Cinema in Montréal: your next favourites
Leisure activities Indoor Culture, arts and heritage
A true film metropolis, Montréal brings every genre to the big screen. Discover the cinemas and festivals you won’t want to miss.
Montréal: where cinema began
Montréal holds a special place in North American film history. The city hosted the continent’s very first film screening and was home to its first permanent movie theatre, beating even New York and Los Angeles to the big screen. And for more than a century, Montréal has continued to bring fresh ideas and a distinctive creative spirit to the world of cinema.
For over 130 years, rain, snow or shine, Montrealers have never passed up an opportunity to discover their next favourite film.
The love affair between Montréal and cinema is as enduring as the one between popcorn and melted butter.
Movie theatres for every taste
From independent and repertory cinemas to multiplexes, Montréal offers plenty of places to sit back, relax and enjoy a film.
Cinéma Beaubien
Since 1937, under various names and ownership, this cinema has remained at the heart of cultural life in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie. In 2001, it became Cinéma Beaubien, an independent movie theatre whose five screens showcase Québec and French films, as well as acclaimed arthouse cinema, to the delight of film lovers from the neighbourhood and beyond.
2396 Beaubien Street East
Cinéma du Parc
Located near the Quartier des spectacles and Mount Royal Park, this cinema recently underwent renovations funded by internationally acclaimed Québec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. Its three screens primarily showcase art-house films, along with independent American and international cinema.
3575 Parc Avenue
Cinéma Moderne
A vibrant, welcoming and one-of-a-kind venue in the heart of the Mile End’s artistic district, Cinéma Moderne showcases distinctive films from Québec, Canada and around the world.
The venue is also home to a café-bar serving wine, local craft beer, coffee, tea and kombucha, all of which you can enjoy while taking in a film in the intimate 54-seat theatre.
5150 Saint-Laurent Boulevard
Cinéma Cineplex Forum et VIP
Once home to the legendary Montréal Canadiens from 1924 to 1996, and the site of many of the team’s Stanley Cup triumphs, this iconic venue has since swapped the ice for the big screen. Today, its 22 theatres carry on its long tradition of bringing people together for entertainment.
In select theatres, this downtown multiplex also offers a VIP experience, complete with reclining seats, in-theatre food and beverage service, and an adults-only policy for guests aged 18 and over.
2313 Sainte-Catherine Street West
Cinéma Banque Scotia Montréal
Located in the heart of downtown and connected to the Underground City (RÉSO), this is one of Montréal’s most iconic and popular movie theatres. Its 13 screens primarily showcase major Hollywood releases, and it is also home to Québec’s only IMAX 70 mm projector.
977 Sainte-Catherine Street West
Cinéma Cineplex Odéon Quartier Latin
In the heart of Montréal’s vibrant Latin Quarter, just steps from Berri-UQAM métro station and surrounded by restaurants, bars and cafés, this multiplex is perfectly situated for a night out. Its 17 theatres feature wall-to-wall curved screens and primarily showcase films in French, making it the largest movie theatre on the island dedicated to French-language cinema.
350 Émery Street
You can find theatres of all shapes and sizes across the city, including Cinéma Starcité Montréal (set in the Olympic Park), Cinéma Cineplex Royalmount (in Royalmount), Cinéma du Musée (in the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts), and Cinéma Public (near Jean-Talon Market).
Montréal, city of festivals
Montréal is a city of festivals, celebrating everything from jazz and comedy to street art and international cuisine. Film is no exception. Throughout the year, festivals and special events celebrate the seventh art in all its forms: from Asian and African cinema to documentaries and animation. Whatever your taste in film, you’re sure to find something to love.
Fantasia
A thrilling whirlwind of genre cinema, the Fantasia International Film Festival has grown into the largest and most influential festival of its kind in North America. Every summer, daring and unconventional filmmakers take centre stage, delighting movie lovers who gather on Concordia University’s downtown campus to celebrate bold, boundary-pushing cinema.
Montréal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)
The Montréal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is one of North America’s leading documentary film festivals. Held annually, typically in November, RIDM presents around 100 Canadian and international documentaries. The festival also hosts Forum RIDM, a professional documentary market unlike any other in Québec.
