Community. Courage. Celebration. These three descriptors rang through my mind as I walked into the halls of the McCord Stewart Museum on October 23. Fellow Daily editor Sena Ho and I witnessed a truly spectacular display of queer camaraderie as we attended the opening night of this year’s Massimadi Film Festival. As we made our way into the event space, it became clear that the Massamadi Foundation profoundly embodies what it means to uplift a community. Warm smiles, friendly greetings, and cheerful laughter adorned the walls of the reception hall, adding to the general atmosphere of acceptance, unity and community.
It was clear that the opening of this festival struck a chord with a variety of attendees. The audience hung onto every word as Massimadi staff, event organizers, and sponsors gave heartfelt speeches encapsulating the importance of their work. One organizer ended their speech with inspiring words of gratitude: “Thank you for allowing people to breathe, to be able to shout through the works that their life matters, that their existence matters, that their feelings matter, that their dreams matter and that their culture can be a means of expressing their personality.” The opening words spoken at the festival drove home the message of what it means to have the courage to persist.
Massimadi ultimately strives to celebrate the achievements of the LGBTQ+ African community at large. Described by its founders as “Canada’s premier festival celebrating LGBTQ+ Afro cinema and arts,” the Massimadi Festival positions queer African excellence front and centre. Film, music, and the visual arts all come together during this festival to weave complex, multi-faceted stories of strength and persistence across a diverse emotional spectrum. Their website describes their mission statement as aiming to “encourage and highlight the cultural contribution of Afro LGBTQ+ artists by promoting the arts through multidisciplinary events.”
The festival’s origins lie in the 2002 project Arc-en-ciel d’Afrique, which aimed to provide members of African and Caribbean communities with health and social services. Over the next 17 years, this organization would work alongside the first World Outgames in Montreal, lead awareness campaigns for queer Afro- Caribbean rights in Quebec, and foster relationships with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Arc-en-ciel d’Afrique persists through the Massamadi Foundation today, using “art and culture to combat discrimination while encouraging and highlighting the cultural contributions of Afro LGBTQ+ artists.” The Massamadi Festival creates a space for visibility, using the elements of creative expression inherent in visual art to shine a light on the stories of queer African artists.
As President Laurent Lafontant explains, “Our suffering transforms into beauty in creation, allowing the community to transcend and overcome its traumas.” The newest iteration of the Massimadi Festival faces these words head on. Celebrating 16 editions since its beginnings in 2009, the fall 2024 festival’s title tells all: Renaissance et Résilience (Rebirth and Resilience). After hearing the heart-warming speeches from
Massimadi’s founders and sponsors, these themes of rebirth and resilience stood out all the more. President Laurent Lafontant, general manager Naomie Caron, and communications manager Chiara Guimond, among many others, all spoke beautifully about what Massamadi means to them, as well as the legacy of the foundation going forward.
2024 marks the first year that a $1,000 prize will be given to the top- scoring film presented during the festival. This reward could not be more well-deserved, as all 15 films selected to screen at Massimadi this year merit both critical and financial recognition. Films such as M.H. Murray’s I Don’t Know Who You Are (2023), Merle Grimm’s Clashing Differences (2023), and Simisolaoluwa Akande’s The Archive: Queer Nigerians (2023) each take a touching, beautifully varied approach to the theme of rebirth and resilience. One of the films that stood out to me the most was the hauntingly beautiful Drift (2023), directed by Anthony Chen.
Screened on the opening night of the festival, Drift follows Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo), a young Liberian woman living on the beach of a Greek island. The traumas of her violent past cyclically plague her, trapping Jacqueline in an echo chamber of horrors until she begins to bond with tour guide Callie (Alia Shawkat). The film opens with a pair of footprints – implied to be Jacqueline’s – in the sand slowly being lapped away by waves, and ends with Jacqueline swimming in the sea, looking back at the camera with a newfound sense of strength. Massimadi’s themes of rebirth and resilience feature prominently in this work, making it the perfect choice to open the 16th edition of the festival. The tone of this year’s selection of films is best captured by the short poem featured in the “about” section of the foundation’s website:
Massimadi reflects us,
Massimadi unites us,
Massimadi, it’s you, it’s us,
Massimadi is family,
Massimadi changes lives.
…
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Naomie Caron, spoke with The McGill Daily on October 24, describing the process of planning the film festival, as well as the struggles and obstacles they have faced throughout the years. As a non-profit, the Massimadi Foundation staffs individuals passionate about accelerating its mission forward. The group arrived at their theme Renaissance et Résilience (Rebirth and Resilience) by first asking the question, “Where are we at as a society?” We learned more about Naomie’s experiences working with Massimadi, as well as the thought process behind the creation and organization of this year’s festival.
