lent of theCannes Film Festival—has, since 1980,
been the biennial ParisMois de la Photo. It was
Paris that developed the model for incorporating a
large number of the city’s exhibition spaces into a
single event. These spaces include major museums
(which in the 2004 ParisMois de la Photofeatured
the Louvre, the Pompidou Centre, the Jeu de
Paume, and the Muse ́e d’Orsay) as well as smaller
museums and commercial galleries. The ParisMois
de la Photoalso incorporates exhibitions in foreign
embassies and cultural agencies, once again evok-
ing the idea of nation-based representation within a
global event. In general, the individual exhibits can
be divided into three categories: historical retro-
spectives; exhibits organized around contemporary
genres, artists, and practices; and more idiosyn-
cratic exhibits in which curators provide a subjec-
tive view of contemporary photography.
From the beginning, Paris established that the
scheduling of the festival for an entire month is
intended to do more than just allow the time to
find and view shows mounted at dispersed venues.
It is also a means of asserting photography’s cul-
tural eminence within the city’s cultural calendar.
In the 25 years that followed the launch ofMois de
la Photo,cities as diverse as Berlin, Bratislava, Cape
Town, Krakow, Mexico City, Moscow, and Stock-
holm have declared their own ‘‘month of photogra-
phy.’’ Festivals such as Buenos Aires’Encuentros
Abiertos,Madrid’sPHotoEspan ̃a, Rome’sFotoGra-
phia,andFotografie Bie ̈nnale Rotterdamwhile not
using the ‘‘month of photography’’ phrase have bor-
rowed from the French model. Houston’sFotoFest
was the first North American Biennial ‘‘month of
photography’’ in 1986 and in the scope of its festival
and inter-festival programs is now second only to the
Paris event. In Canada, Montreal’sMois de la Photo
and Toronto’s rapidly growingContactare building
on the success of their cities’ major film festivals.
Brazil hostsFoto Arte, a major festival in Brasilia,
as well as festivals in Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.
China has located its international photography fes-
tival in the ancient city of Pingyao while Denmark’s
major photography festival, theOdense Foto Trien-
nial, takes place in galleries on the island of Fyn.
As the ‘‘month of photography’’ festivals mature,
they incorporate a variety of functions including
speakers, conferences, workshops, and portfolio
reviews. Some offer adjunct mini-festivals of photo-
graphy-based new media or festivals within festivals
featuring films by and about photographers. In-
creasingly, these various activities have been orga-
nized around themes that curators cite as being
especially pertinent to the medium today. Mon-
treal’sMois de la Photo, having declared itself ‘‘a
cohesive, single themed festival,’’ labeled its 2003
theme: ‘‘Now. Images of Present Time.’’ In 2004,
PHotoEspan ̃aorganized its 170 presentations under
the general theme of ‘‘new documentary languages’’
while in the same year the ParisMois de la Photo
highlighted a program entitled, ‘‘HiStories—from
documentary to fiction.’’
Many of the festivals have also organized pro-
grams to take place between their main events.
These include programs of speakers, conferences,
and the publication of journals. Houston’sFotoFest
operates a classroom education program, ‘‘Literacy
Through Photography,’’ which utilizes photography
to enhance writing skills, visual literacy, and cogni-
tive learning in grade school students. But perhaps
the most important function of the festivals between
events is their archiving of the work they show. The
ParisMois de la Photohas amassed a collection of
more than 15,000 works whilePHotoEspan ̃agets
two million hits per year on its Internet archive.
Events comprising the second of Franc ̧ois
He ́bel’s categories, the festivals in smaller centers
and specialized festivals, can be every bit as ambi-
tious as the larger ‘‘months of photography.’’ The
Noorderlicht Photofestival, for instance, an annual
collaboration between the Dutch cities of Gronin-
gen and Leeuwarden, constructed a website featur-
ing all 950 photographers who participated in the
event. In Germany, the festivals staged by Das
BildForumin Herten and Mannheim function as
eclectic gatherings of professional and amateur
photographers with a wide range of exhibitions
and workshops.Encontro da Imagem, a photogra-
phy festival in the Northern Portuguese city of
Braga, engaged visiting photographers in an on-
going visual documentation of the city.
Other festivals have earned reputations as high
profile specialized events. Photojournalism is the
sole focus of bothVisa pour l’imagein Perpignan,
France, andClickArt, a festival held in conjunction
with the Singapore trade show,Photo & Imaging
Asia. Foto & Photo, hosted by the Italian city of
Cesano Maderno, is known for its exhibition of
experimental photography. The French seaside re-
sort of Biarritz hostsTerre d’Images, a festival of
travel photography. Thousands of amateur photo-
graphers compete for awards offered by theTogher
International Festival of Amateur Photographyin
Cork, Ireland.
Smaller festivals have also been used to enable
the emergence of local photography. This is parti-
cularly true of festivals in two of the poorest
nations on earth. In 2000, Bangladesh staged
Chobi Melawhich, in addition to its exhibition of
foreign work, mounted a retrospective of photo-FESTIVALS