RCA@Home Virtual Cinema House
Exclusive access to outstanding documentaries
RCA@Home Virtual Cinema House Exclusive access to outstanding documentaries
Watch first run and award-winning documentaries not available on any other platform or media in Canada, and support the RCA at the same time!
The RCA@Home Virtual Cinema House allows you to experience outstanding Canadian and international critically-acclaimed film content from home.
What will you watch?
Now Playing
Each week, the Virtual Cinema House offers two new documentary releases. Discover a new adventure and experience, across a variety of topics and stories, from journalism and dance to the world's most gruelling horse race.
Films are available for 4 weeks and you can watch your selected film for up to 5 days.
Your documentary rental costs just C$9.99 to rent with a portion of proceeds supporting the non-profit Rotary Centre for the Arts. Expand your mind and support local arts and culture at the same time!
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Week 16
Playing From January 15
The Reason I Jump
Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, THE REASON I JUMP is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida's revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. It opens a window for audiences into an intense and overwhelming, but often joyful, sensory universe.
Moments in the lives of each of the characters are linked by the journey of a young Japanese boy through an epic landscape; narrated passages from Naoki’s writing reflect on what his autism means to him and others, how his perception of the world differs, and why he acts in the way he does: the reason he jumps.
The film distils these elements into a sensually rich tapestry that leads us to Naoki’s core message: not being able to speak does not mean there is nothing to say.
Week 15
Playing From January 8
Soros
Billionaire activist George Soros is one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. Famous for betting against the Bank of England in 1992 and making a billion dollars in one day, he is maligned b y ideologues on both the left and the right for daring to tackle the world’s problems and putting his money behind his fight – from free elections and freedom of the press to civil rights for minorities.
With unprecedented access to the man and his inner circle, American director Jesse Dylan follows Soros across the globe and pulls back the curtain on his personal history, private wealth, and public activism. Soros reveals a complicated genius whose experience as a Jew during the Holocaust gave rise to a lifelong crusade against authoritarianism and hate.
Week 14
Playing From November 19
First We Eat
Putting food security to the test in the far North of Canada - filmmaker Suzanne Crocker, living just 300 km from the Arctic Circle, removes absolutely all grocery store food from her house. For one year, she feeds her family of five, only food that can be hunted, fished, gathered, grown or raised around Dawson City, Yukon. Add three skeptical teenagers, one reluctant husband, no salt, no caffeine, no sugar and -40 temperatures. Ultimately the story becomes a celebration of community and the surprising bounty of food that even a tiny community in the far North can provide. After all, "First we eat, then we do everything else." - MFK Fisher
Week 13
Playing From September 18
Meeting the Beatles in India
Filmmaker Paul Saltzman retraces his journey of 50 years ago when he spent a life-changing time with the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram on the banks of the Ganges River. In 1968, he discovered his own soul, learned meditation, which changed his life, and hung out with John, Paul, George and Ringo. Fifty years later, he finds "Bungalow Bill" in Hawaii; connects with David Lynch about his own inner journey; as well as preeminent Beatles historian, Mark Lewisohn; Academy Award nominated film composer, Laurence Rosenthal.: and Pattie and Jenny Boyd. And much of this is due to Saltzman's own daughter, Devyani, reminding him that he had put away and forgotten these remarkably intimate photographs of that time in 1968.
Narration: Morgan Freeman
Executive Producer: David Lynch (among others)
Week 12
Playing From August 21
The Great Green Wall
Executive Producer Fernando Meirelles (Academy Award®-nominated director of "City of God" and "The Two Popes") and Malian musician Inna Modja take us on an epic journey along Africa's Great Green Wall - an ambitious vision to grow an 8,000km "wall" of trees stretching across the entire continent to fight back against runaway climate change, severe resource scarcity and mass migration.
Week 11
Playing From August 7
Requiem for the American Dream
Renowned academic and author Noam Chomsky elucidates 10 principles of concentration of wealth and power that have led to unprecedented inequality and the hollowing out of the American middle class.
Week 10
Playing From July 10
Bread: An Everyday Miracle
Knowing most people have been doing their own sourdough starters during the shutdown, we wished to highlight a new film which we will be releasing EXCLUSIVELY (both virtually and in cinemas where available) come July 10th called BREAD: AN EVERYDAY MIRACLE.
This film will change your view of BREAD!
Bread has become a brand-name product. But do we know what we are actually eating every day? We meet artisan bakers who can vouch for quality and we meet CEOs of food corporations whose industrially produced bread is fast becoming an artificial product. How can the craft of baking survive? And what will the bread of the future be like?
