IFPF 2026: A Festival Dressed to the Nines!
Frank and joyful, the laughter of poetry embraces the city.
As the site where the Great Peace of Montréal was signed, Québec’s metropolis celebrates its Indigenous roots, its diversity, and its exemplary spirit of living together with pride and joy. Montréal, where Art becomes an instrument of peace, draws from the deepest sources of its identity and reveals itself as a city of festivals.
The great Joséphine Bacon will take part in both the opening and closing events of the 2026 First Peoples’ Festival (Festival international Présence autochtone). First, through an act of love for the land with Nitassinan, the film she co-directed with Kim O’Bomsawin, which will receive its world premiere on August 4; and then through her participation in the grand concert Here Was Planted the Tree of Peace, which will bring to a magnificent close on August 14 the most deeply rooted and universally resonant of Montréal’s festivals.
Standing proudly at the forefront, the great tipi rises in Place des Festivals while the drums call people to celebration and discovery. Film, music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, performances, installations, and participatory creations come together in a journey where the boundaries between disciplines fade, giving way to an immersive and profoundly human experience.
A major section of the festival is devoted to Indigenous Cinema, an art form that is not confined to dark theatres but instead opens onto vast, expansive skies through works, many presented here for the first time, arriving from every corner of Mother Earth. In this fertile season, Indigenous cinema generously offers true cinephiles treasures to discover, that is, those willing to venture into a rich and abundant universe in search of the rare gems awaiting adventurous spirits.
Through the quality of its programming, the festival establishes itself as a place of reflection, transmission, and celebration of cultural diversity. By building bridges between peoples, languages, and imaginations, FIPA provides a unique space for intercultural dialogue, where knowledge, stories, and artistic expressions meet in a spirit of openness and respect.
The allegorical figure of IFPF 2026, Unukunnu, the Innu Spider, twirls above the city. Montréal carries peace in its heart, dance in its feet, and opens its arms wide to boldly creative imaginations.
