The Cinémathèque québécoise was founded in 1963 by a passionate group of filmmakers. Today, it is a major institution whose mission is to acquire, document and safeguard Quebec’s cinema, television and audio-visual heritage, as well as that of international animation. It also collects significant works of Canadian and world cinema for screenings focused on culture and education.

The body of work has thus far largely sparked the interest of filmmakers in the representation of places and, more broadly, of territory and the environment, particularly within a community of Canadian filmmakers of European descent. The industrial and natural representations of the late 20th century also provide an opportunity to comment on territorial transformations that immediately raise ecological questions. Finally, it is worth noting that the representation of movement itself, both physical and mechanical, can lead to formal explorations that trace the origins of experimental cinema back to the explorations of early cinema.