The 40th edition of FIFA, Montreal’s Festival of Films on Art, has begun

The International Festival of Films on Art, aka FIFA, launches its 40th edition today. Devoted to films that highlight the world of art and artists, FIFA puts the spotlight on art about art. Over the next 13 days, the festival hopes to reflect on some important questions that face us right now: What world do we want to (re)build together? The festival will take place online and in person.

This year’s program is extensive, featuring 209 titles from 46 countries. This year’s festival features 50 world premieres, 59 North American premieres, 36 Canadian premieres. It will award six prizes. The in-person screenings will take place at Monument National, the CCA, Théâtre Outremont, Cinéma du Musée and at several “pop up” theatres located at Place des Arts, Holt Renfrew and at the Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec City. The festival will also feature special events like La Nuit de la danse (March 18) at Théâtre Outremont, a seven-hour marathon of screenings that celebrate dance, hosted by Geneviève Borne. Will feature a special performance by Frédérick Gravel. 

The festival opens tonight at the Monument-National with a (sold out) screening of Hugo Latulippe​’s film Je me soulève, a world première and in competition. The film will be preceded by Danika St-Laurent​’s short film We Are Not Speaking the Same Language. The film will screen again in Quebec City in the coming days. 

As always, the films highlight a variety of arts from film to theatre to painting. Some highlights include:

Body-Buildings directed by Henrique Pina, is a mid-length documentary that brings together dance, architecture and film by merging identities and concepts in six choreographies, created for six architectural works in six different locations in Portugal.

FIFA presents world premiere of feature debut of actor-playwright, Emmanuel Schwartz, Projet Pigeons. When tragedy strikes the graduating class of a theatre school, the future actors are forced to reassess their relationship with art, with acting, with the sacred. What was at first an exercise in a theatre class becomes an intimate and profound film in which the characters examine their own ambitions and the layers of fiction that underlie their lives.

Architect of Brutal Poetry is a documentary on architecture giant, Slovakia-born Brazilian Hans Broos. Broos has Alzheimer’s disease. His memories are gradually fading. In this film, he tells his life story. 

FIFA hosts the world premiere of Pierre-Paul Puljiz’s Basquiat un remix, a reinterpretation of the work and life of Jean-Michel Basquiat through his Caribbean family origins and his African fantasy.

In Fellinopolis, director Silvia Giulietti brings us into the strange and enigmatic world of Federico Fellini as told from some of his greatest collaborators, including Lina Wertmuller, Dante Ferretti, Nicola Piovani, Maurizio Millenotti and Norma Giacchero.

In Queen Kidjo, le rythme absolu, director Claire Duguet puts the spotlight on Franco-Beninese singer Queen Kidjo. This vibrant documentary takes a unique look at the life and artistic choices of this energetic woman, who breaks down the walls of indifference and builds musical bridges that no one has yet walked on.

For more on the 40th edition of FIFA, please visit the festival’s website. 

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