Montreal's Lachine Canal Will Host A Free Nighttime Screening Of A Hitchcock Movie In July

Film Noir au Canal, a celebration of hard-boiled police dramas, is coming back again this year for its sixth edition. The festival will stage free outdoor movie screenings next to the Lachine Canal on six Sundays between July and August, beginning with Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 thriller Rear Window on July 17.

Local filmmaker and Rear Window buff Louis Bélanger will host the festival's opening night, which will also feature a musical prelude by Ukulélé Club de Montréal before the screening begins at 9 p.m.

The movie will appear with its original English audio with subtitles in French.

Film Noir au Canal will only release its featured titles in the days leading up to each screening, but it did drop hints of what's to come.

Following Rear Window, organizers promise "a great work of poetic realism" on July 24, "the most famous Italian detective comedy" on July 31, "a B-movie noir that marked a turning point in the genre" on August 7 and a "masterpiece of French cinema" on August 14.

The festival will conclude with a "crowd-pleasing" neo-noir film on August 21. Finale screenings in years past have included Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

Film Noir au Canal fittingly takes place in the Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood's Square Saint-Patrick — in the shadows of the rusty metal and crumbling brick structures that characterize the former industrial corridor.

Admission is free but attendees are encouraged to make a donation.

Organizers will post updates on upcoming screenings on the festival's Facebook and Instagram pages.

Get a summary of the details below.

Film Noir au Canal

Film Noir au Canal promotional poster.Courtesy of Film noir au Canal

Price: Free, donation encouraged

Where: Square Saint-Patrick, at the corner of rues Saint-Patrick and Wellington

When: Sundays from July 17 to August 21; festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. and screenings being at 9 p.m.

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