Seven Canadian documentaries will compete in the National Competition at Montreal’s RIDM. The festival unveiled the full slate for its robust 2026 edition this year, including its competition streams. The National Competition includes Itilli Gathering from directors Myna Ishulutak and Aïda Maigre-Touchet. The doc observes as three generations of Inuit gather in Nunavut for an annual summer tradition. Meanwhile, in My Name Is Tom (Petit Tom), filmmaker André-Line Beauparlant captures the story of a mother who raises a family while navigating mental health issues. In the hybrid film Nowhere, Everywhere (Partout et nulle part), François Jacob takes audiences inside an artist’s creative interpretation of an interview with philosopher Alain Deneault.
Docs in the national competition further play with form in Everything Else Is Noise by Nicolás Pereda, a docufiction comedy about an interview gone awry. The competition also screens Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora’s Concrete Turned to Sand, an evocative study of oyster farmers off the coast of B.C. Rounding out the competition are the previously announced films Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, directed by Matthew Rankin, and Ba’s Book, directed by Ashley Duong. The latter serves as RIDM’s closing night film.
Meanwhile, eight titles form the international feature competition: Alea Jacarandas by Hassen Ferhani (France/Algeria), Doggerland by Kim Ekberg (Sweden), Foam of Worlds by Anna Marziano (Italy/Germany), Hanabi by Ana Vaz (France/Brazil), Letters from an Inner Exile by Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro (Spain), mother, you have not died yet. but you will. and when you do, you will finally be alive again. by Advik Beni (South Africa/United States), Revolutionaries Never Die by Mohanad Yaqubi (Palestine/Belgium/Qatar), and Virages by Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter (Switzerland/France).
Filmmakers delivering feature debuts that push the boundaries of documentary form fuel the New Visions competition, where, full disclosure, I’ll be serve on the jury. That slate features Above the Waterline by Elisa Sepúlveda Ruddoff (Chile/France), An Incomplete Calendar by Sanaz Sohrabi (Canada/Iran/Türkiye /Venezuela), Atcha Atcha by Mamadou Dia (Senegal/France), Crossings: Kaleh Ziyarat by Rouzbeh Akhbari (Canada/Portugal/Oman/Iran), I Heard That They Are Not Going To See Each Other Anymore by Ka Ki Wong (Hong Kong/Taiwan/ Türkiye, United Kingdom), In The Sweet Arms by Julian Flavin (Canada/United States), La belle année by Angelica Ruffier (Norway), and Our Home Was Buried in a Land We Could Never Find by Deimer Quintero Vertel (Colombia).
This year’s RIDM line-up spans 127 films across features, shorts, and mid-length works representing 54 countries. The festival opens with Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize winner To Hold a Mountain on November 19 with screenings running through November 29. Get the full line-up at RIDM.ca.
