After two years of restrictions to cultural programming, the International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec (FIFEQ)-MTL, Canada’s first ethnographic film festival and number-1 platform for ethnographic cinema is proudly back for its 18th edition!

FIFEQ-MTL will begin next week, showing from May 11th to May 15th exclusively in person. This year’s carefully-curated selection was selected by the FIFEQ team from nearly 200 submitted works by filmmakers and anthropologists from around the world. Says programming coordinator Danielle Kouhio Depri of this year’s festival:

“FIFEQ, the first and only film festival in Quebec and Canada entirely dedicated to ethnographic cinema, has always been driven by one mission: promoting and democratizing ethnographic film and visual anthropology. For its 18th edition in Montreal, we are especially proud to offer free screenings to not only cinephiles but anyone intrigued by social and human sciences. Through this year’s selection, the programming team wishes to showcase various cinematic narratives of the real, [and] this diversity is further reflected in the genres of the films we’ve selected: everything from sensory, experimental, art-house, essay film, ethnofiction to the more traditional observational documentary genre, or even the collaborative political genre. A collection of authentic and unique films that will certainly invite discourse on certain representations, and encourage audiences to question even their own versions of reality. In 2022, we want to continue to move beyond public perceptions of and assumptions about how ethnographic film has to be voyeuristic and/or about some exotic other, and instead highlight the cinematic and humanistic nature of visual anthropology.”

*Still from The Fantastic (2019) by Maija Blåfield*

In addition to the screenings, the public will be able to participate in conversations, panels, and parafilmic workshops aimed at deconstructing the way we look at reality and the human experience. This new edition will offer you the opportunity to apprehend the world in which we live differently, through the lenses of the diverse subjectivities put forth by protagonists of varied identities and film directors who are passionate about the real. Audiences will be able to discover, among other things, frank and poetic views on the solitary experiences of illegal migration, the relationship between women and their body and sexuality following childbirth, the administrative issues related to autochthony in India, Mongolian shamanism as well as the imaginations maintained by North Koreans through their viewing of foreign films.

This year, FIFEQ-MTL continues its commitment to accessibility and its mission of democratizing ethnographic cinema by making most of its programming available to audiences for free. This presents a golden opportunity to meet and connect around cinema and visual anthropology in a warm and intimate setting.

This year’s edition of FIFEQ-MTL will kick off with an opening night on May 11th at Ausgang Plaza at 7 PM, complete with film screenings and live music. The major themes, dates and locations of the festival then include:

OUTLOOKS ON RITUALITY – presented Thursday, May 12th at Cinéma Public
AT THE EDGES OF REALITY – presented Thursday, May 12th at Cinéma Public
WOMEN’S CINEMA – presented Friday, May 13th at Cinéma Moderne
NARRATING THE INTIMATE – presented Friday, May 13th at Cinéma Moderne
POETRIES OF REALITY – presented Saturday, May 14th at McCord Museum
ON THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF FILMING MIGRATION – presented Saturday, May 14th at McCord Museum
DAY OF INDIGENOUS FILMS / CLOSING DAY – presented Sunday, May 15th at McCord Museum

*Still from Brave (2021) by Wilmarc Val*

*Still from Inniun ueshkat mak anutshish (2020) by Marie Menie Mark*

*Still from Talamanca (2020) by David Marino*

Founded in 2003 by a group of students and professors in anthropology, the International Festival of Ethnographic Film is the first and exclusive of its kind in Canada. Ethnographic cinema is a well-known discipline within academia, especially among anthropologists. But it is often regarded by outsiders as an obscure, unapproachable, and elitist art. For 19 years, FIFEQ has been driven by one mission: democratizing visual anthropology and documentary film through an eclectic, yet accessible selection of films.

Part of the festival’s mission is also to make most of the screenings entirely free of charge. FIFEQ encourages bold and unique works, with an emphasis on reflexive approaches. Providing a platform for indigenous stories and productions, in Canada and abroad, we focus on films that go beyond the limits of colonialist and essentialist anthropology. At FIFEQ, we love films that observe proximate realities, sometimes even mundane ones, allowing us to observe and question our own environment.

For more information on FIFEQ, tickets and a full list of programming, please visit the FIFEQ-MTL page or visit them on Instagram and Facebook.