CINEMANIA
CINEMANIA is North America’s largest French-language film festival, showcasing a selection of feature films, documentaries and short films from across the French-speaking world. More than just a film festival, CINEMANIA offers a rich cultural experience, with masterclasses, talks and red-carpet events.
Vues d’Afrique
The Vues d’Afrique International Film Festival showcases films from around the world that explore the realities and perspectives of Africa and the Creole world. It creates opportunities for artists to connect and exchange ideas while fostering dialogue and greater understanding within society. Its competitive program features fiction and documentary films, including both features and shorts, as well as series, animation and works by emerging filmmakers. A dedicated section also highlights Canadian films.
Montréal International Children’s Film Festival (FIFEM)
The FIFEM The festival brings the best in international cinema to children and families. Held each year during Québec’s March Break, its program features more than 100 outstanding films from around the world, including live-action, animated and documentary features and shorts. Film education workshops and opportunities to meet filmmakers round out the experience.
ANIMAZE
The Montréal International Animation Film Festival celebrates the best of animation in all its forms and genres. Its program features short and feature-length animated films by filmmakers from around the world, with a strong emphasis on diverse stories and perspectives.
image+nation
Canada’s first and longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival, this international event fosters connection and reflection within LGBTQ+ communities, supports queer filmmakers and creators, and promotes queer culture on both a regional and national scale.
image+nation brings together stories that are at once unique and universal. They move us, invite us to explore new perspectives, and help us better understand LGBTQ+ cultures from Montréal, across Canada, and around the world.
SPASM
SPASM celebrates genre cinema in all its forms with funny, twisted, chilling, and spectacular short films from Québec and around the world.
For more than 20 years, the festival has established itself as Montréal’s must-attend Halloween event, drawing a loyal audience each year eager for thrills, laughs, and extraordinary cinematic discoveries.
Many other festivals and events celebrate the art of cinema in Montréal, from the Festival du nouveau cinéma to the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) and the Montreal International Black Film Festival.
Outdoor movie screenings
In summer, Montrealers make the most of the warm, sunny days, and that includes enjoying movies under the open sky. Throughout the season, parks across the city host outdoor film screenings. Some of the festivals mentioned above also take their movies outdoors, while boroughs and other local events offer their own open-air screenings.
Cinéma sous les étoiles (Cinema under the stars)
Cinéma sous les étoiles This outdoor film event shines a spotlight on documentary cinema that explores current social and political issues. From June to August, more than 40 free, community-oriented screenings take place in some 20 parks and outdoor venues across Montréal. Each screening is followed by a discussion with a filmmaker or an expert on the issues explored in the film, creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue and making documentary cinema accessible to everyone.
Film Noir au Canal
On six Sunday summer nights, the free outdoor Film Noir au Canal event brings cult crime films to the banks of the Lachine Canal. The lineup features classics and contemporary masterpieces of film noir, screened against a backdrop of grain silos and industrial buildings. With an atmosphere like this, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting setting for a night of noir.
Théâtre de Verdure
Every summer, Théâtre de Verdure brings free outdoor entertainment to the heart of La Fontaine Park. Set in a 2,000-seat amphitheatre, the program features everything from music, dance, circus and theatre to outdoor movie screenings. With its wide range of performances and events, it’s an easy and accessible way to enjoy the arts and cinema in a beautiful park setting.
3939 Parc La Fontaine Avenue
And that’s just the beginning. You’ll find outdoor movie screenings in parks and other locations across Montréal throughout the summer. Locations and schedules vary from year to year, so check the latest listings to see what’s playing during your visit.
Québec cinema in the spotlight
When Titanic, directed by Canadian-born James Cameron, was dominating the global box office in December 1997, it hit a very real iceberg in Québec: the hockey comedy Les Boys. In fact, Québec may have been the only market in the world where the Hollywood blockbuster failed to reach the top spot during its initial theatrical run.
It’s just one of many examples, throughout Québec’s film history, of the strength of its homegrown cinema: a film industry that continues to win audiences both at home and abroad. Québec has also produced a remarkable roster of filmmakers, including Denys Arcand, Oscar-winning for Les Invasions barbares (2004), Jean-Marc Vallée with C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005), Denis Villeneuve with Incendies (2010), Xavier Dolan with Mommy (2014), and Monia Chokri with Simple comme Sylvain (2023).
