The Montreal International Documentary Meetings (RIDM) have been presenting for 25 years “as many points of view as possible” on the world production of auteur documentaries, affirms the general manager of the event, Marc Gauthier.
In this anniversary edition, which will be launched Thursday evening at the Imperial cinema, he believes that the RIDMs are more than ever outside the “classic framework” of the genre.
At the head of the event for two years, Marc Gauthier says he is very proud of this first entirely face-to-face version since the pandemic. “This year, we are presenting a certain number of works which leave the Venn diagram of the documentary to wander into fiction or the essay, rather than falling into very classic works”, he says.
Like their young programming committee, the films of the RIDM are distinguished by their great formal freedom and the urgency of their political statements.
A wide range
In this year of war in Ukraine, for example, two films in the Panorama – Essentials section of the festival approach the war by turning their gaze, direct and sensitive, towards the citizens who live it.
One Day in Ukraineby Ukrainian filmmaker Volodymyr Tykhyy, depicts the small acts of resistance that take place in the city, on the outskirts of the fighting. A House Made of Splintersby Dane Simon Lereng Wilmont (The Distant Barking of Dogs), continues the approach of this previous film and follows young children who grow up in a war zone, in the east of the country.
In a completely different register, but also representative of this desire of the RIDMs to present a wide range of documentary approaches, the films Herbaria (Leandro Listorti, 2022) or Terra Woman (Courtney Stephens, 2021) are more akin to experimental cinema. They both reuse archive images, and offer personal reflections on memory or image rights.
Beyond the cinema
“Documentary has evolved a lot,” explains Marc Gauthier. We have been doing it since the birth of the cinema. I think it’s natural to want to be inspired by other genres today. We are inundated with information and images, 24 hours a day, so even if a documentary in its pure sense — which informs us about a topical subject — will always have its place and its interest, I believe that we can really understand the desire on the part of artists to explore diverse horizons. »
It is also in this spirit that the RIDMs are moving completely out of the cinematographic medium with their program entitled “Décadrer le Documentaire. Perspectives on the different narrative practices”. In particular, it presents sessions for listening to podcasts and sound creations, as well as a round table on documentary narration in cinema and theatre, preceded by a play, at the Espace libre.
Still within this programming, the performance And now ? by visual artist Philippe Léonard and the music group CHRIST, presented at the Cinémathèque québécoise on November 24, also moves away from the traditional framework of festival screenings. Combining 16mm analog video and digital images, the artists address Pope Francis’ apology to the Inuit, Métis and First Nations of Canada for residential schools.
Expected premieres
Like every year, the RIDM also presents, in Quebec premiere, award-winning documentaries. The most anticipated film is undoubtedly the hard-hitting All the Beauty and the Bloodshed by Laura Poitras (Citizenfour2014).
Winner of the Golden Lion at the last Venice Film Festival, this feature film chronicles the fight led by American photographer Nan Godin and a group of activists to denounce the role of the Sackler family in the opioid crisis.
Among the must-see Canadian films, Geographies of Solitudeby Jacquelyn Mills, questions the effects of the Anthropocene on nature through the daily life of naturalist, environmentalist and artist Zoe Lucas, based on Sable Island, Nova Scotia.
With RojekZayne Akyol (Gulistan, land of roses2016) presents testimonies of members of the Islamic State group convicted of terrorist activities in Syrian Kurdistan.
The RIDM is proudly displaying a majority of works by women this year. In all, 134 films are presented.