Canada’s oldest 2SLGBTQ+ film festival bringing queer stories worldwide to Montreal
Posted November 16, 2023 8:54 pm.
Last Updated November 16, 2023 9:05 pm.
Over the course of 11 days, image+nation’s film festival will be featuring 175 2SLGBTQ+ movies from around the world in Montreal’s Cinéma Impérial.
“We’re here, we’re queer, and we make fantastic cinema!” said Kat Setzer, director of programming at image+nation.
From Nov. 16 to 26, the event aims to celebrate queer art and culture. Montrealers get to discover unique, yet universal experiences lived by ordinary people and celebrities of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
“Beyond what the similarities are is to see what is the diversity, what are all these myriad of voices,” said Setzer. “There isn’t a monolith of gay cinema, queer cinema.”
The film festival will kick off with ‘Marinette’, a French biopic based on France’s greatest female football player Marinette Pichon.
“She’s the first woman to say, ‘I’m a homosexual. I’m gay,'” said French director Virginie Verrier. “She was the first in France, she’s a model.”
Verrier spoke about the challenges in not only creating what she claims is the first biopic ever produced about a professional athlete in France, but also tackling hard subjects such as homophobia, violence against women and pay equality.
“It was very important for us to do that movie in France,” Verrier added.
Canada’s oldest queer film festival, its 36th edition will also screen movies produced locally with their programs Queerment Québec and Made au Canada. The festival also includes a series of panel discussion encouraging discourse between queer creators in the film, TV and video games industry.
“Representation really, really matters,” Setzer emphasized, adding, “It matters to see yourself reflected onto all of your various screens, whether they are big or small. To have representation of your reality, your existence, your life, your family, your love.”
People also have the option to participate in the festival virtually, Setzer stating, “We believe in accessibility, and we believe in representation going beyond the limits of this beautiful urban cinema that we are in to be able to reach a queer kid in Rimouski.”
