Tribute Award
Spotlight on cultural commitment
Le FIFA Tribute award recognizes an individual or organization for their outstanding contribution to the field of art and art film. It is a reward for hard work, dedication and long-term success. The FIFA Tribute Award is intended to honor the achievement of the individual or organization, and to express sincere gratitude for their contribution to the art film community.
For its 42nd edition, Le FIFA give its Tribute Award to Alain Fleischer
As part of its 42nd edition, Le FIFA will be awarding a tribute prize to the writer, filmmaker, artist, photographer and director of the Fresnoy-Studio national des arts contemporains, Alain Fleischer, whose prolific body of work has for many years combined intelligent thought with sensitive, poetic creativity.
Winner of the Prix de Rome for photography, founder and director of the Fresnoy-Studio national des arts contemporains, Alain Fleischer is the author of some sixty works of literature (novels, collections of short stories, essays), and director of some three hundred and fifty films (feature-length fiction, experimental films, art documentaries) that have given rise to retrospectives and tributes: Musée national d’art moderne (Palais de Tokyo), Centre Pompidou, Galeries nationales du Jeu de Paume (Paris), Anthology Film Archives (Jonas Mekas), New York, Festival del Cinema nuovo de Pesaro (Italy), Cinémathèque royale de Belgique (Brussels). Alain Fleischer represented France at the International Biennials of Sydney (Australia), Kwang-ju and Busan (Korea), Havana (Cuba), and the cultural services of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AFAA) organized a retrospective exhibition of his work as an artist and photographer, which was presented in Brazil (Museum of Image and Sound and Museum of Modern Art), Canada (Centre international d’Art contemporain/Les 100 jours), the Netherlands (Boymans), Spain (Fondation Miro), Cuba (Centre d’Art Wilfredo Lam) and Argentina (Centre Culturel La Recoleta).
The ties between Alain Fleischer and Le Festival are deep and fraternal, Alain Fleischer was in turn a member of the jury for its 20th edition, the subject of a film in Mario Côté’s La chambre qui attend, portrait d’Alain Fleischer écrivain presented in 2008 as part of the 26th edition, recipient of the Pratt & Witney Grand Prize for À la recherche de Christian B. (1990), three best essay prizes for Le Frivole et le complexe — la dentelle d’Alençon (2008), Brancusi (2013) and J’ai retrouvé Christian B. (2021), best portrait prize for Pierre Klossowski, un écrivain en images (1997) and best television film prize for Anthony Caro, la sculpture comme religion (2009). Le FIFA paid tribute to him in 2002.
“Writer, photographer, filmmaker, video artist, sculptor, art school director… Alain Fleischer embraces art in all its forms. For him, each creation is an exploration, an experience, a revelation. He claims to be a different person in each of these disciplines, and it is precisely this polyphony that is the common thread running through a career spanning more than 40 years. A total artist who inhabits a creative body of work that it would be audacious to try to sum up here, just as it would be futile to try to preserve in a work of art the intensity of an entire life. 20 years after paying tribute to this literally extraordinary artist, FIFA wanted to use this Tribute Award to underline this trajectory, both abundant and dazzling, which illuminates our artistic horizon with a thousand lights.” - Philippe U. del Drago, General and Artistic Director of the International Festival of Films on Art
FIFA 41 — 2023
Beirut Art Film Festival
The award was received by Alice Mogabgab, director of the Beirut Art Film Festival.
“It was in Montréal, in March 2014, that I discovered Le FIFA and its panoply of films on art. For ten days, I was drawn in, overwhelmed, shaken, but above all enchanted by the magical medium of film and the relevant views of extraordinary directors. For ten days, in theatre after theatre, I drank in documentaries and discussions, nourished by the sublime expression of the human condition: art. This intense, dazzling time made me think of Lewis Carroll’s famous tale, Alice in Wonderland. I was to take the wonders revealed in Montréal back to Beirut with me, with the firm desire to share this memorable cultural experience.”
FIFA 40 — 2022
René Rozon
Founder of the International Festival of Films on Art (Le FIFA)
“I am very honoured to be honoured today. I’d like to thank Le FIFA for thinking of me as the first recipient of this distinction, which will be awarded annually. As the founder of this festival, which I have been at the helm of for 34 years, I am particularly moved by this recognition. Above all, I am delighted that Le FIFA has continued on its admirable path, now celebrating 40 years of existence. I’m very impressed by the courage and tenacity of its director, Philippe del Drago, and his team, who, despite the pandemic and against all odds, have managed to keep the festival going strong, and I’m delighted to see that the torch is still burning brightly. Reassured that the future of this exceptional cultural event is in good hands, I wish Le FIFA every success in maintaining its prestigious status, presenting the world’s finest art films to the public. Long live Le FIFA!”
