Ah, Ciné-cadeau! For Montrealers and Quebecers, the mere mention of the name invokes an intense wave of nostalgia and image-sound flashes like acid flashbacks of bits of Die Hard,Asterix and Cleopatra and La Guerre des Tuques.
For those of you just arriving, and for those of you who aren’t spending the holiday season with your eyes glued to the TV set (and unfortunately for you), Ciné-cadeau is a special holiday TV program that airs every year on the Télé-Québec channel. Ciné-cadeau is the part of the holiday TV program dedicated to children – for older kids, it’s Ciné En Fête.
Every year, the program features classic films that are sure to please everyone. Just to name a few: Ice Age (the whole saga, please), Stuart Little and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
And this year, the Ciné-cadeau program kicks off the season with three free movies on skates at the Esplanade Tranquille skating rink…
https://youtu.be/_JeNYVKDRr4
The Magic of Being Together and the Esplanade Tranquille skating rink
L’Esplanade Tranquille is downtown Montreal’s largest refrigerated skating rink, which opened on November 20, 2025-and will be open until April 2026.
It’s one of our favorite rinks in the city, because the ice is hard and if you’re not an expert skater, you can still glide with a minimum of grace.
This makes it the perfect place to screen films to open the holiday season for Télé-Québec. The films Asterix the Gaul, The Smurfs and La Guerre des Tuques have been mentioned by the event organizers, but it’s not clear which one will be shown each day.
Looks like we’ll have to go skating three times this weekend…Practical info
Where: QuietEsplanade (corner of rue Ste-Catherine and rue Clark)
Where?
Friday, December 5, 2025 – 5pm
Saturday, December 6, 2025 – 11am
Sunday, December 7, 2025 – 11am
How? free admission – for more info click here!
Happy Holidays!