December's Best Photo Festivals

Just Another Photo Festival (India), Angkor Photo Festival (Cambodia), Miami Street Photography Festival (United States), and MedPhoto Festival (Greece) are among the highlights on the photography calendar this December. Read all about them in our curated festivals guide.

Just Another Photo Festival (India), Angkor Photo Festival (Cambodia), Miami Street Photography Festival (United States), and MedPhoto Festival (Greece) are among the highlights on the photography calendar this December. Read all about them in our curated festivals guide.

Just Another Photo Festival / Kolkata, India / 21 - 24 December

Video introducing the third edition of JAPF, to be held in Kolkata

Just Another Photo Festival is a guerrilla photography, film and new media festival that democratises the access to visual media by bringing it back to the world itself and forging new audiences. As an itinerant festival, this third edition will be held in Kolkata, with work to be displayed as slideshows in various public spaces across the city. “Inspired by new modes of storytelling, we are seeking to create a festival that reflects new digital forms and mirrors the inter-connectivity of contemporary life. We think this is what sets JAPF apart.” says co-founder and director, Poulomi Basu.

Among the program highlights this year, Robert Boccaccino showcases Potenza 100, his multimedia film that investigates and plays with the absence of a shared identity in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy; Slideluck Editorial presents Born The Same, a project also featured in the current PHmuseum online exhibition, which explores subcultures and micro-stories that serve as a reminder that we are all born as human beings; and PHmuseum will present a special projection of the works awarded in the PHM 2017 Grant, including that of Salvatore Vitale, Antonio Faccilongo, Jacob Aue Sobol, and Karim El Maktafi. Learn more at japf.xyz/Kolkata.

Angkor Photo Festival / Siem Reap, Cambodia / 3 - 12 December

Since its inception in 2005, Angkor Photo Festival has evolved into a highlight on the Asian arts calendar, acting as an international platform and cultural resource for both established and emerging photographers.

Headed by a committee that includes Françoise Callier, Antoine D’Agata, and Sohrab Hura, the main events in this, the 13th edition, are two projections curated by APF alumni, Wawi Navarroza and Anshika Varma. Among the photographers featured, Hannah Reyes Morales explores how the displacement of Filipina women after frequent typhoons have made them more vulnerable to sexual violence and trafficking; Alejandro Cartagena deconstructs the stereotypical image of the US/Mexico border by investigating and representing the lifestyles of the people who decide to stay in between the turmoil; Leonard Pongo presents The Necessary Evil, a hybrid short movie questioning religion and faith in the context of independent protestant churches in Congo DR; Aleksey Kondratyev examines the aesthetic forms of improvised coverings used by Kazakh fishermen to protect themselves from the harsh weather; and Néha Hirve showcases Full Shade/Half Sun, a photography project about the experimental community of people in the tropical dry forest of Tamil Nadu in India.

In the supporting program, Sim Chi Yin, Tania Bohórquez, Katrin Koenning, Ian Teh, and Kosuke Okahara are among a group of renowned photographers hosting workshops that aim to provide an affordable, accessible and intensive educational experience to the region’s emerging photographic talents. For further information, visit angkor-photo.com.

Miami Street Photography Festival / Miami, US / 7 - 10 December

Miami Street Photography Festival is set once again to take over the HistoryMiami Museum for its sixth anniversary, showcasing the very best of contemporary street and documentary photography across a series of exhibitions, photo walks, lectures, and workshops.

Among the program highlights this year, 93 photographers from more than 50 countries will present their work in the MSPF International Contest exhibition; Magnum photographer, Josef Koudelka screens Shooting Holy Land, a film directed by Gilad Baram that explores the divide between Israel and Palestine; Constantine Manos will host a walk and talk tour of his exhibit of Florida images before a signing of his books, American Color 1 and 2; and local fashion-street style photographer, Gabe Sanchez will take visitors on a photo walk through the vibrant streets of Miami.

Maggie Steber, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Donato DiCamillo, Joseph Michael Lopez, Larry Fink, and Richard Sandler will also be in attendance to present a series of Masters Talks with each of the speakers offering an intimate view into their photographic process. Go to miamistreetphotographyfestival.org to find out more.

MedPhoto Festival / Crete, Greece / September 2017 - March 2018

Drawing inspiration from Paul Graham’s long-term work, New Europe, the 2017/18 edition of MedPhoto explores the theme, Europe: the Faces and the Territory. By bringing together photographers from across Europe and the Mediterranean in a series of artistic initiatives, the festival aims to foster and sustain meaningful social dialogue centred around the notions of old and new Europe.

Critical Archives III: Identities, the festival’s main exhibition, presents a mosaic of photographic projects that together depict the traces of time and the rapidly transforming face of European societies. The new identities constructed within the continent, each deeply influenced by changes in beliefs and social practices, are the focal point of the show. Julian Baron, Lewis Bush, Turi Calafato, Federico Clavarino, Giovanna Del Sarto, Rineke Dijkstra, Çağdaş Erdoğan, Robin Hammond, Nick Hannes, Davide Monteleone, Stefania Orfanidou, and Jerome Sessini are among the featured photographers.

The public program includes projections, open discussions on contemporary photographic practices, workshops and lectures hosted by leading photographers, and an exhibition of photobooks curated by Natasha Christia which addresses the production, consumption, and circulation of images today within dominant mass narrative systems. To learn more, visit medphoto.gr.

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ALSO OPEN THIS MONTH:

Photolux Festival / Lucca, Italy / 18 November - 10 December

Held in Lucca, on the Serchio River in Tuscany, Photolux Festival is a crossroads of exchange for both renowned experts and emerging talents, shedding light on cutting edge artistic practices. The 2017 edition sets its focus on the photographers of the Mediterranean and on those who have made the region the subject of their gaze, in the hope that such visions will lead to new influences and a new dialogue surrounding the local cultures.

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LagosPhoto Festival / Lagos, Nigeria / 24 November - 15 December

Launched back in 2010, LagosPhoto unites local and international artists through images that encapsulate individual experiences and identities from across the African continent. Themed Regimes of Truth, under the curatorship of renowned fashion designer Duro Olowu, the festival this year explores the pursuit for, and presentation of, truth in contemporary society, gleaning inspiration from the writings of some of the 19th and 20th centuries' most influential literary realists and intellectuals.

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© Aleksey Kondratyev, from the series, Ice Fishers
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© Aleksey Kondratyev, from the series, Ice Fishers

© Constantine Manos
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© Constantine Manos

© Çağdaş Erdoğan, from the series, Control
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© Çağdaş Erdoğan, from the series, Control

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