VISIONS

The Concordia Film Festival (CFF) is organized by the student-run, non-profit Cinema Students Association and the Film Animation Students Association of Concordia University. Together, they organize and promote, through screenings and events, the works produced by the diverse range of filmmakers of the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema (MHSoC). The MHSoC stands as the largest university-based centre for the study of film in Canada, with a body of works that are also screened to great acclaim at festivals around the world. In addition to the programming of films from Concordia Cinema students, the CFF, is proud to present the second edition of VISIONS: a screening that will feature live action and animated films made by women, gender-nonconforming and queer undergraduate students of color. VISIONS seeks to bring together and showcase the art of filmmakers who are vastly underrepresented in the film industry, creating a safe space ripe for discussion and exchange with all attendees. This project began two years ago as a collaboration between Animate Concordia and Yiara Magazine which rose from the growing concern of both student organizations around the question of representation in contemporary visual culture. As a feminist art and art history publication, Yiara actively challenges the dominant and hegemonic sexism that affects the bodies of marginalized individuals. Animate Concordia, the animation Student Association of Concordia University seeks to share the art and rich history of animation, and has strongly recognized the disproportionate number of white/cis/male persons who dominate/control the industry. From this mutual interest and concern arose VISIONS, an event that would bring together our common interests in film and providing a platform for the visibility of projects. While this event wishes to showcase the under-represented filmmakers, we have as our mandate to not exclude or prevent any person from the submission process, in the true inclusive spirit of feminism. The programming of VISIONS will be curated by The Visions Team. The VISIONS submissions are open to all cinema, communications and media students across Canada, who have completed a film within the past year, while in school.