Our mission
CINEMANIA is a unique event of which each new edition is held in November in the heart of Montreal.
Each edition includes 50 feature fiction films, several documentaries, 30 short films, master classes, conferences and special events. Our selection is also attentive to the new media (virtuel reality).
Since 1995, the festival, a non-profit organization, actively contributes to the dynamism and cultural vitality of Montreal and Quebec.
CINEMANIA is a window on today’s francophone creativity: modern, dynamic and vibrant.
Our films come from Quebec, France, Luxembourg, Senegal, Belgium, Algeria, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, Switzerland, Central Africa… The reaffirmation of our organization’s francophone mandate is central particularly in 2020 as the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) celebrates its 50 years.
CINEMANIA, is associated with several emblematic locations: The Imperial Cinema, Cinéma du Parc, the Cinéma du Musée, the Cinémathèque Québécoise, the Centre Phi, the Théâtre Outremont, and the Sofitel hotel.
We take to heart respecting gender parity and work hard to showcase the female film creators and producers of tomorrow.
CINEMANIA focuses on five levels of film premiers: Montreal, Quebecois, Canadian, North American and world.
All films presented at CINEMANIA are English subtitled allowing for greater accessibility.
The programming is centred on the most important international film festivals. The idea is to create annually in Montreal an exclusive window on the Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Namur and Angoulême film festivals.
Each edition of CINEMANIA includes a number of prestigious guests, amongst whom is an invited guest of honour on the occasion for a new Canadian retrospective on the artist’s work.
In addition to the regular paid screenings, CINEMANIA offers several free events open to the public.
Our festival sees itself as a family event intended for all, in which the public is the primary judge: The Mel Hoppenheim Audience Award is given each year since 1998 to the viewers favourite film.
CINEMANIA promotes francophone youth: each year, we create our own “Youth Jury”, bringing together young Quebeckers and others from the rest of the Francophonie. Together, they award the TV5 Francophone Youth Prize for the Best First Feature Film.
Our festival is an essential meeting place for film professionals: cinema owners, producers, distributors, representatives of cinematographic institutions from francophone countries, programmers and festival directors.
CINEMANIA is committed to the development of cinematography education in Quebec. Each new edition of the Festival provides an opportunity to greet, in parallel with the film screenings, an important colloquium bringing together teachers from Quebec and elsewhere, actors and actresses from related milieus and individuals from academic fields. Here, debate and discussion take place with regard to the challenges facing cinematographic education and the realities of filmmaking in the digital age.
As our festival is a launching pad for francophone films in Quebec, we are actively involved with local distributors throughout the year and our team accompanies the films we’ve selected for the festival through various promotional events.
CINEMANIA is openly committed to francophone international coproductions, particularly through a coproduction marketplace, organized in association with Unterval and aimed at producers who are in the development and financing phases for feature film projects.
