The Montreal Asian Worldwide Movie Pageant (MAiFF) is underway in Montreal, marking a significant transformation for the long-running occasion previously referred to as the Korean Movie Pageant Canada.
Now in its thirteenth version, the competition runs from Might 14 to June 13 and presents greater than 60 movies alongside workshops, talks, and public occasions.
The programming highlights cinema from throughout Asia in addition to works from the Asian diaspora, positioning the competition as a broader cultural platform than in earlier years.
This 12 months’s version is structured across the theme “Tangibility: Physique, Soil, Tales,” a spotlight that organizers say will proceed to information programming by 2027.
The theme emphasizes bodily expertise, reminiscence, and place, and connects movies throughout totally different areas and generations of Asian filmmakers.
Three many years of Arts East-West
The competition is organized by Arts East-West, a Montreal-based non-profit media arts group that has been lively since 1995. In line with founder and inventive director Mi-Jeong Lee, the rebranding displays each continuity and a deliberate enlargement of scope after three many years of programming.
“We’ve been right here over 30 years as a non-profit media group in Montreal since 1995. Thirty years of bringing collectively Asian, Asian-Canadian and Asian-Quebecois communities round cinema and media arts,” she mentioned.
Lee described this 12 months as a structural turning level for the group’s flagship competition.
“This 12 months marks a profound transformation from Korean Movie Pageant Canada into MAiFF, the Montreal Asian Worldwide Movie Pageant. We’re conserving the identical roots whereas boldly increasing our imaginative and prescient.”
Whereas the identify and scope have modified, she emphasised that Korean cinema stays central to the programming even because the competition broadens its focus to incorporate works from throughout Asia and international Asian diasporas.
“Embracing all of Asia and all Asian-Canadian diaspora movies around the globe, whereas conserving our Korean cinema at our coronary heart.”
Enlargement pushed by demand for broader platform
In line with Lee, the transition displays each viewers demand and the evolving wants of filmmakers in search of wider worldwide publicity.
“They’re searching for extra platforms, so as an alternative of a nationwide cinema focus as a Korean Movie Pageant Canada, they need us to take a job in increasing our imaginative and prescient extra inclusively, together with all Asia.”
The shift positions MAiFF as a extra expansive cultural hub, aiming to attach artists and audiences throughout totally different Asian movie industries whereas sustaining sturdy ties to Montreal’s native communities.
Highlight on Asian New Wave cinema
This 12 months’s programming additionally features a retrospective concentrate on the Asian New Wave of the Nineteen Nineties, that includes influential filmmakers from Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea. The choice highlights movies that formed up to date Asian cinema and proceed to affect filmmakers immediately.
Among the many featured screenings was Love Letter (1995), directed by Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai. The movie was proven at Cinéma Moderne on Monday night time.
Lee described the movie’s enduring emotional resonance:
“It’s a love letter despatched into the void that she doesn’t anticipate reply. It’s about reminiscence and feeling, longingness that stays with us lengthy after credit score rolls.”
Pageant continues throughout Montreal
MAiFF programming continues throughout a number of venues within the metropolis, together with Goethe-Institut Montréal and Cinéma Moderne, together with further cultural areas internet hosting screenings and occasions.
Lee mentioned the size of the competition displays years of behind-the-scenes work and organizational rebuilding.
“It’s quite a lot of work… we needed to put quite a lot of time and effort and assets to rebuild the bottom body of Montreal Asian Worldwide Movie Pageant.”
Because the competition continues by June 13, organizers say the purpose is to additional set up MAiFF as a long-term platform for Asian and diaspora cinema in Montreal, bridging native audiences with worldwide movie actions.
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