History was made in Canada!
The world's largest magic convention, the FISM World Championship of Magic, just concluded in Quebec City in 2022. The six-day convention and competition has appeared worldwide from Japan to the United Kingdom since 1948, but never in North or South America. Canadian Association of Magicians (CAM) President Renée-Claude Auclair and her partner Pierre Hamon have been working hard to make this historic moment a reality for over eight years.
I was thrilled to be a tiny part of the massive FISM team. I’m fresh off the tarmac with behind-the-scene insight, exclusive images from the Official FISM Photographer Team, and contributions from CAM members who attended FISM Quebec 2022.
You’re in for a treat, come with us to Quebec City, and let's look at this historic event.
Quick Reference
FISM Quebec 2022 Swag
Opening Ceremonies Evening Gala
Lectures and Jam Sessions
Canadian Media Represent!
Lecturers Featured At FISM Quebec 2022
Stage and Close-Up Contests Begin
Stage Jury
Close Up Jury
Impacts of COVID and Travel
International Evening Gala
Dealers Room
Here is a list of the dealers featured at FISM
CAM in the Dealers Room
Magic Throughout Quebec City
Two Canadian Magician Photo Attempts
Shawn Farquhar Closes the Evening Show
New FISM President Announced
Visit from the Pope
Banquet
Alain Choquette and John Archer Host Evening Gala
Max Maven Presents Connie Boyd
Look Who We Found! Moments with CAM Members and Friends
Evening Gala Shows
Stage Contest Concludes
Winners Gala
Awards Ceremony
Here are the results from FISM Quebec 2022
FISM 2025 Revealed
All pictures © FISM Québec 2022 and photographed by François Morisset, Philippe Clavet, Ryan Joyce, Detlev Drenker and Yann Brochu.
Special member photo contributions from Gwyn Auger, Connie Boyd, Mark Hogan, Peter Mennie and George "Kid" Oldman.
Learn about the origins and history of the FISM World Championship of Magic.
Day One (July 25)
All FISM events were held within the Québec City Convention Centre, located in the heart of Quebec City. A short walk from the Convention Centre were dozens of restaurants, Old Quebec, and the famous Chateau Frontenac, the most photographed hotel in the world.
The official start of FISM Quebec 2022 began on Monday, July 25, 2022, and included plenty of time to see the dealer's room, get to know the convention centre, and explore Quebec City. At first, the layout was overwhelming, but everyone had it down by the end of the week.
The stage competition and evening gala shows were held in the largest theatre with over two thousand seats. A few of the evening shows were sold out. The room's energy was a wonderful mix of magicians and non-magician audience, and the sound of two thousand two hundred people gasping was pure joy to hear again.
The smaller close-up theatre held one thousand and presented the FISM close-up contests and special video lectures or presentations. Overflow audiences could watch the live broadcast in one of the lecture rooms.
I thought it was impressive to recognize every stage, room, and theatre was built from the ground up. All events were nearly flawless. The lighting, sound, special effects, and technical team created a stunning backdrop for the best magicians in the world.
Most of the daily activities and lectures happened two floors below, where you’d find the dealer's room, three lecture rooms, McBride Mystery School, banquet hall, jam sessions, and administration. The welcome centre was open all day for magicians to pick up their FISM registration and goodies.
FISM Quebec 2022 Swag
Here is a video of the contents we received from FISM Quebec 2022, which included an impressive 140-page FISM Quebec 2022 Book, deck of cards and water bottle:
I have been to many magician conventions, but this was my first FISM. It was filled with plenty of surprises– the biggest was the evening gala shows that started with a proper welcoming.
Opening Ceremonies Evening Gala
FISM Quebec 2022 kicked off with an opening ceremony and special greetings from FISM Officials, local politicians and organizers Renée-Claude Auclair and Pierre Hamon. The show was a visual spectacle that introduced us to the artistic splendour and eclectic variety we should expect.
The show's tributes to Canadian icons Doug Henning, Gary Ouellet, James Randi and Dai Vernon gave me chills. Actual magician performances were sprace but perfectly woven between outstanding acrobatics, stunts, and the Cirque Du Soleil influence from the show’s Artistic Director, Martin Genest.
The show featured a massive cast of over forty artists and magical performances from Jared Kopf, Miguel Munoz and Dean Gunnarson.
FISM Quebec 2022 starts with a bang. Visually impressive, expressive and magical.
