Date & time
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Workshops & seminars
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Film Festivals: Borders, Identities, Solidarities
Cost
This event is free.
Website
Where
4TH SPACE
J.W. McConnell Building
1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Accessible location
Yes - See details
Launched at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (UNIVE) in November 2024, the symposium Film Festivals: Borders, Identities, Solidarities continues in 2026 with its second edition at Concordia University in Montreal. Building on the discussions initiated in Venice, it aims to further explore how issues of borders, identities and solidarities have been shaped, negotiated and contested through film festivals in various contexts of social and political turbulences.
The symposium is organised around the idea that film festivals are highly visible cultural events, experienced by audiences in the present and documented for the future through catalogues, press materials, media coverage, and critical discourse. In the present, they act as political actors, shaping public engagement with and understanding of major societal issues of our past and present. This edition of the symposium places particular emphasis on film festivals as generators of wartime solidarity and war propaganda, as well as on the gendered dynamics of their engagement with conflict.
Knowing that wars profoundly affect societies and human lives, the ways in which they are interpreted, represented and remembered are particularly important. In this context, film festivals constitute valuable sites for examining how solidarities are mobilised, political positions articulated, and narratives of conflict legitimised, contested or transformed.
How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.
Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca
See full schedule below:
| Schedule | |
|---|---|
| 10:15am - 11:30am | NESCUS - European Journal of Media Studies: Publishing Choices in Times of War Greg de Cuir Jr., Muhammad Nour ElKhairy, Dunja Jelenkovic, Ylenia Olibet, and Antoine Damiens |
| 11:30am - 12:00pm | Break |
| 12:00pm - 1:30pm | Democratic Resistance Through Cinema and Film Festivals in Times of War and Authoritarianism with Maryam Ghorbankarimi, Iclal Can Gübüz, Muhammad Nour ElKhairy, and Dunja Jelenkovic |
| 1:30pm - 3:30pm | Lunch Break |
| 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Palestine -- Film Festivals and Wartime Solidarities Carlos Navarro González, Chiara Lapriore, Krishnan Padinjassery, and Ylenia Olibet |
Speakers
Greg de Cuir Jr.
Managing Editor, NECSUS
Muhammad Nour ElKhairy
Palestinian filmmaker, programmer and researcher in Montreal
Dunja Jelenkovic
Researcher
Ylenia Olibet
Postdoctoral researcher
Antoine Damiens
Maryam Ghorbankarimi
Filmmaker, senior lecturer in film practice at Lancaster University
Iclal Can Gübüz
Lecturer, department of Film Design and Directing at Başkent University
Carlos Navarro González
Researcher, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Chiara Lopriore
PhD student, Università degli Studi di Bari
Krishnan Padinjassery
PhD student, University of Exeter
Description: A full day of conversations and screenings focusing on film festivals as generators of wartime solidarity and war propaganda.
Organized by: Dunja Jelenkovic
Participants:
Greg de Cuir Jr.
Muhammad Nour ElKhairy
Dunja Jelenkovic
Ylenia Olibet
Antoine Damiens
Maryam Ghorbankarimi
Iclal Can Gübüz
Carlos Navarro González
Chiara Lopriore
Krishnan Padinjassery
With: MSCA project, FESTWAR FM - Film Festivals and War: A Fe-Male Perspective.
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