Canada - Best International Feature Film
Canadian submissions for the Oscars for Best International Feature Film
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- DirectorClaude JutraStarsJacques GagnonLyne ChampagneJean DuceppeSet in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.
- DirectorGilles CarleStarsMicheline LanctôtDonald PilonReynald BouchardA woman imbued with naturalistic and libertarian theories leaves her city home to live in the countryside with her young son. There she meets a litigious farmer who fights against the banks and the government, in which she will be somehow involved. Meanwhile, practising her theories, she makes some old men very happy and, by chance even passes as a saint!
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsHélène LoiselleJean LapointeGuy ProvostA fact-based account of ordinary citizens who found themselves arrested and imprisoned without charge for weeks during the October Crisis in 1970 Quebec.
- DirectorJean BeaudinStarsMarcel SabourinMonique MercureMarthe ThierryThe wife of photographer J. A. Martin decides to go with him in his tour of the hard Canadian countryside at the turn of the century. She hopes the intimacy will revive their marriage.
- DirectorAnne Claire PoirierStarsJulie VincentGermain HoudePaul SavoieA director and an editor, both woman, cannot work on a movie presenting the rape of a nurse without reacting on the scenes they're working on, the situation of womenhood in general, and the way the 'Justice' handle those cases of rape.
- DirectorFrancis MankiewiczStarsCharlotte LaurierMarie TifoGermain HoudeA woman is overwhelmed with having to deal with her emotionally unstable daughter, mentally-challenged brother and two suitors while simultaneously trying to run her small firewood business.
- DirectorGilles CarleStarsGabriel ArcandRémi LaurentPierre CurziThe lives of the average Quebecois Plouffe family during the final years of the depression and through World War II.
- DirectorJean Pierre LefebvreStarsMarthe NadeauMichèle MagnyPierre CurziThree generations of a family struggle to be open with each other during a week of summer vacation at their country cottage.
- DirectorClaude FournierStarsMireille DeyglunPierre ChagnonMichel ForgetIn the early 1940s, Canada is a country at war and Florentine is a young woman, from a very poor family, looking for love. She meets two suitable men, a nice soldier from a good and wealthy family, and an ambitious self-centered engineer. She must decide whether she wants to follow her head or her heart.
- DirectorMicheline LanctôtStarsPascale BussièresMarcia PilotePierre F. FauteuxTwo teenaged friends have separate difficult experiences that make the girls seriously consider suicide.
- DirectorJean BeaudryFrançois BouvierStarsJean BeaudryMarie CantinCarole ChatelLes derniers jours d'un homme qui filme avec humour sa propre mort. Un film surprenant et singulier comme il existe peu d'exemples dans notre cinématographique et qui s'impose par la démarche unique des deux réalisateurs.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsDominique MichelDorothée BerrymanLouise PortalSexual revelations emerge when a group of academics and their partners spend a weekend at a country retreat.Nominated
- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsGilles MaheuRoger LebelCorrado MastropasquaMarcel, recently released from prison, attempt to rebuild his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (now a prostitute) and especially his father Albert (who thinks he's been away on a long trip abroad), while being pursued by two corrupt cops (one of whom bears a longstanding grudge against him) for drug money he's alleged to possess...
- DirectorFrancis MankiewiczStarsMonique SpazianiGabriel ArcandMiou-MiouA quiet painter, separated from his wife for a year, receives a suitcase in the mail from his mother, whom he hasn't seen since infancy. He believes she abandoned him to his wealthy, paternal grandparents. The suitcase contains mementos and a diary, a long letter to him, written over the years, with details of her youth, her first job as a pianist at a cinema, the coming of talkies, her marriage, and how he came to live with his grandparents. As he reads through the materials and her story comes to life, his son Antoine, who's about 10 or 12, tries to break through his father's silence and sorrow by taking matters into his own hands.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsLothaire BluteauCatherine WilkeningJohanne-Marie TremblayA group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.Nominated
- DirectorAndré ForcierStarsJean LapointeLouise MarleauCharlotte LaurierAn irresistible woman, Florence, dragging her last 50 disconsolate lovers behind her. A trumpet in the end of his career, loved by Florence and the only one who had refuse her. An amateur staging Othello with the money of his father mafioso, lover of Florence's daughter. A pianist woman in love with the baseman who as a Baptist refused to have sex before there mariage. An alcoolic detective lover of a prude ex-nun. There's some of the characters in this story turning around the vengeance of a jealous girl with the only man loved by her mother.
