11.11.2025
Online benefit auction from November 27 to December 7
Le Ruisseau d'Or, Tuan Vu (detail)
6th EDITION of TRAIT D’UNION – Le FIFA’s Benefit Auction
The curtain is about to rise on the 6th edition of our online charity auction, Trait d’union!
From November 27 to December 7, over 100 works by established, emerging, and surprise guest artists will be available on the platform of our partner, the renowned Canadian auction house BYDealers. This year, the selection reaches a total value of over $200,000. True to its inclusive spirit, the auction remains accessible to all budgets, with no buyer’s premium or sales tax.
All the details about the auction will also be shared on Le FIFA website, social media channels : Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and via our newsletter.
HONORARY COMMITTEE
This year, Le FIFA’s Trait d’union benefit auction celebrates its sixth edition with a gathering of committed and inspiring figures, united under the banner of an exceptional Honorary Committee.
For the first time, the event will be led under a co-presidency: Lionel Pardin, founder and strategist of Rouge On Blue, HEC Montréal lecturer, and Chair of Je Passe Partout, continues his long-standing engagement, joined by Saigon-born, Quebec-based artist Tuan Vu. Together, they promise to make this edition a memorable celebration of art and creativity.
• Lionel Pardin, Honorary Co-President
At the helm of Rouge On Blue for over a decade, Lionel Pardin leads a team of 26 independent consultants specializing in strategy and new technologies. His passion for arts, culture, and digital innovation is backed by over 22 years of experience in strategic planning and managing digital transformation projects. Formerly director at COSSETTE / FJORD and CMO at SSENSE, where he helped expand the brand globally, Lionel Pardin is also a respected lecturer and speaker on topics ranging from digital economy and strategy to innovation.
• Tuan Vu, Honorary Co-President
Self-taught and versatile, Tuan Vu explores drawing, painting, and photography, using color as a means to express emotion and narrate stories. His work has been featured internationally — from Montreal’s Plural to New York’s Armory Show, Focus Paris, Art SG in Singapore, and Can Art Fair in Ibiza — and recognized by the Financial Times, Vogue Italia, and La Presse. Tuan Vu’s works are included in prestigious collections such as Bunker Artspace Museum (West Palm Beach), Holbar Collection (UK), Vietnam Art Center (VAC), and Fidelity Investments (Boston). A recipient of multiple Canada Council for the Arts grants, he is represented by leading galleries in Montreal, Toronto, London, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, and West Palm Beach.
We are proud to renew collaborations with our committee members and welcome new inspiring voices:
- Dominique Blain, visual artist
- Nicolas Chevrier, psychologist, President of Sequoia Psychological Services, Chair of Le FIFA’s Board
- Melissa Du Sault, Account Director, Corporate Services at National Bank of Canada
- Jean-François Ethier, co-founder of Phosphen
- Nadine Lajoie, President and Founder of Issime Communications
- Stéfanie Roy, architect (OAQ) and artist
- Marie Saint Pierre, fashion designer
Here are a few words from our Honorary Co-Chairs, the Chair of the Board of Directors, and the General and Artistic Director of Le FIFA on the occasion of Trait d’Union:
There is something profoundly inspiring about what Trait d’union represents.
Something that goes beyond the simple act of hosting an online benefit auction.
It is a moment — a true moment — when an entire community chooses to come together around a local institution, a Montreal gem: Le Festival International du Film sur l’Art (Le FIFA).
Because when you bid on a work, you make a gesture that carries more than one meaning.
You support Le FIFA, of course.
You support a mission, a journey, a sensibility that has been built with courage and conviction for over 40 years.
A festival that believes in the power of images, in the power of singular voices, in the power of stories capable of crossing borders — geographical, aesthetic, social.
A festival that nurtures a love for the arts.
An ambassador of our culture and expertise to every corner of the world.
A festival that brings us together.
We first want to thank the artists: those who, in a world often uncertain for creators, choose to offer their works with generosity. Their trust honors us; their contribution makes this auction an extraordinary act of sharing.
We want to thank the galleries, whose role goes beyond representation: they are houses of creation, spaces of transmission, places of boldness. Their commitment reminds us that the cultural ecosystem exists only because everyone believes in it, works within it, and participates.
We want to thank the collectors, whose vision, passion, and daring help sustain contemporary creation. They embody that rare form of cultural citizenship that gives works a destiny and their creators a future.
We want to thank the Honorary Committee, whose presence lends this auction a solid, credible, and unifying framework.
We want to thank the Le FIFA team and its Board of Directors, who, often behind the scenes, build a festival that showcases Montreal to the world and demonstrates that our local culture possesses a vibrant strength, an intensity, and a singularity admired far beyond our borders.
Thank you to our great ally, BYDealers, without whom this entire endeavor simply would not be possible.
And finally, we want to thank you — the ones who participate in this auction.
Your gesture is not neutral.
Your presence is not symbolic.
Your bid is not insignificant.
It allows Le FIFA to:
– program works that question our era;
– support emerging artistic practices;
– welcome diverse audiences, from students to professionals, from the curious to the passionate;
– maintain the vitality of a cultural ecosystem more fragile than it seems;
– reinforce Montreal’s place as an essential platform for media and film arts.
So, thank you.
Thank you for believing in this gesture.
Thank you for making this vision exist.
Thank you for supporting a festival that continues to dream, to dare, to move forward.
Lionel Pardin, Honorary Co-Chair of Trait d’Union and Founder & Strategist of Rouge On Blue
Tuan Vu, Honorary Co-Chair of Trait d’Union and Artist
Nicolas Chevrier, Chair of the Board of Directors, Festival International du Film sur l’Art (Le FIFA)
Philippe U. Del Drago, General and Artistic Director, Festival International du Film sur l’Art (Le FIFA)
