The festival is bringing screenings to correctional facilities across Montreal and plans to present films to seniors in long-term care homes, with support from cinEXmedia.
Léa Tétrault
For more than 10 years, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) has offered a screening program in correctional facilities and transition houses across the metropolitan area. This initiative includes two components: organizing screenings in which incarcerated individuals have the opportunity to watch feature-length films selected to spark discussion and forming a jury of incarcerated women at the Joliette Institution in order to award a prize from a selection of films.
Already a partner of the Laboratoire CinéMédias — regularly co-presenting documentaries from its catalogue as part of the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec (OCQ) program — the organization has recently joined forces with cinEXmedia to develop a new screening project in long-term care facilities (CHSLDs). For this occasion, we spoke with Marie-Anne Sergerie, Head of Public Development at RIDM, to learn more about the festival’s various social outreach initiatives.
“The RIDM program in correctional facilities was created to give a voice to people who are made invisible on a daily basis, and who are not usually invited to talk about cinema,” she explains. “This activity allows them to open up to realities that concern them, since we select films specifically for this target audience, and it can also help break a form of isolation.” Sergerie herself most often leads the on-site discussions. She is almost always accompanied by the film’s director or by a cultural mediator, in order to better respond to participants’ questions.
“To Take Them on a Journey”
During recent screenings in transition houses, for example, the feature film Les libres (2020) by Nicolas Lévesque was presented. The film explores the true story of four former inmates learning to adapt to civilian life while working in a sawmill. “This film has always sparked meaningful exchanges in prisons,” Sergerie notes.
At another screening, organized for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, short films from the RIDM catalogue and from the organization Wapikoni mobile—which supports short filmmaking in Indigenous communities in Quebec—were presented. “The films selected for the incarcerated women’s jury are chosen to take participants on a journey and to showcase different possible forms of documentary,” explains the cultural worker. “We might present works about feminist struggles or roller derby, as well as a feature film about two poets traveling through nature with very little dialogue, such as Among the Mountains and Streams by Jean-François Lesage (2024).”
After being slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this RIDM program has regained momentum in recent years. Launched more than a decade ago, it was made possible through the initiative of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec, which supports women and people of diverse gender identities involved with the justice system—“groups that are even more marginalized by the judicial system,” Sergerie emphasizes. “That organization truly allowed us to enter this environment, meet the right people, and build confidence in the project,” she adds.
Collaboration with cinEXmedia
As part of RIDM’s commitment to reaching audiences that are often overlooked in the cultural sector and to “building bridges between marginalized groups and cinema,” a partnership between cinEXmedia and RIDM is currently being developed. Following initial pilot screenings conducted by cinEXmedia in long-term care facilities as part of the project Bien-être en vues—which was featured in an article last year—the two organizations plan to collaborate on screenings for seniors, aimed at evoking memories and encouraging discussion, with the ongoing goal of reducing isolation.
“We realized that cinEXmedia's scientific component—data collection and analysis—would be a valuable asset for us, while we, in turn, have a catalogue of films and the means to secure screening rights and organize events,” says Sergerie.
Held every November for the past 28 years, RIDM is now one of the largest documentary film festivals in North America. Founded by a group of Quebec documentary filmmakers, it began as a small, few-day event before growing into a ten-day festival presenting more than 150 films. A few years after its creation, the RIDM Forum was also launched and has since become one of the most important professional documentary markets in Canada.
This year, the Montreal International Documentary Festival will take place from November 19 to 29. You can visit the festival’s website for more information.
