02 Oct FOCUS-DOCU #1: Cine-therapy and personal stories
2
Oct
FOCUS-DOCU #1: Cine-therapy and personal stories
Meetup, Rencontre - Documentary Cinema - Fall 2025
Thursday October 2, 2025
6 pm - 9 pm
Main Film Atelier
2025 Rue Parthenais #304-A, Montréal, Quebec, H2K 3T2
Guests | Kalina Bertin (Manic), Alex Anna (Scars), François Delisle (CHSLD)
Moderated by Marion Chuniaud
Free upon registration
As part of its documentary series, Main Film presents FOCUS-DOCU: a series of meetings taking place on the first Thursday of every month this fall! These panels will focus on the multiple potentials and challenges of documentary cinema today.
For the first FOCUS-DOCU, we are bringing together artists who use documentary film as a space for personal exploration, a means of coping with inner crises or trauma, almost like a “talking cure” or even an “image cure.” How does the camera become a tool for storytelling, understanding, and healing? What are the limits and risks of this introspective approach? This discussion will bring together filmmakers whose works blend the intimate and the political, memory and resilience.
For more information, please send an email to: services@mainfilm.qc.ca
Kalina is a director, producer, and cinematographer. In 2017, she released her first feature-length documentary, MANIC, at the Hot Docs festival, where she won the Don Haig Pay it Forward Award. MANIC is then nominated by the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television for two Canadian Screen Awards, and wins an Iris Award at the Gala Québec Cinéma. Her first virtual reality work, ManicVR, premieres at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in England, and wins the prestigious Golden Nica Award at Ars Electronica in Austria. At the 34th edition of the Prix Gémeaux, she was nominated for the Special Emerging Artist Award, a tribute highlighting the innovation, creativity, and originality of an emerging artist. Kalina is currently working on her first feature-length fiction film, the writing of which was supported by SODEC, Telefilm Canada, and CALQ.
Manic (2017): Kalina Bertin investigates her bipolar father’s troubled life to understand the impact of mental illness on her siblings. This intimate journey pieces together a family puzzle marked by delusions, secrets, and suffering.
Queer and socially conscious filmmaker Alex Anna (she/they) is committed to telling the stories of voices that are too often silenced, and to connecting the personal with the universal. Her film Scars had its world premiere at TIFF and won over 30 awards, while Create; Survive was screened at DOC NYC.
Scars (2020): Alex Anna reveals her physical and emotional scars in a hybrid documentary where animation and live action recount her struggle with depression and self-harm. Her body becomes a living, poetic narrative of resilience.
Créer; Survivre (2024) : How can you continue to create when you are struggling to survive? Alex Anna presents her film Scars at festivals, but behind her apparent success lies an exhausting battle with her own mind. Blending poetry with the brutality of loneliness, Créer; Survivre confronts our virtual and public identities with the intimate reality of depression.
Born in Montreal in 1967, François Delisle began his career by directing several short films between 1987 and 1991. His first feature film, Ruth (1994), was enthusiastically received by critics and brought him recognition in Canada and Europe. In 2003, he founded the production company Films 53/12 and produced his second film, Le bonheur c’est une chanson triste (2004), which won several awards and international recognition. His subsequent films, Toi (2007) and 2 fois une femme (2010), enjoyed similar success. Le météore (2013) and Chorus (2015) were presented at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale, enjoying international acclaim both at festivals and during their theatrical releases in several countries. In 2019 and 2020, François Delisle directed Cash Nexus, his seventh feature film, followed by CHSLD, a short documentary about his mother in the twilight of her life. In 2025, Le temps was released in theaters: its form and content captivated critics and audiences alike, who welcomed the film with notable enthusiasm. For more than 30 years, François Delisle has explored the human condition through his personal, demanding, and uncompromising cinema.
CHSLD (2020): François Delisle paints an intimate portrait of his mother, a resident of a long-term care facility. It is a deep dive into the daily life and medical care of a woman at the end of her life, where respect, love, and dignity persist. He modestly captures the moments shared and the bonds forged until the final farewell. A meditative work on death, tenderness, and presence.
Moderator: Marion Chuniaud
Based between Montreal and Paris since 2015, she holds a degree in international and intercultural communication and has trained in film at the Institut National de l’Image et du Son (INIS). She collaborates on and makes a living from a variety of projects: films, dance videos, music videos, and corporate projects. As a content creator and communications project manager, she navigates between artistic and professional circles with ease. With several years of experience in business and then as a freelancer, she has developed expertise in network expansion, project presentation, fundraising, team building, collaborative strategy development, and keen observation of the world around her, both with her eyes and her heart. Her freelance reality constantly leads her to create new connections and maintain an active link between France, Quebec, and the international community.