Concordia and Fantasia Film Festival formalize partnership

Concordia students to benefit from cinematic collaboration

Montreal, June 13, 2012 – Concordia University further reinforces its position as a major cultural engine in Montreal via the signature today of an agreement with organizers of the Fantasia International Film Festival on the eve of the festival’s 16^th edition and its tenth anniversary at Concordia’s downtown campus. The agreement will further solidify Fantasia’s connection to the university that has acted as host through much of its successful history.

The agreement builds on the shared strengths of both partners; a festival that showcases cutting-edge creations and the university that has forged an international reputation for its creative output through programs including those offered through the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In the coming years, Concordia students will benefit concretely from the partnership through measures that include scholarships, internships and master classes.

“An important part of Concordia’s mission is to link the university’s faculty and students with the wider community,” says Frederick Lowy, President and Vice-Chancellor of Concordia. “We are pleased to build on our partnership with such a dynamic festival as Fantasia, now anchored solidly in Quartier Concordia.”

“We’ve had a productive association with Concordia for more than a decade,“ says Pierre Corbeil, President and Co-Founder of Fantasia. “As our festival grows in size and popularity, we’re keen to find new ways to deepen our collaboration with an institution that helps form tomorrow’s filmmaking innovators.”

Just as the city’s Quartier des Spectacles has become a hub of activity, so too is Quartier Concordia continuing to expand the cultural programming available to Montrealers. The Festival international du film sur l’art (FIFA), Ciné Gael Montreal, and the Montreal International Classical Guitar Festival and Competition are among the organizations which have chosen Concordia’s downtown campus as a site for their programming.

The full program of this year’s edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival will be announced on July 11 in Concordia University’s J.A. DeSève Cinema. The festival runs from July 19 through August 7.