- DirectorAttila BertalanStarsKathy HornerAndrew CampbellJan StychalskyA civilian and a soldier become unlikely allies in this allegorical examination of friendship and the evils of war. Filmed in Quebec, Canada.
- DirectorJean-Claude LauzonStarsMaxime CollinGinette RenoGilbert SicotteThe story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.
- DirectorPaule BaillargeonStarsMarianne Coquelicot MercierDenis MercierTobie PelletierCamille don't like the man her mother is seeing. She still dreams about her father, who's living in New York. One day, she sees her mother arguing with a woman for some time. Camille recognizes in this woman her father, who has had a sex change. Not accepting his transformation, Camille will try to convince him to become her father again.
- DirectorMichel BraultStarsGeneviève BujoldMarthe KellerJohanne McKayCatherine, a concert pianist, is surprised one night by the arrival of her best friend from childhood, Marie-Alexandrine (Max), whom she hasn't seen for 25 years. Catherine and Max were Québec's most promising young pianists in the mid-1960's when the adventurous Max gets pregnant. She wants to keep the child, but her mother forces her to give him up for adoption; afterwards, Max leaves Québec and music. Now, years later, she returns, obsessed with finding her son. She locates the adoption records, and social services contacts her son to ask if he wants to see her. He refuses, but she keeps trying. Is a relationship with him possible? And what about her musical talent?
- DirectorRobert LepageStarsLothaire BluteauPatrick GoyetteJean-Louis MilletteThe year is 1952, in Québec City, Québec. Rachel (Suzanne Clément), sixteen, unmarried, and pregnant, works in the church. Filled with shame, she unburdens her guilt to a young Priest under the confidentiality of the confessional. In the present year of 1994, Pierre Lamontagne (Lothaire Bluteau) has returned to Québec to attend his father's funeral. He meets up with his adopted brother, Marc (Patrick Goyette), who has begun questioning his identity and has embarked on a quest for his roots that would lead them to the Québec of the 1950s. Past and present converge in a complex web of intrinque where the answer to the mystery lies.
- DirectorJennifer AlleynManon BriandMarie-Julie DallaireStarsMarie-Hélène MontpetitPascal ContamineFrance CastelImmigrant cabbie connects nervous filmmaker, lawyer, mystery man, possibly HIV+ gay man. Comedy and tragedy mingle, awash in philosophy.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsPascale BussièresAlexis MartinSerge ThériaultAfter surviving a car wreck virtually unscathed, a young model compels her best friend to impregnate her at the salt flats in Utah.
- DirectorLéa PoolStarsKarine VanassePascale BussièresPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicIn the year 1963, an awkward thirteen-year-old girl comes of age during her escapism into the world of cinema, with potentially dangerous results.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsMarie-Josée CrozeJean-Nicolas VerreaultStephanie MorgensternAfter plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.
- DirectorZacharias KunukStarsNatar UngalaaqSylvia IvaluPeter-Henry ArnatsiaqThe telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace.
- DirectorAndré TurpinStarsDavid La HayeIsabelle BlaisEmmanuel BilodeauAn emotionally immature underwater photographer returns home to an affair with his best friend's deaf girlfriend and unresolved issues with the wife he left six months before.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsRémy GirardDorothée BerrymanStéphane RousseauDuring his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.Winner
- DirectorRobert LepageStarsRobert LepageAnne-Marie CadieuxMarco PoulinAfter the death of his mother, a man tries to discover a meaning to his life, to the universe and to rebuild a relationship with the only family he has left: his brother.
- DirectorJean-Marc ValléeStarsMichel CôtéMarc-André GrondinDanielle ProulxA young French Canadian, one of five boys in a conservative family in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging identity with his father's values.
