In the second largest province in Canada, Montreal is the site of the largest Black film festival, Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF), which was formed in 2005 by the non-profit organization, the Fabienne Colas Foundation. It is an annual event that occurs at the end of September every year, with the mission to showcase Black films to the audience and to promote the realities of the lives of Black people around the world.
The 10th annual MIBFF took place for 6 days from September 23rd to September 28th in a variety of venues as such as Grande Bibliotheque, Imperial Theatre, Former NFB Cinema, Hotel HYATT Regency, and Cineplex Odeon du Quartier Latin. This event operates in both English and French, hence the reason why it is such a huge event, and it showcases independent films, with approximately 100 movie submissions from 35 different countries in 2014. A few examples of films that were showcased in the 10th annual event were “Fire in The Blood”, “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus”, “It’s Us (Ni Si Si)”, “Isaiah’s Birthday”, “O Espinho Da Rosa”, and “Reflections Unheard: Black Women In Civil Rights”.
And the winner is…
The winners were selected in a variety of categories from amongst their wide range of different movies by a jury which consisted of people as such as Frederic Pierre, Danielle Godin, Henri Padro, Michel Desjardins, Sonia Quirion, and Dwayne Blanchette. Out of [the 100 movies that were submitted, only 40 made it to the actual screening, amongst which, only a few won the awards, as such as “Fire in The Blood” (India), “Mother of George” (Nigeria/USA), “Freedom Road” (South Africa), “Sewing Hope: The Story of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe” (USA) and “Betty’s Blues” (France/ Belgium). The following are categories in which the films were judged:
- Best Animated Short
- Best Mid-Length Documentary
- Best Narrative Short
- Best Documentary feature
- Best Narrative Feature
The Market
MIBFF’s events are not just limited to the film festival, it is basically a year-round festival filled with debates, workshops, round tables, film screenings, and much more, the Black market being an example of such a conference where experts from the industry share their expertise and provide filmmakers with the chance to network and to learn from them. MIBFF is like a year-round party, so don’t miss your chance to be a part of it.