Today the curtains come to a close on FIFA’s 35th edition. By FIFA, I refer of course to the Festival International du Film sur l’Art – not to its lesser-known cousin, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Be as it may, on Friday March 31st, the event was still going strong. That evening, a select crowd of individuals moved on from an appetizer to their main course, i.e. set their palate for all things Queen of Pop with a viewing of Strike a Pose and then went over to the Société des Arts Technologiques building to join the Gros Party du FIFA.
It was a Madonna-themed night of delicate debauchery, the kind where master celebrity impersonator Jimmy Moore lifts his skirt enough to expose and then wiggle his red-clad buttocks in front of you, right after you’ve indulged in white chocolate biscotti and literally golden jam-filled pastries but maybe still during your interactions with a paper bag of candy bar loot. I’m speaking from personal experience when I vouch for Montreal-based bakery Heavenly Taste biscotti, by the way, although my hands were too busy waving and clapping for them to dig into KandJu gummies and other tasties.
The afore-mentioned elements certainly sounded promising on paper, and didn’t disappoint in person; dancing to 80’s and 90’s tunes served by DJ Shaydakiss until 3 a.m. also sounded like a fun wave of nostalgia ready for the surfing. Unfortunately, the crowd’s level of excitement was terribly lacking. As a result, the festivities trod a fine line between realizing and underwhelming their potential.
Ladies were in mainly in casual yet black and fairly slinky dresses; men wore vests, crisp shirts. Serious wear. Many in the fairly listless mass of people did, however, choose to accessorize with alcoholic beverages. The following question comes to mind: should the organizing committee in charge of next year’s FIFA party divert more of their budget to lowering booze prices, and less to complimentary refreshments, in order to increase guests’ enthusiasm?
On the other hand, I think I lie by omission with my reports of quiet guests. I bravely volunteered to report on this Friday night event in a convenient moment of amnesia re:the full day of work to follow, but my conscience and memory returned just in time for me to head back home at 11:30 p.m. This, dear reader, means that I left during the intermission right before hour two of Jimmy Moore as Madonna – a most upsetting lapse in journalistic devotion to seeing the bigger picture! For this second part of the performance was doubtless its most exciting hour; Moore, after all, had promised that it would feature the Queen of Pop’s greatest hits. While hour one was a convincing replay of highlights of Madonna’s MDN tour, I’m sure that both casual fans and the large, LGBTQ-swinging middle-aged component of the audience were most excited to hear The Classics.
I suppose it shall forever remain a mystery whether Jimmy Moore Madonnaed his way through Holiday and Like a Virgin after that intermission, backup dancers and all.
FIFA wrapped up on April 2. Keep an eye on the website for next year’s films.
