FIFIG

… yes, what does that stand for? The answer is Festival International du Film Insulaire, taking place on the island of Groix that lies in France in Brittany. From August 22 to 26 the 12th edition of this festival takes place with, as the name indicates, a focus on films on and from islands, all film genres included as well as concerts, exhibitions and debates. Regret to say that I had never heard about the festival before I – due to Marie-Clémence and César Paës – ran into two of the organisers last December in Paris. The catalogue is out now – you can download it via the website – and it is not only very beautiful to look at, the cinematic content is impressive, including the premiere of the new film of above mentioned couple Paës behind Laterit Productions (“Mahaleo” and “Saudade du Futuro”), “L’Opéra du bout du monde”. Here is the introduction of the organisers to this pearl of a festival:

À chaque édition une nouvelle destination. Nous avons ainsi abordé par le passé des îles des quatre coins du monde, de Madagascar à l’Islande, de Cuba à la Nouvelle Calédonie en passant par les Marquises, le Sri Lanka, le Cap Vert et bien d’autres encore.

Cette année nous avons choisi de partir dans l’Arctique, à la rencontre des Inuit du Nunavut et du Groenland. Nous avons choisi ces destinations pour leur Histoire commune, celle des Inuit, de la sédentarisation, des effets du réchauffement climatique, du choc des générations et de la difficulté d’allier tradition et modernité. L’Arctique en a fasciné plus d’un, des chercheurs, des aventuriers, des réalisateurs, et aujourd’hui c’est notre festival qui s’y intéresse avec l’envie de partager, ici à Port Lay, leur culture et leur Histoire.

Si nous consacrons une large partie de notre programmation à nos invités de l’Arctique, nous n’oublions pas pour autant les îles du monde entier qui sont au cœur de notre thématique depuis les débuts de notre festival.

PS. The other day one of the organisers – like so many rightfully did – Chris Marker, whose “Sans Soleil” was screened at the festival in 2005.

http://www.filminsulaire.com

http://www.laterit.fr/index.php?lg=en&page=catalogue

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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