Looking to discover emerging talent and the next generation of Québec filmmakers? One festival and one cultural institution, in particular, offer the perfect opportunity to dive deeper into Québec cinema.
Les Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma
Every winter, visitors and film lovers flock to Les Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma, the country’s largest festival dedicated to Québec cinema. Alongside inspiring filmmakers and actors from Québec and beyond, festivalgoers can discover dozens of premieres among some 300 films and works, including feature-length fiction films, documentaries, shorts and more. Screened in French, English and other languages with subtitles, the lineup is complemented by talks, masterclasses and live artistic performances.
Cinémathèque Québécoise
Best known for preserving Québec’s audiovisual heritage and international animation, this Latin Quarter institution also offers a diverse film program across its two theatres. The lineup includes new releases and classic films, themed series and major retrospectives, along with opportunities to meet filmmakers and other cinema professionals. A must for film lovers, the institution is also home to a media library and exhibition space.
335 de Maisonneuve Boulevard East
Did you know? Important dates in Montréal and Québecois cinema
Cinema is alive and thriving in Montréal for over 130 years!
June 27, 1896 — Two days before New York, the first-ever film screening in North America took place at the Palace Theatre on Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
January 1, 1906 — The Ouimetoscope, North America’s first permanent movie theatre, opened its doors on Sainte-Catherine Street East.
1956 — The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) moved its headquarters from Ottawa to Montréal, where it went on to have a profound and lasting influence on Canadian and world cinema.
(The NFB has an extraordinary record of achievement, making it one of the most acclaimed production institutions in the world. In fact, it is the most Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning production organization in history outside Hollywood. Over the years, the NFB has won seven Oscars for Best Animated Short Film.)
1958 (and 1963) — The NFB took filmmaking out of the studio and into the streets, with groundbreaking works such as the 1958 short Les Raquetteurs and the 1963 feature Pour la suite du monde by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault.
This marked the birth of direct cinema, a groundbreaking style that transformed documentary filmmaking and the way reality was portrayed on screen. Its influence extended well beyond Québec, notably shaping the French New Wave.
1967 — IMAX technology is developed by filmmakers Roman Kroitor and Graeme Ferguson during Expo 67 at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Fittingly, the innovation was born at the NFB’s Labyrinth pavilion. It’s yet another example of Montréal’s long-standing role at the forefront of creative expression.
1975 — Michel Brault wins the Best Director award at Cannes for Les Ordres, marking a breakthrough for Québec cinema on the international stage.
June 1993 — Montréal-based Softimage helps create the dinosaurs for Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, a Hollywood blockbuster that would become a landmark in the history of digital visual effects.
The company’s success helps establish Montréal as a global hub for visual effects. Over the years, the expertise developed in the city’s thriving creative and technology sectors has helped transform Montréal into a world-class destination for video games, digital creativity and technological arts.
February 29, 2004 — Québec filmmaker Denys Arcand made history in 2004 when The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares) won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Over the years, six Québec films have been nominated in this category, now known as Best International Feature Film, including three directed by Denys Arcand.
September 17, 2010 — Québec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve releases Incendies, the film that puts him on the world cinema map and launches his career as one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed directors. He would go on to direct major productions including Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune trilogy.
May 22, 2016 — At Cannes, Xavier Dolan wins the festival’s Grand Prix as well as the Ecumenical Jury Prize for Juste la fin du monde. It remains the highest honour won by a Québec filmmaker at Cannes.
February 23, 2024 — Monia Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain wins the César Award for Best Foreign Film, beating out Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
To learn more
Want to learn more about Montréal’s film industry and discover some of the movies filmed here? Find out more at Montréal: where movie dreams are made .
Original article in French by Maxime Sauriol, adapted into English by Dawn Bessey-Gans.
Maxime Sauriol
Maxime is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to Montréal. He roams its streets with a latté in hand — no headphones, so he can soak up the city's soul — and knows it like the back of his hand (which is often in his pocket alongside his keys, phone and just enough change for two bagels). A proud Mile End resident for around 20 years, this social content curator loves capturing the city from every angle. And he's always ready to share the best-kept secrets of his beloved hometown: Montréal!