The RIDM’s 19th edition starts its second week with a wide selection of screenings with special guests in attendance. The Animating Reality retrospective will also be a highlight of the days to come.
The retrospective showcases the dynamism and diversity of animated documentaries. In collaboration with the Sommets du cinéma d’animation, the RIDM will explore the fascinating history of connections between animated and documentary film through a retrospective of nearly 30 films, with emphasis on high-quality Quebec and Canadian productions from the 1950s onward.
During the Inside Animated Reality round tableon November 18, filmmakers will discuss the possibilities that animation opens up for documentary, and vice versa – from animators’ need to confront the real to documentary filmmakers’ need to use animation.
Several political films featuring memorable portraits will figure prominently in the coming week’s programming. Speaking is Difficult is a concept as simple as it is powerful: a look back on five years of mass shootings in the United States, through an exploration of places haunted by the sounds of 911 calls. The split screen, a technique often seen in contemporary art, is used in Long Story Short to bring documentary subjects together: individuals living precarious lives in California, their voices ringing out in unison. In the Beat Dox section, Raving Iran follows two DJs from Iran’s underground techno scene who fight to keep their music alive. Filmed with full access, we see the brave struggle of young people who refuse to be silenced. We'll Be Alright documents the struggle for freedom of two orphans unjustly interned in a psychiatric hospital by the Russian government. This is a poignant work with a remarkable narrative structure. Starless Dreams is a frank, sensitive portrait of seven young women detained in a re-education centre outside Tehran. Most of the young Iranian women are minors, and all have transgressed. Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun meets survivors of the dictatorship of Hissein Habré, now standing trial for his crimes. Hissein Habré: a Chadian Tragedy is a powerful, gut-wrenching work.
Two engrossing family odysseys are also being shown in the days to come. For eight years, Oslo filmmaker Aslaug Holm filmed her two sons, Markus and Lukas, from childhood to adolescence, creating Brothers, a poignant ode to the passage of time and evolving dreams. In 95 AND 6 TO GO, Kimi Takesue films her grandfather, a gruff but endearing widower, who slowly takes over the film. This is a deeply moving portrait, containing a second portrait of its subject’s departed but eternally present wife. Kimi Takesue will attend both screenings, on November 18 and 19. Mrs. B. is a North Korean woman living in China illegally. She is sold by smugglers and finds herself torn between two families and two countries. Mrs B.: a North Korean Woman powerfully captures migrants’ dilemmas and tragedies.
SEE THE PORTRAITS SECTION FILMS