Newsletter no 10 — April 2026
Pour la version en français, cliquer ici.

Photo : courtesy of Mónica Diaz | Mónica Diaz

Mónica Diaz, 2025 recipient

In November 2025, the cinEXmedia partnership awarded, for the very first time, (link in French only) a $5,000 scholarship to a student as part of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) scholarship program of the Université de Montréal’s Department of Art History, Film, and Audiovisual Media. Other EDI scholarships were already offered by the faculty and by the Canada Research Chair in Citizen Museology.

The recipient was Mónica Diaz, a PhD candidate in Film Studies under the supervision of Zaira Zarza. Holding a master’s degree in film from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and a master’s degree in cultural management from HEC Montréal, Diaz brings over 20 years of experience in the cultural sector, including 15 years in audiovisual work with vulnerable communities—particularly with the organization Wapikoni mobile, which promotes filmmaking within Indigenous communities in Quebec. For more information, see Olivier Du Ruisseau’s article.

Screenings in correctional facilities

For over 10 years, RIDM has offered a screening program in correctional institutions and transition houses in Montreal. This initiative includes two components: organizing screenings where incarcerated individuals have the opportunity to watch feature-length documentary films selected to spark discussion, and forming a jury of incarcerated women at the Joliette Prison to award a prize from a selection of films.

Building on the success of these projects aimed at giving marginalized individuals access to films selected for them, the cinEXmedia partnership has recently joined the festival to develop a new screening program for seniors living in long-term care facilities (CHSLDs). The festival had already been collaborating with the CinéMédias Laboratory, regularly co-presenting screenings as part of the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec (OCQ). See Léa Tétrault’s article to learn more.

Photo : courtesy of Amélie Philibert | Zoey Mariniello Cochran

Zoey Mariniello Cochran

A lecturer, researcher and specialist in musicology, lyric diction and research-creation methodologies at the Université de Montréal since 2015, Zoey Mariniello Cochran has recently become an invited professor in the Faculty of Music. Passionate about teaching—a vocation recognized with a Université de Montréal Excellence in Teaching Award in 2018—she now offers a range of courses on opera and lyric diction at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

The researcher also joined cinEXmedia this year as a co-researcher, with the invitation of Santiago Hidalgo, to develop an innovative research-creation project. In the meantime, you can read Léa Tétrault’s article to learn more about her background.

Photo : courtesy of cinEXmedia | Antonio Somaini during his lecture

Antonio Somaini's Lecture

On October 29, 2025, the cinEXmedia partnership welcomed Antonio Somaini—Professor of Film Theory, Media, and Visual Culture at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and Senior Member of the Institut universitaire de France—to the Université de Montréal as part of the Distinguished Lectures of the Canada Research Chair in Film and Media Studies.

Expanding on ideas developed during his curatorial work for the exhibition The World According to AI, presented from April to September at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, Professor Somaini highlighted the role of latent spaces in artists’ use of visual archives through artificial intelligence (AI), as well as their inherently political dimension. We invite you to read Olivier Du Ruisseau’s article on the subject.

International student conference

The second international student conference of the cinEXmedia partnership, titled “Studying the Cinematic Experience: Processes, Methods, and Challenges” was held at the Université de Montréal on November 25, 2025. More than a dozen participants shared their research on the subjectivity of the cinematic experience and the ways it can be analyzed in a scientific context. See Léa Tétrault’s article to learn more.

The new platform is online

Cadavre exquis, described as an “ouvroir de cinéma potentiel” (OUCIPO) (Link in French only) —a nod to its literary counterpart Oulipo, founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais—is a laboratory for heritage valorization and experimental creation dedicated to scientific and educational cinema. Initiated by the journal Hors champ in 2021, the organization collaborates closely with cinEXmedia, the Laboratoire CinéMédias, the Center for intermedial research on arts, letters et techniques (CRIalt), Vocavie, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, and the Université de Montréal's Archives and Records Management Division.

Since its founding, the initiative has aimed to catalogue, on a single digital platform, dozens of titles from the Université de Montréal’s 16 mm film collection restored by its team—primarily scientific and educational films—in order to make them accessible for research and creative purposes. Its website has been online for a few weeks now, and more films will be added over time. You can browse the collection (link in french only) online and read Olivier Du Ruisseau’s article to learn more about the project’s history.

OCQ's winter season

Several gatherings, discussion and learning activities have taken place as part of the winter season of the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec (OCQ). On March 30, the screenwriting and directing duo Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel (A Hole in the Chest, 2023) discussed their practice. On March 31, documentary filmmaker Sylvain L’Espérance presented his latest film, Common March (2025). On April 1, the fiction feature Folichonneries (2026) was screened in the presence of its director and screenwriter, Éric K. Boulianne. The full program is available on the OCQ website.

Cross disciplinary debates around AI

On February 11, cinEXmedia co-organized the event “Crossed Debates on AI: Between Imaginaries and Practices” at the Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montréal (CEIM). This event, initiated by André Gaudreault and Marie-Odile Demay, brought together the creative, industrial, and academic sectors around specific case studies illustrating the impact of AI in audiovisual media. These discussions enabled artists, researchers, and professionals in the audiovisual industry working with artificial intelligence to reflect collectively on the use of these technologies and their future. A detailed article will be available soon. In the meantime, for more information, click here (link in french only). 

Language of clowns

The Canada Research Chair in Opera Creation, co-directed by Zoey Mariniello Cochran and Ana Sokolović, organized the conference “Breaking Sound Conventions: The Languages and Non-Languages of Clowns” from February 5 to 7 at Place des Arts in Montreal. Presented alongside the opera Clown(s)—a creation by Ana Sokolović at the Opéra de Montréal—the panel aimed to foster reflection on the languages and non-languages of clowns, their relationship to the sonic world, and their place across various fields such as circus and cinema. The conference examined both the social and political functions, as well as the therapeutic dimensions, of clown art, thereby aligning directly with the partnership’s objectives. To learn more, visit the conference website.

Voice and media

Voix et médias (Voice and Media), a research-creation and knowledge mobilization initiative stemming from Geneviève Lamoureux’s doctoral work at the Université de Montréal on the stigmatization and representation of stuttering, held its first festival from November 6 to 8, 2025, across various venues in Montreal. The event, which brought together artists and researchers to reflect in particular on accessibility technologies and representations of stuttering, was co-presented by cinEXmedia. Taking place in four venues across Montreal, including the Université de Montréal’s Carrefour des arts et des sciences, the festival addressed contemporary issues arising from mediatized societies, aligning with the partnership’s inclusive cinema and therapeutic cinema theme. To view the archives, click here.

Mauro Carbone's conference

On March 18, aesthetics specialist Mauro Carbone—Honorary Member of the Institut universitaire de France and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3—delivered the lecture “Shadow and Body: Toward an Anthropology of Screen Experiences” as part of the Distinguished Lectures series of the Canada Research Chair in Film and Media Studies. Click here to learn more.

FMSAC student panel

From May 20 to 22, cinEXmedia will present a student panel as part of the film and media studies assoction of canada (FMSAC) conference in St. John’s. Several students affiliated with the partnership will present their work, including Maude Sills-Néron, Mina Bahra, Julien Bouthillier, and Emily Blanco. Each of these participants is supervised by members of the partnership. The theme of the conference will be “Perspectives from the Periphery.” More information about this will come.

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