Festival Accès Asie The annual Asian Heritage Month extravaganza features art shows, film screenings, play readings, food tastings and more. See accesasie.com for full schedule.
Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival Lovers of all things literary flock to Montréal for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, an annual extravaganza that celebrates its 26th anniversary this year. Whether they’re catching a reading or dressing up for an awards ceremony, bookworms hardly know where to turn with four days of nearly nonstop in-person programming in French or English at their disposal. Offerings include lectures and discussions on topics ranging from YA literature to Alan Dershowitz; readings in every genre under the sun; and appearances by luminaries including Sarah Polley, Mariana Enríquez and Robert Macfarlane.
South Asian Film Festival of Montréal After a few difficult pandemic years, the South Asian Film Festival of Montréal makes a triumphant return to its regular programming. Cinephiles get hyped for a slate of 58 films from across the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora, which screen both online and in person at spots across la Metropole. Selections include the Academy Award-nominated documentary All That Breathes; queer, Pakistani Cannes favorite Joyland; Gandhi & Company, a coming-of-age story about a boy who declares the Indian activist his role model; and Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution and Islam, a documentary about one of Europe’s first female imams.
Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival Bilingual lovers of all things literary flock to Montréal for the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, an annual extravaganza that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Whether they’re catching a reading or dressing up for an awards ceremony, bookworms hardly know where to turn with almost three weeks of virtual and in-person programming at their disposal. Online interviews begin this week, and live events kick off with a bang on April 17 with a talk from The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood (pictured), marking the launch of her new story collection, Old Babes in the Wood.
Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Sax fans and trumpet nuts who didn’t get their fill at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival hop across the border to Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Through July 9, the city overflows with shows from greats and up-and-comers alike. At the Place des Arts, Monument-Nationale and other venues, festivalgoers enjoy performances by practitioners of jazz, soul, gospel and beyond, including the Roots, Corinne Bailey Rae, Kamasi Washington, Pink Martini, Robert Glasper, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, and Wynton Marsalis playing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.