Our Mission
Making ethnographic cinema accessible
Ethnographic cinema and visual anthropology play a significant role in the field of the humanities and documentary practices. Through these cinematic forms, images become a means of exploring social, cultural, and political issues, while questioning the ways in which the world is represented. Since 2003, FIFEQ-MTL has been working to introduce visual anthropology and ethnographic cinema to a wide audience through free screenings.
Through an eclectic program, the festival highlights works that explore the diversity of human experiences and challenge the traditions of the ethnographic gaze by shifting the focus away from dominant perspectives. The films presented explore creative practices in which the people being filmed also become active participants in the process of representation, helping to bring a plurality of narratives to light.
With each edition, the festival becomes a space for dialogue between academic, artistic, and community circles. The gathering of audiences, filmmakers, and researchers gives rise to collective moments of discussion and reflection. The screened works thus serve as starting points for examining contemporary issues related to the representation of reality, ethnographic documentary practices, and the various ways of producing and sharing knowledge through images.
Each year, the festival pays special attention to Indigenous cinema as well as to Canadian, Quebec, and non-Western productions. We are committed to grounding the programming in contemporary political and social realities, so that ethnographic cinema helps open spaces for critical reflection and can extend beyond screening rooms, inspiring dialogue and social transformation.
FIFEQ in 4 Key Dates
2003
Festival Foundation
It all began in 2003, when a group of anthropology students and professors from the Université de Montréal decided to create a festival dedicated to ethnographic films — the first of its kind in Canada. At the time, the festival was called FFEM: Montreal Ethnographic Film Festival.
2005
The festival expands
A few years later, the FFEM expanded to the two other Montréal universities with anthropology departments: McGill and Concordia. It then became the FIFEM: Interuniversity Festival of Ethnographic Film of Montréal.
2007
THE FIFEM BECOMES THE FIFEQ
The festival becomes more structured. Very quickly, in Montréal, across Québec, and internationally, the event gains recognition. Université Laval joins the movement, and the FIFEM becomes the FIFEQ!
2018
THE FIFEQ-MTL LEAVES THE UNIVERSITIES
For the first time, volunteers who are not students join the festival team and take on the role of general coordination. FIFEQ-MTL then moves beyond university walls to reach the wider public. It settles into cinemas, museums, and alternative venues, connecting with an increasingly diverse audience.
Our Project
As the only festival of its kind in Canada, FIFEQ-MTL aims to give ethnographic film a place in the cultural landscape of Montreal, Quebec, and Canada. Since its inception, the festival has sought to distance itself from the colonial, essentialist, racist, and dehumanizing frameworks inherited from the colonial anthropology of the first half of the 20th century, while making independent ethnographic cinema more accessible to the general public.
It promotes a contemporary vision and questions the ethics of visual documentation, particularly in contexts marked by historical relations of domination. The FIFEQ-MTL team is committed to showcasing innovative and daring films that challenge our representations of reality and push the boundaries of this discipline. Through its diverse programming, the festival seeks to foster a critical perspective on film ethnography that is humanistic, reflective, and fully cinematic.
Each year, FIFEQ works to establish ethnographic film as a cinematic genre in its own right.
A team of dedicated volunteers
FIFEQ-MTL is run by an entirely volunteer-based team that operates according to horizontal and democratic principles. The people who make up the festival come from diverse backgrounds, including anthropology, art history, film, and philosophy.
This diversity of backgrounds and perspectives is one of the festival’s greatest strengths. It shapes each edition and helps create an event that reflects its team: committed, curious, and resolutely pluralistic.
Programming Committee
Alyssa Razavi Mastali
Amaïa Jeanne Pelletier
Carmen Fullin
Danya Leal
Félixe F.
Jeanne Perney
Léo Ortega
Milli Noël
Manissa Tazamoucht
Sebastian Cortina
Coordination Committee
Danielle Kouhio Depri
Artistic Director
Iman Rankoussi
Production Support and Volunteer Mobilization
Léa Killian
Production Support and Volunteer Mobilization
Lhéanna Sanou
Communications Manager
Collaborators
Andréa Serrano
Trailer Editing
Camille Jacques
Copy Coordination
Firas Nassri
Website
Rêve Gourdon
Graphic Design
Board of Directors
Danielle Kouhio Depri
Administrator
Manon Baudouin
Administrator
Manon Jousse
Administrator
Pauline Faget
Vice President
Philippe Blouin
Secretary
Thibault Tranchant
President
FOR THE 2024/2025 EDITION
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Andrea Gomez, Coline Reveillet, Danielle Kouhio Depri, Danya Leal, Daphnée Levesque, Andréa Serrano, Camille Tournon, Catherine Paradis, Chloé Marchal, Célina Yellowbird, Marie-Ange Bourgades, Marine Gouédard, Iman Rankoussi, Maya Spitale, Noor Boukhelifa, Cécile Bastide, Manon Beaudoin, Philippe Blouin, Thibault Tranchant
FOR THE 2023/2024 EDITION
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Eyrhel, Dany, Anna, Gabriel, Brian, Gabrielle, Mauve, Celia, Fil, Mathilde, Pascale, Mehdi, Guillaume, Marine, Julia, Mira, Danielle, Chloé, Shadé, Lina et Carolanne.
FOR THE 2022/2023 EDITION
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Manon Baudoin, Roger Gaboury, Cécile Bastide, Virginie Le Naour, Charles-Émile Lafrance, Kevin Semaan, Anna Henry, Louise Pinault-Southam, Clara Ferrando Costa, David Deladurantaye Leblanc, Mayra Bielma, Chelsea Sweetin, Harry Danon, Pascale Hebert, Alain Ayotte, Elsa Hetletvedt, Renata Moreira Fontoura et Eloise Lu.
FOR THE 2021/2022 EDITION
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Pauline, Hélène, Geneviève, Marco, Jérémy, Irmak, Sophie, Lily-Cannelle, Khando, Sarah, Jade, Audrey, Ying, Thibault, Raphaël et Danielle.
FOR THE 2020/2021 EDITION
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Raphaël, Julie, Camille, Simon, Solène, Antonia, Daniel, Geneviève, Diego, Laeticia, Roxanne, Emmanuel, Hanine, Myriam, Paul, Olivia et Danielle.
29 MARS 2019
Le cinéma ethnographique sort des universités
« Le festival est en transition, explique Asmâa Hadji, coordonnatrice de l’événement. À l’origine dans les universités, on a voulu le sortir du milieu universitaire en organisant des projections à l’extérieur des institutions. »
11 AVRIL 2018
Ethnographic filmmaking shines at FIFEQ
“We’ve always tried to make it accessible to the public,” Seo said. “Our goal is just to share these films, we don’t have a judging panel or awards or prizes, we just want to share.”
28 MARS 2018
FIFEQ 2018:
Voix de femmes
Au programme : une série de documentaires dont un volet consacré aux femmes réalisatrices autochtones qui ont choisi le vecteur cinématographique pour exprimer toutes les facettes de leur identité.