Week 9
Playing From June 26
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is an exploration of the career, music, and influence of legendary Canadian musical icon Gordon Lightfoot. With unprecedented access to the artist, the documentary follows Lightfoot’s evolution from Christian choirboy to troubled troubadour to international star and beloved Canadian icon.
Week 8
Playing From June 19
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
Dr. Anne Innis Dagg retraces her 1956 journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. Willful and determined, Dagg not only faced inflicting elements in the wild, but also at home where, as a woman, she struggled to be seen and treated as equal in the male dominated field of zoology.
Kedi
Hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. This is the story of seven of them. This film is a sophisticated take on your typical cat video that will both dazzle and educate.
Week 7
Playing From June 12
Sovereign Soil
At the far-flung edge of Canada’s boreal forest, outside the tiny sub-Arctic town of Dawson City, Yukon, a handful of unlikely farmers are growing everything from snow-covered Brussels sprouts to apples. These modern-day agrarians have carved out small patches of fertile soil in an otherwise unforgiving expanse of isolated wilderness to make a living and a life. Sovereign Soil is an ode to the beauty of this ferocious, remote land and the wisdom of those who’ve chosen to call it home.
PUSH
PUSH is a new documentary from award-winning director Fredrik Gertten, investigating why we can't afford to live in our own cities anymore. PUSH sheds light on a new kind of faceless landlord, our increasingly unliveable cities and an escalating crisis that has an effect on us all. This is not gentrification, it’s a different kind of monster.
Week 6
Playing From June 5
Whose Streets?
When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of the St. Louis area and beyond. Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson, Missouri uprising. As the national guard rolls in, a new generation mounts a powerful battle cry not just for their civil rights, but for the right to live.
Leftover Women
In China, single women are under immense pressure to marry young or face the stigma that comes with being "leftover." Leftover Women follows three hopeful singles seeking to define love on their own terms.
Week 5
Playing From May 29
Susanne Bartsch: On Top
SUSANNE BARTSCH: ON TOP explores Susanne's life and impact through never-before-seen archival footage, verité cinematography, personal testimonials, and highly stylized imagery. From quiet moments at home to the creation of deliciously debaucherous spectacles, Susanne juggles family life with the overwhelming stress of being a one-woman industry.
Linda Rondstadt: The Sound of My Voice
LINDA RONSTADT: The Sound of My Voice is a musical biography of one of the most successful and versatile female singers of the 20th century -- and one of the most successful recording artists of all time. The Sound of My Voice tells Linda's story through her own words and music, and by such professional colleagues as Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Aaron Neville among many others.
Week 4
Playing From May 22
Chef Flynn
The sophomore debut of director Cameron Yates, Chef Flynn is about a young man’s singular focus and distinctive path through childhood, sharing a rare view of an aspiring chef’s successful rise from the inside.
Prophecy
This is a rare, intimate exploration of a single oil painting and the first major film to reveal the motive and techniques behind each stroke of paint as the artist creates. The audience is plunged in to the artist's obsessive mind, what starts as a blank canvas, emerges Peter Howson's monumental oil painting; Prophecy.
Week 3
Playing From May 15
Buddy
In Buddy, Heddy Honigmann tells the story of six extraordinary dogs that are indispensable for their owners. They are specially trained to assist them in lives that aren’t always easy, but thanks to the incredible skills of their dogs, they are as independent as possible.
All The Wild Horses
All The Wild Horses follows endurance horse riders from the United States, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, United Kingdom and the Netherlands as they try and compete in the Mongol Derby, the longest and toughest horse race in the world.
Week 2
Playing From May 8
Ballet Now
Featuring New York City Ballet's Prima Ballerina Tiler Peck - the first ever woman to be asked to curate The Music Center's famed BalletNOW program - and a diverse cast of world-class dancers from around the globe, the film follows Tiler as she tries to execute her groundbreaking vision of mashing together the worlds of tap, hip-hop, ballet and even clown artistry.
Beyond Moving
Follow the remarkable journey of Siphe November, who left his small township in South Africa to follow his dreams at Canada’s National Ballet School.
Week 1
Playing From May 1
The Booksellers
THE BOOKSELLERS is a lively, behind-the-scenes look at the New York rare book world and the fascinating people who inhabit it.
This is Not a Movie
For more than 40 years, journalist Robert Fisk has reported on some of the most violent and divisive conflicts in the world...
Looking for something to do?
Join an RCA@Home Social Club!
It’s like joining a rad book club, but for arts and culture!
Each Club covers a different area of interest, with a host to moderate and up to 12 participants. A weekly topic, performance, or recommendation will be selected every week and members will watch/listen in their own time before meeting with the rest of the group for a discussion.
Discover more and register for your club today!