Aryana Resurrected

    Movie

    Directed by Brishkay Ahmed • 2018 • Canada • 10'

    The name ARYANA means “holy one”. Many decades ago, the nation of ARYANA was forcefully transitioned into becoming AFGHANISTAN, the land of seven tribes. This period of rule, brought tremendous suffering, especially for the women and girls of the ...

  • Making Utu

    Movie

    Directed by Gaelene Preston • 1982 • New Zealand • 48'

    MAKING UTU is a making of documentary filmed on the set of New Zealand's first epic, Utu, produced with little money and dealing respectfully with matters of cultural protocol. “It’s like football innit? You set up the event and cover it…” s...