Crazy Horse

The 14th edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) opens on Wednesday, Nov. 9 with a screening of Crazy Horse by American filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. The documentary takes us behind the scenes at the famous Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris during rehearsals for a new show, Désirs, choreographed by Philippe Decouflé. RIDM will also pay tribute to this major filmmaker with a retrospective of ten of his most significant films, in their original format internet pharmacy propecia (in most cases, 16mm). Mr. Wiseman will give a master class via Skype on Sunday, Nov. 13 at the Cinémathèque québécoise.

The festival’s first weekend will be loaded with screenings and special activities. Friday, Nov. 11, features the Canadian premiere of José e Pilar by Miguel Gonçalves Mendes. This funny, poignant documentary – Portugal’s entry for the Oscars – is a portrait of the celebrated Portuguese novelist José Saramago. On Saturday, Nov. 12, L’empire du milieu du sud (The Empire of Mid-South) is a must-see exploration of Vietnam’s colonial history, based on extraordinary, never-before-seen archival footage. This superb film was made by Eric Deroo and Jacques Perrin, a legendary actor and an important figure in French documentary cinema (Microcosmos, Le peuple migrateur, Océans).

On Sunday, be sure to witness a true cinematic event: Karamay. This six-hour Chinese documentary, banned in its own country, examines a shocking tragedy that destroyed a low cost levitra small community. This significant new film will be shown in two three-hour screenings. At 5 p.m., The MSSO: 10 Years Later cocktail is a chance to catch up with the group that launched the Spontaneous Movement for the Survival of the NFB (Mouvement spontané pour la survie de l’ONF) in 2001.  The event, taking place in the RIDM Lounge, will be followed by a screening of The Last Heritage Minutes. Another Sunday highlight: the evening screening of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the highly anticipated third instalment in the Paradise Lost trilogy. For 15 years, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have followed the riveting legal saga of the West Memphis 3. This conclusion to the trilogy, completed barely a week before the three canada cialis no prescription men were freed, has been updated since it was screened at the TIFF.

In connection with another retrospective, Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth will be at the festival to give a master class on Saturday, Nov. 12. He will also participate in a roundtable discussion, Filming Haiti, on Sunday, Nov. 13, along with fellow panellists Aïda Maigre-Touchet (Élégie de Port-au-Prince) and Charles Najman (Une étrange cathédrale dans la graisse des ténèbres). The three filmmakers will talk about why they are so passionate about this unique country, and the essential role of documentary filmmaking as witness to its tensions and tragedies. Both activities are free.

Finally, here are a few of the festival’s international guests for the first weekend: Swiss filmmaker Fernand Melgar (Vol spécial), German director Diana Näcke (My Freedom, Your Freedom), French directors Regis Sauder (Nous, Princesses de Clèves) and Manuela Fresil (Entrée du personnel), American filmmaker Jeff Silva (Ivan & Ivana) and Spain’s Hermes Paralluelo (Yatasto).

Quebec’s only film festival dedicated to documentaries, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) presents the best reality-based films, including the works of established directors and new talents alike. The 14th edition of RIDM will take place from Nov. 9 to 20 at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinema ONF, Cinema Excentris, Grande Bibliothèque, Goethe-Institut and Concordia University.

Information: www.ridm.qc.ca / info@ridm.qc.ca
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About the author:

Kier-La Janisse

Kier-La Janisse is a film writer, publisher, producer, acquisitions executive for Severin Films and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University. She is the author of Cockfight: A Fable of Failure (2024), House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films (2012/2022) and A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (2007) and has been an editor on numerous books including Warped & Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive (2021) and Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s (2015). She wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021), and produced the acclaimed blu-ray box sets All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror (2021) and The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle (2023).