The 11 Best Cinemas and Film Experiences in Montreal

Mile End’s Cinéma Moderne blurs the line between neighbourhood cinema and living room, a go-to for Montrealers chasing arthouse titles, festival favourites, shorts, and docs you can’t find at a Cineplex. Alexandre Domingue and Roxanne Sayegh opened the 54-seat microcinema in 2018, with a booth that runs 4K laser projection alongside vintage 16mm and 35mm setups and a Dolby Atmos mix. The front room works as a café serving coffee from local roasters, film-themed cocktails, and a small selection of snacks. Drinks are welcome inside the theatre, and there’s a terrasse for socializing pre- or post-screening.

Nestled in the basement of Les Galeries du Parc, a small cluster of shops on Parc Avenue, Cinema du Parc was built in 1977 under the name Cinémas La Cité. Since its establishment, the cinema has undergone a series of transformations. Most recently, it saw major renovations, funded by a donation from filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and inspired by the intimate, seductive atmospheres of David Lynch. The names and styles of those two filmmakers give insight into Cinema du Parc’s eclectic arthouse programming, which leans heavily on independent American and international cinema.

Cinéma du Musée began as a museum auditorium before its 2018 renovation, when it was converted into a proper cinema. The programming favours first-run independent and international titles, screened in their original language with French or English subtitles. Retrospectives and thematic series round things out, with filmmaker spotlights, historian-led programs tied to particular eras, and festival tie-ins. Connected to the museum’s Hall of Bronzes, a trip here often turns into a stroll through gallery space, adding further to the cinema’s arthouse feel.

Cinéma Beaubien is the oldest cinema in Montreal that’s still in operation. A community institution that withstood a revolving door of corporate ownership and bankruptcy, the cinema more recently became a non-profit enterprise, thanks to the efforts of Rosemont residents, local merchants, and the borough’s economic development corporation. Its programming leans heavily toward Québécois and francophone cinema, alongside international arthouse and auteur films, documentaries, and a select slate of children’s films. Everything is screened in its original language and features French subtitles.

Six evenings each summer, Film Noir takes over the banks of the Lachine Canal with free outdoor screenings of cult crime films. Started in 2015 by a group of locals who spent years volunteering to clean up the Lachine Canal, Film Noir au Canal grew out of their desire to further give back to the neighbourhood. Titles aren’t revealed until just before each screening, but classic and contemporary film noir comprise the lineup’s cornerstone. Each night opens with live music or a filmmaker’s introduction, just before the movie starts at dusk, and there’s no ticket required.

Ciné-concert isn’t a single address in Montreal, but instead a format that’s shown up in a handful of rooms across the city. At the high end, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the FILMharmonique Orchestra fill Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and the Maison Symphonique with full-scale live scores to blockbusters like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings. Every summer, the Société des arts technologiques, Cinémathèque Québécoise, and the Quartier des Spectacles partner for free outdoor ciné-concerts at Place de la Paix, where musicians improvise new scores live to short films. Though the spaces and genres vary, all share the same thread of live performance rather than static screening.

Cinémathèque québécoise is less a cinema than a living museum dedicated to the history of moving images. Founded in 1963 by a group of filmmakers as Connaissance du Cinéma, it’s since grown into the largest film and television archive in Canada, holding a collection of films, photographs, scripts, posters, and vintage equipment. In addition to the museum’s free cinema, television, and animation exhibitions, its in-house theatre runs more than 1,500 screenings a year: director retrospectives, restored classics, and festival fare, all shown in French and English.

Programming at the Cineplex Forum + VIP is typical of what you’d find at a commercial cinema: Hollywood tentpoles, family matinees, and a healthy dose of Bollywood and various international releases. What’s different from the standard mainstream movie theatre, though, is this Cineplex’s VIP area, reserved entirely for 18+ patrons and offering in-theatre food and drink service, recliner chairs, and a full bar and pool table just outside of the auditoriums (for a premium, of course). It’s the perfect spot for a grown-up night out or a casual trip to see whatever’s popular at the moment.

Cineplex Scotiabank is exactly the kind of place you picture when you think of a cinema. It’s got sprawling lines on opening weekends, kiosks where you can buy both tickets and concessions, and 12 theatres that offer a variety of film experiences, from 3D and IMAX screens to D-Box motion seats that synchronize your seat’s movement with the diegetic action. Go for hyped theatrical releases, big-format blockbusters, and family animations, or the odd indie that’s made it big enough to warrant a wide release. Just don’t expect the curated, arthouse programming you’ll find elsewhere in the city.

Stationed at Casa d’Italia in Villeray, popping up occasionally at other venues throughout the city, Cinema Public was built around the belief that watching a film is best done as a shared experience. Rather than one fixed screen, the group programs a rotating slate of thematic series year-round—family matinees on weekends, spotlights on women and non-binary filmmakers, a local-focused series pairing Montreal-shot and -directed work, and a “rediscovered” series devoted to films that were poorly distributed, censored, or otherwise overlooked. Come summer, the operation moves outdoors: alongside Le Livart, it runs Bleu Soir, turning the art centre’s courtyard into a BYOW open-air cinema most nights of the week.

Cinema Politica’s programming is, as the name suggests, unapologetically political—a Montreal-based non-profit network that highlights independent political film and video by Canadian, Indigenous, and international artists. Each semester is built around a loose theme, tying together stories of resistance, colonialism, labour, and identity, chosen by the student association running the non-profit. Films that ran in Winter 2026 include a narrative following three generations of a Palestinian family, a look into the experiences of four trans women, and a documentary about Black rights student protests at Concordia in 1969. There’s never been a cover charge in over two decades of screenings, as Cinema Politica runs on donations only, a pay-what-you-can model. Screenings are often followed by discussions, which filmmakers frequently attend, making the locus a consistent gathering point for those interested in documentary film, activism, and community organizing.