40 Years of Expanding Moving Images

Closing Night at the first Images Festival, 1988.
Closing Night at the first Images Festival, 1988.
Opening night presenting Serena Lee's Cursive at the 39th edition of Images Festival, 2026.
Opening night presenting Serena Lee's Cursive at the 39th edition of Images Festival, 2026.

In the summer of '87, a group of experimental filmmakers and video artists wanted to see how their respective media works might function together. The founding members; Richard Fung, Marc Glassman, Annette Mangaard, Janine Marchessault, Paulette Phillips, Roberta Pazdro, Kim Tomczak and Ross Turnbull – recognized that experimental video artists and filmmakers may be interested in similar thresholds.

At this time, the film and video art scene were largely siloed. So there was something potentially unusual, and exciting in the cohabitation of independent moving images. Under the umbrella of experimentation, and with conceptual fervour, the collective Northern Visions ran its first edition, entitled Images, in 1988.

Images '88 blended analog video, expanded cinema, installation, and early electronic media practices which were reshaping contemporary art internationally; yet much of this work had limited visibility in Canada.

For four decades, Images has supported generations of national and international artists working across film, video, installation, performance, digital art, and emerging technologies — often before these practices appeared in major museums, biennales, or academic institutions. At Images' inception, it was deemed the alternative to Canada's commercialized cinema and festival circuit. While it is notionally true that Images embodies a kind of opposition, it wouldn't be a fair assessment to say it is but the inverse. Images is the vessel for a medium that is inherently jittering, and is to capture (just momentarily) a series of moving images. Not easily contained, and therefore performing a unique and distinctive challenge in every edition. The festival itself as a happening, and the conditions of an annual showcase, were considered from the beginning with inquiry and excitement.

A snapshot of the presentation equipment on opening night of Images, 1999.
A snapshot of the presentation equipment on opening night of Images, 1999.
Audience members in 1988.
Audience members in 1988.
Laughs at an Images party in 1990.
Laughs at an Images party in 1990.
Two fashionable party goers at Images, in 2001.
Two fashionable party goers at Images, in 2001.
A view from the booth in 2003.
A view from the booth in 2003.

Today, the cultural conditions that made Images Festival necessary still exist; the impetus for critical artistic forum and an innate curiosity, what if.

This anniversary is not just about celebrating the resilience of Images. It's a confrontation too, as we recognize the hardships of shrinking arts funding, rising production costs, and the housing crisis that has impacted so many facets of how we put on festivals.

Of course, there is sincere joy reflecting on the festivals of yesteryear, but some anxiety too, as I have taken on the impossible task of casting a comprehensive overview of a festival that means so much to so many. Additionally, there is a peculiarity to historizing any of this — I acknowledge the risk of subjugating the festival's iterative past as solely retrospective.

As I see it; the festival is really alive! Maybe still unconcluded! Its diaphragm rises in April, and descends again. Breath after breath, frame after frame.

We are preparing for another lifting inhale.

As we celebrate this milestone of 40 years, we hope you will join us in our merriment! A donation to Images will allow for future iterations to hold more artists, arts workers, curators and audiences who, with your generous contribution, will be afforded the ability to configure a not-so-far, and expansive future.

With care,

Riss

Interim Executive Director

Images Festival, 2026.

From 1988–2026

3,670
artists have showed work at Images Festival
685
screenings
429
exhibitions
339
curators & programmers
104
live events

Images Alumni

  • Coco Fusco (IF 2024)

    Canadian premiere at Images in 2024, 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, 56th Venice Biennale, three Whitney Biennials (2022, 2008, and 1993)

  • Sky Hopinka (IF 2015)

    MacArthur Fellowship (2022)

  • Apichatpong Weerasethakul (IF 2004)

    Recipient of the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival (2010)

  • Deirdre Logue (IF 2003)

    Berlin International Film Festival, Tate Modern, and 30th year anniversary highlight artist at Images

  • Miranda July (IF 2003)

    Acclaimed filmmaker, novelist, and performance artist

  • Steve Reinke (IF 2003)

    Guggenheim Fellowship (2026)

  • Hito Steyerl (IF 2002)

    Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Tate Modern, Museo Reina Sofía, Stedelijk Museum, Van Abbemuseum, Centre Pompidou

  • Steve McQueen (IF 1998)

    Academy Award Winning Director (2014, first Best Picture award by a Black Director/Producer)

  • Matthew Barney (IF 1998)

    Awarded the Europa 2000 Prize (young artist award), Guggenheim Museum institutional centerpiece, 2002

  • Ali Kazimi (IF 1998)

    Recipient of the Fire Horse Award (2025), Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2019)

  • Stan Douglas (IF 1998)

    Represented Canada at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Audain Prize (2019)

  • Elisabeth Subrin (IF 1997)

    Guggenheim Fellow (2002), Sundance Institute Fellowship (2003, 2006)

  • John Greyson (IF 1988)

    Bell Award in Video Art (2007), Best Feature, Berlin Film Festival

Support

Images Anniversary Sponsor

A donation at this tier would pay all the artists for 2027, cover the entirety of our accessibility services, travel, accommodations, the trailer commission, and our full educational Curatorial Residency program.

$40,000+

Impact Sponsor

A donation at this tier would bring three international artists to the festival — their artist fees and their stay for the entire festival in Toronto. This donation would be enough to fully support a 2027 off-site exhibition, the full run of the catalogue, or cover accommodations for artists travelling to the festival.

$4,000+

Supporting Sponsor

A donation at this tier would support a screening venue booking.

$400+

Community Sponsor

A donation at this tier is our recommended monthly donation. Supporting us in our desire for sustaining our programming for the many years to come.

$40+

The 400 Club Sponsor

If 400 donors contribute, this would cover the cost of a full day of screening. Your name becomes part of our 40th anniversary campaign!

$4+
Donate

Images Festival operates on land stolen from the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Tkáron:to is currently home to diverse Indigenous and Métis peoples as well as people who settle on this land. As part of Treaty 13 and the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Covenant, we acknowledge that we all eat from the same bowl and spoon, and must take only what we need, ensuring resources are available for all. 

As art workers, artists, and curators, we see the process of untangling ourselves from settler complicity as internal, structural, and ongoing. It is not something to be taken lightly. The inclusion of Indigenous artists and curators into our program is just the first step of necessary and deeper change. Extending from our organizational accountability work, we strive to not only undo forms of complicity, but also actively create an environment and infrastructure that can support Indigenous peoples who work with us. 

Images expresses our solidarity with Indigenous people on Turtle Island and globally. We are committed to continuing to learn, critique, and challenge the settler colonial structures we are complicit in.