- DirectorDeepa MehtaStarsLisa RayJohn AbrahamSeema BiswasSet in colonial India against Gandhi's rise to power, it's the story of 8-year-old Chuyia, who is widowed and sent to a home to live in penitence; once there, Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents.Nominated
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsMarc LabrècheDiane KrugerSylvie LéonardJean-Marc Leblanc (Labrèche), a desperate civil servant, escapes reality as we know it by imagining himself as the hero in imaginary adventures.January Shortlist
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsNatar UngalaaqÉveline GélinasPaul-André BrasseurIn 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family.January Shortlist
- DirectorXavier DolanStarsAnne DorvalXavier DolanFrançois ArnaudA semi-autobiographical story about Hubert as a young homosexual at odds with his mother.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsLubna AzabalMélissa Désormeaux-PoulinMaxim GaudetteTwins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history and fulfill their mother's last wishes.Nominated
- DirectorPhilippe FalardeauStarsMohamed FellagSophie NélisseÉmilien NéronAt a Montréal public grade school, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace a popular teacher who committed suicide in her classroom. While helping his students deal with their grief, his own recent loss is revealed.Nominated
- DirectorKim NguyenStarsRachel MwanzaAlain Lino Mic Eli BastienSerge KanyindaSomewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona, a 14-year-old girl, tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.Nominated
- DirectorLouise ArchambaultStarsGabrielle Marion-RivardAlexandre LandryMélissa Désormeaux-PoulinGabrielle is a young woman with Williams syndrome who has a contagious joie de vivre and an exceptional musical gift. Since she met her boyfriend Martin, at the recreation centre where they are choir members, they have been inseparable. However, because they are "different," their loved ones are fearful of their relationship. As the choir prepares for an important music festival, Gabrielle does everything she can to gain her independence. As determined as she is, Gabrielle must still confront other people's prejudices as well as her own limitations in the hope of experiencing a love far from the "ordinary".
- DirectorXavier DolanStarsAnne DorvalAntoine Olivier PilonSuzanne ClémentA widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household.
- DirectorMaxime GirouxStarsMartin DubreuilHadas YaronLuzer TwerskyIn Félix and Meira, an unusual romance blossoms between two lost souls who inhabit the same neighborhood but vastly different worlds.
- DirectorXavier DolanStarsGaspard UllielMarion CotillardLéa SeydouxLouis (Gaspard Ulliel), a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.December Shortlist
- DirectorFrançois GirardStarsSamianRaoul Max TrujilloGilles RenaudMohawk archaeologist Baptiste Asigny engages in a search for his ancestors following a tragic terrain slump in the Percival Molson Stadium.
- DirectorSophie DupuisStarsThéodore PellerinJean-Simon LeducPaul AhmaraniJP and Vincent, two brothers from a dysfunctional family, get involved in their uncle's drug cartel. Things quickly start spiraling out of control for Vincent, the younger and more unstable of the two.
- DirectorSophie DeraspeStarsNahéma RicciRachida OussaadaNour BelkhiriaA modern adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy which falls within a social realism. To the law of men, the young Antigone apposes her own sets of values.
- DirectorJean-Philippe DuvalStarsAnne DorvalLeanna CheaFrançois PapineauIsabelle and her partner adopted Clara in Vietnam, who died several years after. In order to heal her wounds, Isabelle flies to Hanoi to discover the culture of Clara and meet her biological mother, who will later become her friend.
- DirectorIvan GrbovicStarsJorge Antonio GuerreroHélène FlorentClaude LegaultWilly's quest to find his long-lost love has brought him from Mexico to Montréal, as a seasonal worker. Destinies intersect, moments of magic realism arise, worlds collide, and tensions swell amidst the long days of physical labor.
- DirectorJason LoftusStarsHenry GuoShi JianYu FengFalun Gong practitioners were persecuted in China, they tried to tell the truth but they were kidnapped, some Falun Gong practitioners died.
- DirectorZayne AkyolA camera aboard a drone flies over a territory. The aerial images show barren landscapes, dotted with shabby houses, animals and a few human figures. We scarcely have time to wonder where we are when a text appears on the screen directly addressing the viewer: we are in Syrian Kurdistan, liberated from the occupation of the Islamic State, whose jihadist members are currently in prison. The woman who speaks has been given permission to question them; about their ideas, their past and the future. The Kurdish filmmaker Zaynê Akyol, who made a great impression on the Visions du Réel audience in 2016 with GULÎSTAN, LAND OF ROSES, shows towards them dialectic behaviour typical of those who want to understand before they pass sentence. Their stories thus take shape, framed by a mise en scène that shifts between words, faces and aerial views of the landscape. An unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematographic object.