Four Canadian features will make their world premieres at the 2025 edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), which unveiled its full lineup on Wednesday (Oct. 29).

Running from Nov. 20 to 30, the 28th edition of the doc fest will feature 136 films from 47 countries, including a selection of 57 Canadian works across its programming streams.

The festival will open with the North American premiere of the Polish-German copro Letters from Wolf Street, from director Arjun Talwar. Preceding the feature is Malcolm Odd’s short film Memorial Continuum, one of the Canadian world premieres at this year’s RIDM.

The previously announced closing night film, Andrés Livov’s The Blueberry Blues (Les blues du bleuet; Les Glaneuses), is also one of the six features selected for RIDM’s National Feature Competition, all of which hail from Quebec.

Making their world premiere in the National Feature Competition are Kindergarten (Jardin d’enfants, pictured; Les Films de l’autre), directed and produced by Jean-François Caissy, which is being distributed by Les Films du 3 Mars; and Sylvain L’Espérance’s Marche commune (Les films du tricycle).

Other contenders in the race include Chronicle of a City (Chronique d’une ville; Les Films du 3 Mars), by Nadine Gomez; I Lost Sight of the Landscape (J’ai perdu de vue le paysage; National Film Board of Canada), by Sophie Bédard Marcotte; and director-producer Diana Allan’s Partition.

Elsewhere in the festival lineup, the other two features world premiering at RIDM are Mujstafa Uzuner’s Canada-Turkey copro Soul of the Foot, screening in the New Visions section, which is being distributed by Montreal’s Acéphale; and The Westoxicateds (Les occidentalisés) from director and producer Gilda Pourjabar, included in the Horizons stream of the festival’s Panorama section.

Six Canadian shorts are also making their world premieres in RIDM’s National Short and Medium-Length Competition. These include Études métamorphiques, from David Ricard and Nelly Paquentin; Mitchell Stafiej’s 100 Years; Dog Days of Summer, by Virgile Ratelle; and Emilie Baillargeon’s J’ai eu une idée évidente et j’attends qu’elle revienne.

Rounding out the world premieres in the competition are Leur existence, from co-directors Xavier Doutre and Clarence de Bayser; and Romy tient un journal, by Charles-Émile Lafrance.

The final Canadian world premiere, Danielle Tudor’s short Vox Fémina, will screen the day after the festival on Nov. 21, as part of RIDM’s free Emerging Talent Day screening showcase. A professional jury will select a winning film from the lineup, with the director awarded a $10,000 grant from Radio-Canada to put toward a future production.

The full lineup for RIDM 2025 can be found on the festival website.

Image courtesy of Les Films de l’autre