Feng Xia, a 52-year-old Chinese immigrant, lives in Montreal with her husband and their two children. Beneath the appearance of a peaceful family life, the couple is each going through their own midlife crisis. Feng Xia decides to confront a taboo she has suppressed since her youth: she is a lesbian. Through a lesbian dating site, she meets Camille, a 30-year-old Québécoise, and begins a secret affair with her. The two solitary women build both friendship and love, helping one another navigate their respective crises. Caught between her responsibilities to her family and the passionate liberation she experiences with her lover, Feng Xia faces a heartbreaking dilemma. She has no choice but to confront her fears and the powerful moral expectations of her culture. This reckoning leads her to sexual fulfillment, to experiencing the youthful love she missed, and ultimately, to facing her new destiny.​

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FESTIVALS

• Festival du Nouveau Cinéma 2025 (Première mondiale)

• Windsor International Film Festival

• Reelworld International Film Festival (Toronto)

• Reel Asian International Film Festival (Toronto)

• Image + Nation Film Festival

• Kingston Canadian Film Festival

• Victoria Film Festival​
   

The film won the top awards at two festivals in 2025:

• Best Canadian Film at the Windsor International Film Festival

• RBC Best Canadian Feature Award at the Toronto Asian International Film Festival.

Below are the jury statements and the press coverage published so far. The film will be released in theatres in Quebec and across Canada on February 13, 2026.

 

“From the first scene, where a mother must rely on her daughter to translate the most vulnerable details of her own body, to its devastatingly elegant finale where she reclaims her voice, this film unfolds with a quiet confidence and emotional clarity that took our breath away. Joan Chen gives a performance of extraordinary restraint and depth, embodying a woman whose complexity feels utterly lived in. With tenderness, humour, and fearless honesty, the film offers a love story that feels both timeless and new — one that resists familiar tropes in its portrayals of race, gender, and the immigrant experience. It is with great admiration and heartfelt appreciation that we present this award to Montreal, My Beautiful.”

 

--- Jury of the 2025 Windsor International Film Festival

 

“Among this year’s powerful and diverse stories, Montreal, My Beautiful stands out for its quiet brilliance and emotional depth. With intimate imagery and an honest, poetic voice, the film captures not only the colors and rhythms of Montreal, but the beating heart of a city shaped by migration, memory, and the constant meeting of cultures.”

 

--- Jury of the Toronto Asian Internation Film Festival 2025

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