Montreal Festimania is a four-week event where the worlds of music, fashion, comedy and entertainment collide. Millions of culture enthusiasts will indulge in the ultimate entertainment experience as the likes of Eminem, Elvis Costello, Cirque du Soleil, Ratatat and Jeff Ross shine alongside the world’s top musicians, DJs, fashion designers, acrobats, dancers and pyrotechnicians.
We Blog the World has been asked to come to Montreal — disclosure: expenses paid — to cover the series of events in late July. It couldn’t be more perfect for our coverage considering that we love events and cover a lot of them, are huge fans of international music and entertainment and as for food and wine, that goes without saying. (look at our food posts and you’ll see that I’m not the only foodie contributing blog posts here).
Montreal Festimania commences on July 7th with Montreal Completement Cirque which will curate 18 days of contemporary circus acts, then between July 11th-13th the Just for Laughs Festival presents comedy in many forms, from one man stand up shows to themed evenings.
The complete list of festivals, dates and what makes them cool is listed below but here are a few highlights and summaries to get you visually thinking about what we plan to see and hear on-site:
The Just for Laughs Festival has both indoor and outdoor events, including a chance to learn to swing with their crew. (Did I mention that I love to swing dance and learned YEARS ago, but am a bit rusty and haven’t been out swinging away in the Bay Area or any city for that matter for awhile).
The Osheaga Music & Arts Festival has a list of artists and musicians far reaching enough that regardless of your music type or genre, there will be something for you in the mix.
Check out the schedule here — by the hour. Maz Jobrani will be giving an off-color show that promises to be humorous for all races (they say) and American storyteller Jay Oakerson also promises to bring his audience some delight.
In addition to comedy and music, they’ll be having shows and an “arts” portion of the festival which will include some great talent. 15 designers assembled by curator Pat Hamou for the international exhibition entitled “Music on Paper” have made a living out of mixing the aural and visual senses.
United by their love of music and silk-screening, each will present 3-5 works drawn from the international scene. Taking its roots in the psychedelia of the late 1960s, I’m imaging Cirque Du Soleil meets Burning Man.
If you really can’t find an artist on the arts or music list from Osheaga that you must see, imagine two weeks where Montreal is on fire with a mix of theatre performances, concerts, an International Fireworks Competition (we’ll be there for China, Australia, USA and Canada apparently — the Czech Republic, Italy, and France are also in the mix), a circus festival, a fashion festival, a cinema festival, a world-music festival, an underground music festival, a native culture festival, and a gay pride festival. Whoahh Nellie and I’m not even done yet.
Zoofest (great name and it has to have you wondering) runs between July 14-31, which showcases more risque comedy alongside cabaret and avante garde story telling. The event is a multi-genre, international, bilingual event focusing on eclectic programming.
In 2009, they had 13,000 comedy fans but last year, they more than doubled spectators at an estimated 30,000. Last year, the international talent that came to Zoofest was incredibly diverse and included: Noel Fielding, Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr and Bo Burnham and Donald Glover. Here’s the programming line up for 2011.
The Montreal First Peoples’ Festival runs between August 2nd-9th and centers around contemporary arts from the First Peoples’ perspective alongside ancient connections to the land and spirit. We won’t be in town for that one which is a crying shame since an event that focuses on ancient connections to the land and spirit is right up my alley.
Now imagine catwalk shows. A long long time ago, I was actually in one…love watching these things even if I don’t particularly love the designs or designers. Practical meets sexy is more my style but hey, if someone wants to wear a poodle attached to their hat, who am I to make a comment?
The Montreal Fashion and Design Festival showcases everything design related, from graphic arts to architecture and fashion. Since it combines design with fashion, including graphic arts and technology, it should be a pretty interesting show.
A little black and white drama to break up the bright fashion energy above. I love this shot: (dare I say that he looks like a man with an interesting “life” story)
To give you an idea of the energy that Montreal Festimania hopes to create, take a look at some of the video previews below:
A little Laurel and Hardy for your entertaining pleasure. Flashmob Victor Cabaret Follies bring you swing!!
The complete Montreal Festimania line-up includes:
- Montreal Completement Cirque, eighteen days of shows illustrating the incredible wealth and variety of today’s offering of international circus groups (July 7-24)
- L’International des Feux Loto-Québec presented by TELUS, the most prestigious international pyro-musical arts competition in the world (June 25-July 30)
- Just for Laughs Festival presented by Videotron in association with Loto-Quebec, which celebrates humor of every kind with one-man shows, musicals and themed evenings (July 11-13)
- Nuits d’Afrique International Festival presented by Loto-Quebec, with two full weeks of rich African music, swinging Antillean tempos, sizzling Latin-American rhythms and local music drawn from many cultures (July 12-24)
- Zoofest, considered to be Montreal’s most side-splitting festival, with music, theatre, circus, humor, cabaret and storytelling (July 14-31)
- Fantastia International Film Festival, the North American leader when it comes to international genre cinema (July 14-Aug. 7)
- Divers/Cite, the Montreal equivalent of an American Gay Pride festival that celebrates the value Montreal places on diversity in a spirit of sharing, solidarity and openness, in a festive and friendly atmosphere (July 25-31)
- Osheaga Arts and Music Festival, with more than 60 groups and artists performing on five outdoor stages (July 27-31)
- Meg Montreal Festival, a festival of emerging and urban music whose mission is to discover artists from the world of electronic, rock, pop and hip hop (July 28-31)
- Montreal First Peoples Festival, where the spirit of First Peoples, and their connections to vast spaces inhabited by mythical animals, are evoked in a contemporary perspective (August 2-9)
- Montreal Fashion & Design Festival, the premier event for lovers of fashion, glamour and design trends (August 3-6)
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
