Montreal Cultural Calendar

Technospaces On Film, captures the blur and the background of the already and soon-to-be obsolete technologies abutting and intruding into our lives. Together we will watch films and moving image works that examine different aspects of the affective and extractive behaviours inherent in our digital interactions to reflect on the 'real' costs of these choices. Screenings: Fresh Kill (1994, dir. Shu Lea Chang) and Video Home System (2018, dir. Sharlene Bamboat)

Doors: 15h30, Showtime: 16h. Between movies there will be a pizza dinner break! All Light Everywhere: "We do not perceive this blind spot in our vision. The brain invents a world to fill the hole at the center of it." A documentary about bias in how we frame, process, and perceive things told through the development of technologies such as police body cameras, astronomy research, and automatic weapons. War Games: An 80s thriller featuring teenage hackers, a disillusioned AI researcher, and the threat of global nuclear war. We will order pizza (vegan + non-vegan), bring cash!

Original Japanese version with English subtitles. Comedy, 2023, 126 min., dir. Masayuki Suzuki. By the screenwriter behind the Academy Award-winning film "Departures" and boasting a large all-star cast, this feel-good comedy is a love letter to Japan's bathhouses, featuring themes such as nostalgia, tradition, and inescapably changing times. Its set, a carefully crafted reconstruction of a Showa-era building, is one of the storytellers through its every detail imbued with history. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis; no reservations required.

Original Japanese version with French subtitles. Drama, 1954, 102 min., dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. Then at the very pinnacle of his art, master director Kenji Mizoguchi delivers here yet another meticulously constructed classic showcasing some of his signature themes, such as gender inequality, and his critical view of feudal society. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis; no reservations required.

Original Japanese version with English subtitles. Drama, 2021, 126 min., dir. Miwa Nishikawa. Koji Yakusho's riveting performance is the main force behind this compelling and socially conscious film. After a 13-year stint in prison for murder, the protagonist, a former yakuza on a quest to live the remainder of his life with dignity, struggles with social expectations and unavoidable alienation. A touching tale punctuated by bursts of humor. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis; no reservations required.

Tensions presents a program of experimental videos articulating diverse perspectives on human interaction with technology and virtual environments. The eight selected works trace a path from the techno-utopian optimism of the post-war era to the apocalyptic disenchantment of techno-junk, exploring the frictions between surveillance, vulnerability, memory, the body, and simulacrum. This program invites reflection on how technology intertwines with our needs, values, and capabilities, and considers what it means to redefine the human scale in the digital age.