Eleven days of screenings and encounters to broaden our cinematic horizons
October 6, 2026 • WestmountMag.ca
From October 8 to 18, the Festival du nouveau cinéma brings Montréal to life with nearly 200 works from more than 30 countries. Featuring renowned filmmakers, emerging voices, immersive experiences and family-friendly events, this 55th edition offers countless opportunities to discover cinema in all its forms. Screenings and discussions will take place at several venues, including the Monument-National, the Quartier Latin, the Cinémathèque québécoise and the Cinéma du Musée. This year, the festival enjoys greater international recognition thanks to its accreditation by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.
The FNC broadens its horizons
A solar eclipse, a journey through postwar Germany, a night in the world of The Matrix: diversity guides the Festival du nouveau cinéma. Nearly 200 works from more than 30 countries will create a cinematic journey in which established filmmakers share the spotlight with new voices. For this 55th edition, the joy of discovery will extend to discussions, immersive installations, and family events. Screenings and activities will take place at the Monument-National, Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin, Concordia University’s SGWUA Auditorium, the Cinémathèque québécoise, the Cinéma du Musée and the Agora at UQAM’s Cœur des sciences.
Denis Côté kicks things off
On Thursday, October 8, Denis Côté’s Violence du corps de l’autre will open the festival at the Monument-National, with the film’s team in attendance. The screening begins at 7 p.m., following a red carpet at 5:45 p.m. The film, which won the Youth Jury Award at Locarno, also earned Xavier Bergeron a special mention from the official competition jury for his performance. After a stop at the Toronto International Film Festival, it arrives in Montréal with a cast that includes Philippe Rebbot, Gabrielle Lazure, Pierrette Robitaille, and Eve Pressault. The film marks Larissa Corriveau’s fifth collaboration with Côté.
One eclipse, thousands of perspectives
With Totality, Kate Davis and David Heilbroner offer another way of looking at the sky. Making its world premiere, their documentary traces the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, through the communities that awaited it, from Mexico to Canada. Twenty-one crews captured this collective preparation, bringing together astronomers, Texas cowboys, Newfoundland farmers, astrophotographers and Québec inventors. The celestial phenomenon becomes a meeting point for vastly different human experiences. Screenings on October 9 at 8:45 p.m. and October 10 at noon at the Quartier Latin will be accompanied by a virtual reality installation from the Dorothy Project. This Montréal-based team used stratospheric balloons to document the Moon’s shadow on Earth. The directors and several participants will speak with the audience afterward.
Anticipated filmmakers, contrasting stories
The opening weekend offers a chance to discover Pedro Almodóvar’s Autofiction, in which a creative crisis leads a filmmaker to draw on a personal tragedy experienced by one of his collaborators. European history also runs through several films. Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland follows Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, played by Sandra Hüller, through a Germany scarred by war. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s La Bola Negra spans nearly a century of Spanish history through three generations of men. Joining these stories are Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaure, a political and marital drama set against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine, and Radu Jude’s Le Journal d’une femme de chambre. Jordan Firstman explores coming of age in Club Kid, while Quentin Dupieux turns to animation with Le Vertige.
Ali Cherri, between cinema and memory
On October 9 and 10, the FNC x MOMENTA collaboration will present a microfestival devoted to Ali Cherri, whose practice connects cinema, sculpture, archaeology and political trauma. At the Cinémathèque québécoise, three short films—Le Creuseur, Le Guetteur and La Sentinelle—will precede a discussion with the artist. The following day, Borhane Alaouié’s Beyrouth, la rencontre will shed light on an important influence on Cherri’s work. A screening of his first feature, Le Barrage, will be followed by a Q&A.
A cyberpunk night and family-friendly events
On Saturday, October 10, the Agora at the Cœur des sciences will host a night devoted to all four films in The Matrix series. A free knit-along screening of Animatrix will kick off the day. Sunday, October 11, brings the Grande Kermesse des P’tits Loups. The youth programme also includes Toe Yuen’s A Mighty Adventure, along with two short-film programmes: one for ages six and up on October 10, and another for ages three and up on October 18.
Tickets can be booked through the festival’s online box office. An in-person box office will also welcome festivalgoers at the Quartier Latin from October 6 to 18, from 2:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Program for the 55th edition of the FNC
Feature image courtesy of FNC
Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma is an international film festival recognized as one of North America’s most important and a must-attend event for contemporary cinema. For 55 years, it has presented nearly 200 works from around the world in Montreal each fall. FNC
