Racism, status of women, sport and LGBTQ+ issues will be at the heart of the 18e edition of the Montreal International Black Film Festival (FIFBM), which begins Tuesday in the metropolis to once again celebrate diversity on screen.
The event, which runs until Sunday, September 25, will offer – in theaters and online – no less than 95 films from some 25 countries with the aim of allowing the public to discover the reality of black communities from all over of the world.
The organization promises a varied program, which “will not leave anyone indifferent”. “We commend creators who take risks by making non-commercial choices, allowing them to spread stories and realities that otherwise would not have made it to you,” said Fabienne Colas, founding president of the festival, by press release.
Lovely Jackson, by American director Matt Waldeck, will kick off the ball on Tuesday evening at the Imperial cinema. This will also be the international premiere of this documentary which tells the story of Rickey Jackson, a man who spent nearly 40 years in one of the most dangerous prisons in Ohio after being wrongfully accused , murder. For the occasion, director Matt Waldeck and Rickey Jackson will be in Montreal to answer questions from the public right after the screening.
The film Tropic of violence, by French director Manuel Schapira, will close the festival at the Musée du Cinéma on Sunday. Adapted from the book of the same name by Nathacha Appanah, the feature film tells the daily life of Moses, a 13-year-old teenager, who fears being deported after the sudden death of his mother. He then joins the slums of the French island of Mayotte, where dozens of other children live alone, abandoned by society.
Among the other essential works to discover, we can mention in particular Tribute from a daughter to her father, a documentary by director Fatou Cissé dedicated to her father, the Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé. Without forgetting Kaepernick & America, directed by Ross Hockrow and Tommy Walker, A Star Without a Star, by director Kirk E. Kelleykahn, or even Robustthe first feature film by French director Constance Meyer.