Lectures and Jam Sessions
The ninety-minute performance was followed by a star-studded lecture line-up that included Mario Lopez, Lee Asher and Benardo Sedlacek.
After the evening lectures, it was time to jam. The evening jam sessions were hosted all week by R Paul Wilson and Jason England in an adjacent area to the lecturers. Jam sessions went into the early morning hours.
Canadian Media Represent!
The response to FISM from Canadian media was incredible. Throughout the week, FISM was covered by many Canadian national and provincial Quebec television stations, collecting over one hundred forty newspaper articles, radio interviews, blog posts and television segments.
FISM was featured:
CBC
Radio Canada
TVA
TV Quebec
Journal De Quebec
I joined Luc Langevin for a magic trick to end the segment for TVA provincial and national.
Day Two (July 26)
The first full day of events at FISM was busy. The morning started in the large theatre at 8am with the stage contest and a selection of morning lectures that included Jay Sankey, Tobias Beckwith, Jim Steinmeyer, and Dani DaOrtiz.
Every day featured a wide range of topics from the over thirty world-acclaimed FISM lecturers. Topics covered the spectrum from tricks, business and history.
Lecturers typically repeated their presentations twice over the six days, so magicians had two opportunities to learn from their favourite magicians.
Lecturers At FISM Quebec 2022
Here is a complete list of the lectures and special presentations:
Mario Lopez Lee Asher Bernardo Sedlacek Tobias Beckwith Jay Sankey Jim Steinmeyer Dani DaOrtiz Paul Gertner Jeff McBride Alexandra Duvivier Greg Frewin Jared Kopf Zabrecky Mario Lopez Julie Eng Alain Choquette Jeki Yoo | Michael Ammar Lisa Menna Marc De Souza Miguel Munoz Brian South Shawn Farquhar Larry Hass Stephane Bourgoin Paul Gertner Ekaterina Eric Jones Miguel Angel Gea Luis Piedrahita Luis De Matos Mike Caveney ZOOM: Banachek and Arturo Brachetti | Max Maven Presents:
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Stage and Close-Up Contests Begin
Competition is the centrepiece of FISM. Each morning started with the stage contest, followed by an hour break and then the close-up contest. As an alternative to the competitions, magicians could attend any daily lecture series.
We'll save contest rules and requirements for another post, but know that each contest has a separate jury of FISM judges.
Here are the FISM Quebec 2022 judges for close-up and stage.
Stage Jury
Juliana Chen (USA)
May Closa (Spain)
Norbert Ferre (France)
Eberhard Riese (Germany)
Syliva Schuyer (The Netherlands)
Adrian Soler (Venezuela)
Soma (Hungary)
Priska Walther (Switzerland)
Satoru Yamamoto (Japan)
Close Up Jury
Peter Din (France)
Henry Evans (Argentina)
Joshua Jay (USA)
Shimpei Katsuragawa (Japan)
Christina Nyman (Luxembourg)
Douwe Swierstra (The Netherlands)
Horret Wu (China)
CAM Founder Joan Caesar stage-managed the close-up contests along with Mike Miller (SAM 2009-10 President)
If you are interested in learning some FISM competition specifics, here is a complete FISM World Championship of Magic Guide.
Impacts of COVID and Travel and Visas
There were a few last-minute cancellations due to COVID or travel. Yann Frisch was scheduled for the opening lecture but cancelled along with Michael Weber, Banachek and Brachetti (flight cancellation and the Chinese Warriors did not get their visas).
Luggage issues also caused a few challenges, including for quick-change artists, Sos & Victoria and Pierric, whose luggage never arrived.
International Evening Gala
The second evening gala show was the “International Gala,” hosted and produced by Greg Frewin. Greg is no stranger to the FISM stage, winning first place in Japan in 1994. In an extraordinary show opening, he dusted off his award-winning competition act just for the FISM audience. It’s an act he hasn’t performed in eight years.
The first few beats of his music caused the crowd to go nuts.
The show featured Luc Langevin, Topas, Xavier Mortimer, Jeki Yoo, and Bond Lee. Quebec’s Luc Langevin presented a mesmerizing theatrical performance that defied physics. Not a levitation– but a magician pushing gravity to its limits. Bravo!
It was an amazing show, followed by late-night lectures and evening jam sessions.
