THE MEETING BETWEEN CREATORS AND AUDIENCES: THE HEART OF THE FFKFF
The Knowlton Film Festival is прежде all a welcoming space for encounters between audiences and film professionals. directors, screenwriters, and actors invited to present their work and engage with festival-goers.
Discussions, masterclasses, and Q&A sessions led by national and international guests enrich the screenings and foster a genuine dialogue between creators and audiences.
Guests 2026
During the 6th edition of the festival, we welcomed 68 guests: screenwriters, filmmakers, actors, musicians, industry professionals, and jury members.
- Catherine Léger (screenwriter)
- Fabrice Yvanof Senat (actor)
- Isabelle Hébert (screenwriter)
- Karine Vanasse (actress)
- Katherine Giguère (producer and director)
- Léa Pool (director)
- Lyne Lapointe (visual artist)
- Marie-Évelyne Lessard (actress)
- Marie-Josée Raymond (screenwriter)
- Maryse Legagneur (director)
- Matthew Rankin (director)
- Maxime Le Flaguais (actor)
- Donald Pilon (actor)
- Nancy Marcotte (director)
- Roy Dupuis (actor)
- Sébastien Ricard (actor)
- Steve Patry (director)
- Sylvie Van Brabant (producer and director)
- Stéphanie Lapointe (screenwriter)
- Antoine Corriveau (screenwriter and musician)
- Francis Leclerc (director)
- Pascale Bussières (director)
- German Gutierrez (director)
- Carmen Garcia (director)
- Alex Isabelle (director)
- Benjamin Tabah (director)
- Halle Brindley (director)
- Marie-Ève St-Louis (director)
- Marie-Lou Béland (director)
- Rachel Samson (director)
- Ben McAuley (director)
- Martin Morisette (director)
- Laurence Ménard (actress)
- Murray Lightburn
- Stéphane Cocke
- Chris Poolman
- Dan Ellison
- Chris Clarke
- Richard Clarke
- Jason Campbell
- Jonathan Cohen
- Mark Gibson
- Josey Feland
- Jeremy Weigens
- John Cameron
- Will Allen
- Nicholas Pynes
- Charles Binamé (director)
- Élise Labbé (Head of Festivals and Audience Development)
- Guillaume Sapin (Director – Festival Vues du Québec à Florac)
- Raymond St-Jean (director)
- Rebecca Jean (singer-musician)
- Anick Salas (director – President, Réalisatrices Équitables)
- Denys Desjardins (director)
- Gregory Brophy (professor, Bishop’s University)
- Isabelle Phaneuf (producer)
- Zoé Constantinides (professor, Champlain College
- Édith Jorisch (director)
- Alec Pronovost (screenwriter and director)
- Mike Perreault (Director – Maine Film Center and Maine International Film Festival)
- Colin Nixon (director)
- Mélanie Clériot (Director – FICFA)
- Damien Detcheberry (Métropole Films)
- David Santerre (Métropole Films)
- Nicolas Goyette (distributor)
- Daniel Racine (Festival Vues du Québec, Florac)
- Guillaume Sapin (Festival Vues du Québec, Florac)
- Pierre-Philippe Côté (BEAM)
- Guillaume Houle (Conseil de la culture de l’Estrie)
- Jean-François Hamel (Conseil de la culture de l’Estrie)
- Christian Beauchesne (École des arts numériques – Sherbrooke)
- Yvan Pinard (Studio 13)
- Léa Kieken (TAT Production – Toulouse)
- Ariane Bélanger (FNC)
- Ariane Roy-Poirier (Plein(s) Écran(s))
- Arnaud Beaudoux (Vues dans la tête)
- Arnaud Flavier (Festival du Cinéma Francophone de Calgary)
- Gaëlle Duverger (Festival Courts d’un soir)
- Henri Dupuis (Festival Cinémental)
- Jade Jeanne (Festival Cinémania)
- Jarrett Mann (Festival SPAMS)
- Laura Rohard (RVQC)
- Léo Denis Carpentier (Festival de films pour l’environnement)
- Lorraine Fortin (RVCQFV)
- Marcelle Lean (Cinéfranco)
- Marie-Michèle Plante (Festival REGARD)
- Mélanie Clériot (FICFA)
- Natacha Dufaux (Vues dans la tête)
- Sabikou Moumouni (Vues d’Afrique)
- Sian Mac Goris (Festival de Cinéma de la Ville de Québec)
- Sophie Therrien (Téléfilm Canada)
- Tania Morissette (Festival Fantasia)
- Vuk Stojanovic (Festival du Film de Val-Morin)
- Marie-Élaine Rioux (host – Director, Bureau du cinéma de Chicoutimi)
- Ian H. Gailer (host – Artistic Director and Cultural Organization Manager)
- Valentin Verrier (host – Alliance Médias Jeunesse, Director of Events, Communications and Development)
SHORT AND FEATURE FILM COMPETITION (Claire-Léger Awards)
Since 2022, the Festival has included a competitive short film section. Each year, around fifteen works are selected and entered into competition for the Claire-Léger Awards, totalling $3,500.
