15th Montreal International Black Film Festival – Canada’s largest Black film festival is about to kick off its 15th anniversary edition with the screening of a biopic about one of the greatest Black women in American history.
The Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) will run from September 24 to 29, and will showcase 90 films at six venues, which will shine the spotlight on diversity, as well as giving a voice to minorities on and off the screen.
When does the 15th Montreal International Black Film Festival begin
It all begins on September 24 at the Imperial Theatre at 7 p.m. with the screening of Harriet, which recounts the life of Harriet Tubman, the runaway slave who helped to free hundreds of slaves through her Underground Railroad. It is scheduled to be released across Canada on November 1.
Also on that same evening, before the film screening, the festival will pay tribute to French Caribbean filmmaker Euzhan Palcy and Quebecois filmmaker Jean-Claude Lord, as they will be bestowed with this year’s Pioneer Award.
And on September 26 at the Imperial, a special intimate talk with Yusef Salaam and Kevin Richardson, who were part of the Central Park Five, a group of five young boys who were wrongly accused of brutally raping a young woman who was jogging in New York’s Central Park and left for dead. They were later exonerated in 2002, when DNA finally led police to the actual rapist, who later confessed that he committed the crime. The story of the Central Park Five was featured in Ava Duvernay’s Netflix series When They See Us. The event, which will be moderated by MIBFF founder Fabienne Colas, will also see the pair receive the festival’s Social Impact Award.
Also featured at this year’s Montreal International Black Film Festival will be a tribute to actor Isaach De Bankole on September 28, where he will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; a talk with Haitian-American actor Jimmy Jean-Louis on September 27, where he will receive the Career Achievement Award; the MIBFF Black Market on September 27, 28 and 29 at the Grande Bibliotheque and Cinema du Musee; a special Kids Program on September 29 at the Cinema du Parc; and a screening of the closing film, Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story on September 29 at the Cinema du Musee.
Individual tickets for the film screenings cost $12, with a Passport Card (which gives access to all the films that will be featured at the Cinema du Parc and the Cinematheque Quebecoise) going for $149. For more information, go to www.montrealblackfilm.com
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