INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FILMS ON ART KICK OFF

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Hey folks! If you are visiting Montreal this week, that is between March 18 and March 28, I’m gonna need you to open your ears carefully. Or, for this matter, your eyes.

Montreal is home to the biggest film festival dedicated to art, in.the.world. That’s right. 230 films from 23 different countries. Each year, FIFA, as we Montrealers call it, presents the most prestigious films dedicated to art. That may be architecture, design, photography, painting, music, literature, dance, fashion or even films exploring the world of comics and more underground art forms.

With so many films (presented in different languages) it might be quite a task to sift through the impressive programming on top of planning the details of your trip. So I asked Michael-Olivier Harding, a publicist working with FIFA, to guide me through it all.

 Here are 7 not-to-be-missed screenings for an English-speaking audience:

March 24, 28: Expansive Grounds / Gerburg Rohde-Dahl / Germany (66 mins)

From September 2003 to the fall of 2007, director Gerburg Rohde-Dahl (b. 1938) set up her camera on the Berlin Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman, from the laying of the first slabs to the public opening. During these four years she witnessed not only the architecture of the monument, but also the impact of the Holocaust on visitors to the site. 

March 20, 24, 28: King of Spies – John Le Carré / Werner Köhne & André Schäfer / Germany (52 mins)

John Le Carré is among the most underestimated writers of our time. He is radical, vicious, analytic, witty and intelligent. For over fifty years he has been a hugely successful espionage novelist, but also a pugnacious contemporary witness of events. 

March 25, 28: Learning from Light: The vision of I.M.Pei / Bo Landin & Sterling Van Wagenen / U.S.A. (60 mins)

Culture, nature and light: these three elements provide the structure for this exploration of the mind and heart of one of the world’s master architects, Chinese-American I. M. Pei (b. 1917). The film focuses on his latest work: the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. 

March 20, 23: Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight / Wendy Keys (Montrealer) / U.S.A. (73 mins) (really excited for this one)

For many, Milton Glaser (b. 1929), is the personification of American graphic design. He is best known for co-founding New York Magazine and creating the I © NY campaign, not to mention posters and illustrations for music albums, including a highly popular one for Bob Dylan in 1967.

 March 25: Symphonie Montréal / Bettina Ehrhardt / Germany, Canada (97 mins)

A musical celebration. For the 75th season of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kent Nagano conceived a memorable program of outstanding works: from a concert for throatsingers and orchestra in Nunavik in northern Quebec to Gustav Mahler’s Lied von der Erde in Paris; from the great symphonies of Bruckner and Beethoven to one of the masterpieces of the 20th century, Olivier Messiaen’s operaSaint François d’Assise. 

March 21, 24: The Real Word of Peter Gabriel / Dieter Zeppenfeld & Georg Maas / Germany (52 mins)

A look back at the life and career of musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel (b. 1950). The co-founder of the group Genesis, Gabriel has always been much more than a rock star. 

March 21, 26: Christo in Paris / Maysles, Dickson, Froemke / U.S.A. (58 mins) (TIME RECAPTURED SECTION)

The environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, well known for their spectacular, temporary outdoor works, decided to honour the oldest bridge in Paris. In 1985, with the help of 300 specialized workers, Christo and Jeanne-Claude completed this ambitious urban project : the “wrapping” of Pont Neuf with 440,000 square meters of sand-coloured cloth, a dream that haunted them for ten years. 

Personally, I would also like to highlight Views of Vermer – 12 Short Stories,  a film consisting of 12 short stories (you guessed that) realized by different artists in honor of the Dutch painter’s work, who left us with 35 paintings that impacted the whole world. The film is sold out for the 27^th but there are still tickets available for the screenings of the 21, 25 and 26.

Note that there are also many special events linked to the films screenings, including a roundtable on the state of fashion in Quebec and discussions with a Holocaust survivor.

Finally, since FIFA is taking place all over town,  you’ll have the opportunity to visit some of Montreal’s most reputable art venues including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Cinémathèque Québécoise, the National Film Board Cinema and the reputable Place-des-Arts.

That should be enough to keep you busy for a while!

FIFA

International Festival of Films on Art

March 18 – March 28, 2010

Click here for tickets and reservations

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