Since 2023, this section has been complemented by two additional grants of $2,000 each, awarded to one narrative feature film and one documentary feature film.
These awards are presented by juries made up of film professionals from Quebec, Canada, and abroad. All competition films are screened at Théâtre Lac-Brome, a 161-seat venue equipped for digital projection.
Values
What guides us
Inclusivity
Creating an open, welcoming, and inclusive space for the entire film community and the Eastern Townships.
The Festival presents films in both official languages, with subtitles for original versions. This bilingual identity is also reflected in the Festival’s signature integrated into its logo: Festival du film de Knowlton Film Festival (FFKFF).
Accessibility
Offering free outdoor screenings, maintaining affordable ticket pricing, and presenting free or low-cost musical events to broaden access to the Festival. The goal is to reach a diverse audience and encourage the widest possible participation.
Artistic quality
Supporting and promoting high-quality cinematic works. The Festival selects striking, distinctive, and underexposed films. It showcases international works rarely presented in Quebec, alongside Canadian and Quebec auteur cinema that remains less accessible outside major urban centres.
Between local and international cinema
The Festival program is built around a carefully curated selection of competition films, featuring notable works from the year that are distinctive and often under-distributed. Nearly half of the films come from international cinema, some presented as Quebec or Canadian premieres. This contributes to bringing rarely screened works to regional audiences, alongside Quebec and Canadian auteur films that have limited visibility outside major cities.
At the same time, the Festival works to circulate local works internationally, within its capacity. Over the past three editions, international programmers have travelled to Knowlton to serve as jury members and discover the films in competition. Guests have included Orly Yadin, Claudia Puig, Joe Cultrera, Guillaume Sapin, and Mike Perreault. Since 2023, the Festival has also welcomed international artists. filmmakers and actors. Their presence fosters exchange between Quebec creators and international guests, and helps establish a space for dialogue between artists from here and abroad, as well as between works and audiences.
This year again, notably with the support of the Fonds franco-québécois pour la coopération décentralisée, the Festival will welcome several international partners, including programmers and representatives from festivals in the Occitanie region of France, as well as from the Maine International Film Festival.
A summer festival rooted in its community
Each year, at the end of August, in one of Quebec’s most beautiful villages, the Festival invites audiences to experience cinema differently. Alongside the competition screenings at Théâtre Lac-Brome, a free, friendly, and nomadic program unfolds outdoors. on the grass, by the water, or in cafés, vineyards, galleries, bars, and parks across the region. This territorial presence extends through the OFF Festival, a series of summer events. screenings, workshops, and musical evenings. taking place throughout the season.
The Festival also develops collaborations with local cultural organizations: special screenings with the Knowlton Players, projects with the Sherbrooke Youth Symphony Orchestra, and cinema-and-music events at Le Thirsty Boot bar. all opportunities where cinema, music, performing arts, and community come together.
Supported by an engaged community and loyal partners, the Knowlton Film Festival continues in 2026 to grow its presence in the Eastern Townships while expanding its reach.
FILM EDUCATION PROGRAM
Since 2023, the FFKFF has offered a film education program designed to help audiences see cinema differently. to understand it more deeply, and to use it as a lens for reflecting on the world. Workshops, meetings, and projects combining music and cinema bring together audiences of all ages around moving images.
FILM EDUCATION PROGRAM
Since 2023, the FFKFF has offered a film education program designed to help audiences see cinema differently. to understand it more deeply, and to use it as a lens for reflecting on the world. Workshops, meetings, and projects combining music and cinema bring together audiences of all ages around moving images.
Cinema day camp — Launched in 2025 in collaboration with the Town of Lac-Brome, this program offers young participants an immersive experience in filmmaking. from writing to editing, all the way through to the creation of a short film. The initiative will return in 2026.
Cinema Dinner Encounters and Film School — Open discussions with guests from the film industry, extended in 2026 through the creation of a Film School in collaboration with Bishop’s University. Eight students will take a credited course built around the FFKFF programming, combining screenings, workshops, and lectures led by guest filmmakers, under the supervision of Professor Gregory Brophy (Department of English Literature, Bishop’s University).
Cine-Concert — A meeting between silent cinema and live music that has become a must-see event. In 2025, works by Georges Méliès and Segundo de Chomón were accompanied live by the Sherbrooke Youth Symphony Orchestra. A new creation is currently in development for 2026.
Équipe
Anne-Marie Baribeau
Graphic Designer