21st edition

Special Evening CASCA x CML x FIFEQ-MTL – Mackenzie Place

Co-presented with McGill’s Critical Media Lab (CML) et CASCA.

FIFEQ-MTL, the Critical Media Lab at McGill, and CASCA invite you to a special evening centered around the immersive video installation Mackenzie Place. This work explores themes of memory, community, and transformation in Northern Canada, through four screens capturing daily life in Hay River, Northwest Territories.

The installation, a collaboration between artist Jesse Colin Jackson and anthropologist Lindsay Bell, offers a sensitive reflection on space and time in a northern community shaped by resource extraction. Shot from the rooftop of the Mackenzie Place tower, this work provides a unique perspective on the social dynamics and challenges faced by northern populations.

The evening will begin with a friendly reception in the Peterson Hall lobby, followed by a discussion with the artists. This is an opportunity to exchange on their collaborative approach between art and anthropology, and on the issues raised by their work.

Note: The Mackenzie Place installation will be accessible for free throughout the festival, from May 7 to 10, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Peterson Hall.

Join us for an evening of exchange and discovery, perfectly aligned with the theme of the Visible and the Invisible for this 21st edition of FIFEQ-MTL

Retrospective | Focus Palestine : political images and the politics of the image under occupation

Co-curated with Regards Palestiniens.

In the wake of the zionist government’s genocidal escalation in Palestine on October 7, in continuation of its racist and colonial policy since 1948, a number of volunteers have stressed the political and cultural importance of showing a myriad of images of Palestine – in a context where we are particularly inundated with decontextualized and even dehumanized images.

The aim is to provide a space for reflection and discussion that will enable us to break out of the paradigm of political crisis and understand, above all, what an enduring colonial and racist force represents and what it means in the context of Palestine.

Through an eclectic selection of ethnographic short films made mainly by Palestinian filmmakers, combining a sensitive and sensory approach, visual and technological experimentation and intimate portraiture, we invite you to (re)question your position as spectator through the prism of politics, images and filmic ethnography.

Ethnographic filmmaking is distinguished by its desire to understand and convey, as close as possible to people’s experiences, cultures and everyday gestures. Here, it’s not just a question of showing, but of listening, of cohabiting with reality, of allowing time for stories to be told in a different way. Rooted in life contexts marked by violence, occupation, exile or memory, these films invite us to perceive what we don’t always see: the silences, the expectations, the forces and struggles that shape existence.

Retrospective | Women film-makers-anthropologists and reflexive ethnography

At a time when women film-makers-anthropologists are being overlooked in the field of ethnographic film and more widely in cinema. We are offering you a programme in which you will be invited to (re)discover innovative and disconcerting approaches to film by two leading women film-makers-anthropologists : Trinh T. Minh-ha (Reassemblage, 1982) and Verena Paravel (7 Queens, 2008).

In these two works, which take a counter-field approach to so-called classical ethnography, the authors invite us to take a filmic and anthropological journey as close as possible to the senses and to empathy. They differ in their formal writing, but are united in their desire and attempt to speak as closely as possible to the realities and people they meet, and not about or for them.

While Trinh T. Minh-ha sets out to humanise a village in Senegal and to question our posture as spectators by playing with fixity, false repetitions, close-ups and a narrative punctuated by carefully crafted editing and a soundtrack, Verena Paravel, with a camera that is always in motion, invites us to wander through her random encounters in an ultrasonically lively urban neighbourhood along 7 Queens in New York.

These are two unclassifiable films in which the boundary between the filmmaker, the viewers, the camera and the protagonists are barely perceptible. So much so, that it becomes the issue of it’s very own narration and representation. 

An invitation to participate by looking, hearing and through the discussion that will follow in the presence of:

Nat Nesvaderani, an Iranian-American professor in the Anthropology Department at Université de Laval. Her research focuses on migration, refugees, youth, affect and humanitarianism in South-West Asia and North Africa. She is also interested in cinema and feminist, gender and sexuality studies.

Marion Froger, a professor at the Université de Montréal in the Department of Art History, Cinema and Audiovisual Media, will also be joining us. She will take a socio-anthropological look at cinema as a social experience, embedded in the relationships between creators, spectators and representations.

Moderated by Émilie Tullio, doctoral student in film studies at the Université de Montréal in cotutelle with Université Paris-Saclay in visual sociology.

Indigeneity: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Quebec and Canada

Co-presented with Wapikoni Mobile.

In partnership with Wapikoni Mobile, this screening of short films gives voice to Indigenous women and communities through powerful and intimate works. Too often reduced to statistics or headlines, the realities of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Quebec and Canada are told here from within—with dignity, strength, and sensitivity. The camera becomes a tool of resistance, memory, and transmission. Each film offers a personal perspective on identity, cultural clash, disappearance, grief, resilience, and love. This screening is a tribute, a cry, an invitation to listen, to witness, and not to look away. A discussion with guests from Wapikoni will follow, extending this essential experience.

The evening will conclude with a discussion featuring our special guests: Katherine Nequado, an Atikamekw filmmaker whose short film WAMIN (La Pomme) will be screened during the event; as well as Anne-Michelle Roy and Natanaël from Tshuapamitin, an organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for issues related to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

The screening is organized ans presented in collaboration with McGill’s Critical Media Lab (CML).

To end this 21st edition in style, the FIFEQ team is pleased to invite you to a special outdoor screening on the roof of the Rialto Theatre (or in the Rialto studio in case of bad weather!). We invite you to celebrate together the richness of ethnographic cinema as well as the end of this remarkable edition. This festive gathering will be a moment of sharing, fostering collective discussions and reflections.

This final evening features a selection of three short and medium-length films gathered around this year’s theme: the Visible and the Invisible. These films aim to shed light on often-overlooked worlds of labor, or to explore work environments typically left off-screen. They do so by focusing on gestures, spaces, and workers’ memories, with great attention to the everyday, the sensory, the intimate, and the play between the camera, the filmmakers, the protagonists, and the viewers.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Joseph Dahdah and Christine Chevalier-Caron.

This cinematic interlude will also be an opportunity to enjoy the sunset, accompanied by a DJ set from j_basco. Guided by his fascination for organic and evolving sounds, he takes us on a journey through sound, weaving together diverse genres and emotions.

A small snack bar will also be available, offering non-alcoholic beer, fruit juice, and popcorn for purchase—an ideal way to toast while taking in a panoramic view of the city.