As part of our exhibition The fortune of the city is that it has never been perfect, Cinéma Public presents a series of three evenings in Parc Baile bringing together film screenings workshops, and music.

The selected films explore both real and imagined neighborhoods: places that shape the memories, identities, and dreams of the people who inhabit them with humour and affection. Like the stories that unfold within them, these spaces are porous, mysterious, and intentionally imperfect, evolving through time, everyday use, and transformation. What if beauty lies in that very imperfection? And what if rejecting the pursuit of perfection was a political act—a way of resisting uniformity, environmental degradation, inequality, and the dehumanization of the places we live?

Inspired by the themes of the exhibition, each evening offers an opportunity to gather, slow down, observe, and listen; to reflect on the ways we inhabit the world, our bodies and our neighborhoods, and on how to coexist with one another.

7:30pm: First-person sketching workshop, open to all

8:45pm: Screening of As Estações (The Seasons)

Directed by Maureen Fazendeiro, 2025, 83 min, Portuguese with French and English subtitles

Weaving accounts of rural workers and fieldnotes of a couple of archaeologists, amateur footage and scientific drawings, legends, poems and songs, As Estações (The Seasons) is a journey through the real history and the tales of a region in southern Portugal, Alentejo, and a portrait of the people who have lived there.

This event is free, but registration is recommended.

7:30pm: Community meeting with Les Amies du Courant Sainte-Marie, open to all

8:45pm: Screening of Les rives

Directed by Michel Régnier, 1972, 26 min, In French

Montreal, built on water, doesn’t have access to it: its waterfronts are privately owned. Water serves only to keep the wheels of commerce and industry turning, unless reserved to the privileged few. Yet water should be a source of well-being for all, as it is in Sweden, where shorelines are public.

Screening of Au bout de ma rue

Directed by Louis-Georges Carrier, 1958, 13 min, In French

This docufiction tells the charming story of a young boy living in Montréal’s Centre-Sud neighborhood, who slips away on a day off to roam through the city. He discovers the broad expanse of the St. Lawrence River and the bustling Port of Montreal. The film portrays an often forgotten part of Montreal, as it was in 1958.

Screening of À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre

Directed by Hubert Aquin, 1962, 41 min, In French

This short film is a series of vignettes of life in Saint-Henri, a Montreal working-class district, on the first day of school. From dawn to midnight, we take in the neighbourhood’s pulse: a mother fussing over children, a father’s enforced idleness, teenage boys clowning, young lovers dallying—the unposed quality of daily life.

This event is free, but registration is recommended.

Les Ami·es du Courant Sainte-Marie is a volunteer citizen group that has been advocating for access to the river since 2012, specifically in the Centre-Sud neighborhood. This initiative brings together neighbors committed to reconnecting residents with the St. Lawrence River. They propose and advocate for various solutions—walkways, observation decks, a promontory, a beach—to private and government partners.

7:30pm: Musical concert

8:45pm: Screening of Mur Murs

Directed by Agnès Varda, 1981, 82 min, In French and English

Documentary about murals in Los Angeles. Who paints them? Who looks at them? Who pays for them? How the capital of talking pictures and illusions reveals itself without illusions through its talking walls? Who speaks? The people of Los Angeles. To whom? To a curious French filmmaker.

This event is free, but registration is recommended.

These events are free and open to the public. In case of rain, the event will be maintained and held inside the museum.

Cinéma Public’s mission is to celebrate local and international cinema via screenings and encounters between audiences, films, and artists. Our venue, located near Jean-Talon metro station, hosts our year-round programming, while other spaces, such as Livart, host our summer outdoor screenings. Cultural outreach and partnerships are at the heart of our programming. Cinéma Public, because film is vital!