The Montreal Critics' Week (Semaine de la critique de Montréal) is back for its second edition, and it's building on the momentum of its first edition.
After selling out 98% of seats last year, the festival has moved to Cinéma du Musée, a venue that can pack in nearly 300 people per screening. From January 12 to 18, the event will showcase 26 films from 14 countries—short, medium, and feature-length works bundled into seven thematic programs, each followed by conversations between filmmakers, critics, and the audience.
This year's lineup leans heavily on world premieres from Canadian filmmakers. Opening night features Cauchemar Conseil by Renaud Després-Larose and Ana Tapia Rousiouk, a film about a PhD candidate trying to escape the grip of her thesis and its supervisor. Olivier Godin brings Oublie pas le gruau, a bawdy comedy starring Jean Marc Dalpé, while Toronto's Christopher Beaulieu unveils Otium, a meditation on liminal urban spaces and economic dispossession. Other local premieres include work from Ariane Falardeau St-Amour, Paul Chotel, and Samuel Terry Pitre.
The festival closes with a documentary double bill: Nicolas Wadimoff's Qui vit encore, which gathers testimonies from Palestinian exiles rehearsing a play about genocide, and Robert Morin's Six portraits néoréalistes, chronicling African migrants in Rome while questioning post-war Italian cinema's legacy. That evening also hosts the Luc-Perreault-AQCC prize, a Quebec film award presented annually since 1974.
A spotlight on Filipino cinema runs throughout the week, anchored by a 4K restoration of Mike De Leon's 1981 masterpiece Kisapmata. De Leon, who passed away in August 2025, left behind a body of political cinema that continues to influence new generations. The tribute includes short films by emerging Filipino filmmakers Whammy Alcazaren and Maria Estela Paiso, plus a special screening of Lav Diaz's Magellan, a radical retelling of Europe's colonial narrative starring Gael García Bernal.
International guests include Diaz, Caroline Golum, Racornelia, and Nuno Pimentel, alongside local filmmakers presenting their latest work. Each program is co-presented by Montreal cultural publications—Hors Champ, Fugues, 24 images, Spirale, Liberté, and Cinémas—turning the week into a cross-section of the city's critical landscape.
An initiative of the online magazine Panorama-cinéma, the Critics' Week is non-competitive, pairing films through thematic and political connections designed to encourage deeper viewing. Tickets are $25 for double or triple bills, $15 for afternoon screenings. Full passes run $140, with student and senior rates at $100.
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