Day 3 (July 27)
The lectures for the day included Greg Frewin, Jared Kopf, Zabrecky, Mario Lopez, Julie Eng, and Alain Choquette. Mike Caveney held a special presentation in the close-up theatre that gave a video walk-through of David Copperfield’s museum and a live zoom interview with David Copperfield.
The dealer room was also open.
Dealers Room
The dealer's room at FISM is where you can find all of the latest magic tricks and equipment, from mentalism tricks to close-up magic props, magician societies, and new magic magazines.
Here is a list of the dealers featured at FISM
808Magic Academy of Magical Arts (AMA) Canadian Association of Magicians Card-Shark Club de Magie de Quebec (CMQ) Conundrum & B Magic FISM Gee Magic GMI Hakan Varol Himitsu Magic Illuminati MAGIC JL Magic Loran Lybrary Magic Artist Magic inc. Magic Square Magicana Master of Magic | Mathieu Bich Michel Huot Magic Products Mohammad Safir Ullah Sikder MS Magic Oct Happy Valley Palmer Magic Penguin Magic Plainsight Replica 4D Riffle Shuffle Society of American Magicians (SAM) Seo Magic Slim Card - Gaffs & Magic Spider The Phantom Hand ThoughtCast Magic Yannick Lacroix Magie Strale Zauberladen |
CAM in the Dealers Room
With a big thanks to Mike Segal, the Canadian Association of Magicians was out at FISM on full display! We are thrilled to welcome many new members and have some exciting interviews and guests scheduled for the future!
Be sure and check out our new mugs and t-shirts! Coming soon to the CAM store.
Magic Throughout Quebec City
FISM was not the only magic happening from July 25-30, 2022. At the same time, the Quebec Magic Festival was hosting events and displays for the public throughout Quebec City.
During the week, they dazzled over 70 000 people and scheduled 600 hours of free, live-magic animations and shows.
Magic was everywhere in Quebec City.
Two Canadian Magician Photo Attempts
As you can imagine, it’s difficult to wrangle a small dinner party for a photo, never mind a few hundred Canadian magicians. We made two solid attempts, and here they are:
Shawn Farquhar Closes the Evening Show
The theme of the evening was “The TV Show.” The show featured a live band, two francophone hosts, and performances from Topas, Marc Metral, Shawn Farquhar and Ta Na Manga. Each performance was followed by a short, creative interview segment with the artist. For example, Topas and the male host rode bicycles in front of a green screen.
A few of the acts had music or instrumental theme. Ta Na Manga presented a brilliant close-up routine with a piano that brought the house down, and Topas rocked out with an invisible band. Shawn Farquhar closed the show with his Shape of My Heart routine performed with the live band. Amazing!
The late-night lecturers were Dani DaOrtiz, Bernado Sedlacek, Jeki Yoo, and Luis De Matos hosted an Intimate Conversation with Topas.
Day 4 (July 28)
At FISM 2022, there were several big announcements, one of which was revealed early.
New FISM President Announced
Andrea Baioni is the next FISM President, and Domenico Dante will become an honorary president. All FISM Board members were present in Quebec, including Saturo Yamamoto (Vice-President) and Peter Din (Vice-President).
Visit from the Pope
The Pope happened to also be in Quebec City during the World Championships. Here’s CAM member Marc Hogan’s capture:
Banquet
The banquet was divided into two groups over two days. The event started with a quick short welcome, followed by a three-course dinner and a complimentary glass of wine. The dessert beautifully displayed the FISM logo dusted into the plate. Pure sugar and 100% delicious.
I imagine you’ll find over one thousand social media photos that look just like this:
Did I mention it was delicious?
I enjoyed dinner with Max Maven, Carissa Hendrix, Erica Larsen, Alexandra Duvivier, Peter Mennie, Scott Hood and Jeph Stohl.
Alain Choquette and John Archer Host The Mysterious Evening Gala
The evening gala show was titled “The Mysterious Gala.” It featured John Archer and Alain Choquette as the hosts and performances by Jaana, Eric Leclerc, Evelyne Paquin-Lanthier and Anne-Marie Godin, Jared Kopf and Ballet Act.
I enjoyed the interaction between our evening gala’s hosts, Alain Choquette and John Archer. The nearly bitter, sometimes nasty, banter might not have been everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought it danced the line boldly. When you take risks, you get rewarded. John Archer delivered one of the funniest lines for the entire convention for me– a direct stab at those ‘international magician awards for sale’ which brought down the house.