Eliana Freelund for The McGill Daily (MD): The theme this year was about visibility and recovering, rebirth and renewal. I noticed that a lot with the film that was presented last night, Drift, and it was really beautiful. Sena and I were both really touched by that film. I was wondering how you planned the theme for this year, and if there was any thought process behind this theme in particular. How did you arrive at the art you chose to represent it?
Naomie Caron (NC): We’re trying to see as a society, where are we at? With the Black Lives Matter Movement a few years ago, we were at a time where people needed to communicate their pain, suffering, and trauma — to fully let it out. We wanted people to tell the world what was happening. So of course, when everyone does that, it becomes a mess. There’s a lot of tension. People are simply letting things out without gauging the impact of their words. And so we thought it was important now to guide our community towards a better future, towards a healing process that allows you to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I think Drift really is one of those films that conveys this sentiment. You see the protagonist Jacqueline – she’s torn, she doesn’t want to communicate, she’s isolated. But as soon as she opens up and lets someone else into her world, we can already see this shift. We only tap into this idea at the last second when she’s swimming. To me, this scene represents the metaphor of rebirth. She jumps into the ocean, and stays underwater for a long time. We see her breaths beneath the surface, and finally, she comes up. I have tears just thinking about it. She comes out, finds her friend, and just smiles. And you just think, everything’s going to get better. We want to help people move on from their pain and pursue a healing journey.
MD: The recurring water imagery in Drift was impactful. Were there any other metaphors or visual cues that you felt really encapsulated the theme this time around, maybe in any of the other works you chose?
NC: I think Drift was a great choice for an opening because there’s not a lot of words – it’s mostly imagery. But the other films are a little bit more tense. We have themes of vengeance that appear in the other movies. We’re also playing with the anti-hero, shifting from portraying the victim to showing those in positions of power. Meanwhile we are also questioning, is it a good thing to revert to vengeance? Through this, we’re tapping into another avenue for healing. Among the films this year, our main focus is on storytelling, and less on imagery.
Sena Ho for The McGill Daily (MD): What do you hope to achieve by giving visibility to these filmmakers through the festival?
NC: Well, the main point of our foundation is to fight against discrimination, racism and homophobia. By showcasing all these stories of different people in our community, it helps others understand our struggles. We fight against discrimination in these communities that we are serving, by displaying empathy to the public. In order to do this, we illuminate these stories and highlight the different artists. So the general public has more of an intimate relationship with individuals from these communities and can see that they’re people just like everyone else.
MD: I would also love to ask how would you and your team perceive the success of your objectives and what have been some major wins, obstacles, or struggles that you’ve experienced over the years?
NC: I think for any nonprofit, it is really hard to secure funding, especially with the politics that are happening, and have been happening, for the past few years. This year, the federal government and provincial government are not giving us much. They are cutting funding a lot in culture and the humanities in general. At the end of the day, we are affected by that.
I think we have to adjust to government guidelines when determining what our aims are for the year. They are focusing more on ways to support the Black community, or support the LGBTQ+ community. It is always about finding the balance and focusing our energies on guiding different projects into what the government is supporting that year. But that always happens: having to find funding with limited resources.
We have also had a big shift in our staff. There has been a lot of burnout in the organization. I’m not only referencing mine, but in non-profit organizations in general, there tends to be a lot of burnout. People are working a lot because they are passionate. But also because the subjects we deal with address the lives of people who undergo extreme hardship. There’s trauma. There are a lot of mental health issues. So these are the many reasons. All of these elements have helped us, but it’s part of the journey.
MD: How can students or people living in Montreal get involved with the Massimadi Foundation? How can we do more? How can we increase visibility?
NC: I think it’s to just keep doing what you’re doing: coming to the events, talking about them, sharing on social media. If you want to do volunteer work, too, that’s always welcome. I think that just sharing and talking about these events goes a long way. In the past we’ve done a lot of collaboration with Concordia. We have also done workshops. There are so many things. Eventually, we could do projects and display them to class panels with the students on certain topics.
The projection for today has already started. The Massimadi Festival is at the Cinema Public, and there’s a panel after on sexual health, because the subject of the movie I Don’t Know Who You Are is a movie about a Black male who gets sexually assaulted. It’s a subject we often don’t talk about. A lot of times, when discussing sexual aggression, we visualize a vulnerable female. This type of sexual aggression is not discussed as widely. And unfortunately, the hero of the story contracts AIDS. So we’re also going to have a panel on AIDS after the one on sexual health. Tomorrow, we’re going to project the movie Clashing Differences, and we’re going to also have a panel on that. Getting involved is really about just coming to those events and collaborating in the panels and conversations.
If you’d like to get involved with the Massimadi Foundation, follow their website at www.massimadi.ca to keep up with upcoming events. Consider making a donation or volunteering if you are able to, and make sure to watch the films showcased in this year’s festival.