On behalf of everyone who wasn't able to attend FISM 2022, thank you to all the attendees who have shared your experiences, photos, and videos from the event!
From the August 2nd upload "I Went to The World Championship of MAGIC!! (FISM 2022)" at Chris Ramsay's YouTube channel:
From the July 30th Instagram post by Joe Culpepper:
Excited to be teaching this Magic Design Workshop on August 13th in Sebastopol, CA. Learn optical illusions and how to add magic effects to your own artistic projects: https://tinyurl.com/yd2kdaa5
Congratulations Billy! Thank you for your hard work!
From the July 27th article "Presto, he’s president: World’s largest magic organization now led by Surrey’s Billy Hsueh" by Tom Zillich in Surrey Now-Leader:
The role of international president of the IBM is rare for a Canadian, as only eight residents of this country have held the office, four of whom are from Vancouver, and Hsueh is first of Asian descent.
“It wasn’t something that I sought out to do, but it just kind of happened, the process of me being on the board and the committees when I was 16, 17 years old,” Hsueh explained. “I kept volunteering my time and worked my way up the board, and eventually they nominated me as vice-president and then president-elect, now I’m president.
He added: “It just feels really good to represent an organization that I’ve been part of since I was, like, 11, and being able to give back, as much as can, for everything this organization has done for me.”
Presto, he’s president: World’s largest magic organization now led by Surrey’s Billy Hsueh.
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) July 27, 2022
The role is rare for a Canadian. Hsueh is first of Asian descent, and also 2nd youngest in 100-year history of @IBMMAGIC.https://t.co/6ynVEzSTIT@sdpmagic @canadasmagic #SurreyBC #magic
The article mentions that 8 Canadians have held this title. They include:
Who are we missing?
From the July 29th upload "World’s best magicians gather in Canada for championship" by CBC News: The National:
From the July 28th article "The best magicians in the world are gathering in Canada this week" by Joseph Pugh at the CBC:
Two Canadians are competing this year, including Yannick Lacroix from Quebec and Cobalt, who will be competing in the close-up card magic category.
"I'm excitedly terrified," Cobalt told CBC News. He qualified for the championship after competing in an event last fall for the first time.
The Toronto-based magician says there is added stress and excitement when thinking about the audience.
"It's literally every great magician I grew up reading about … or ask[ed] for an autograph who's going to be in there now watching me do this act."
There's a lot on the line for the magicians, according to Canadian illusionist Greg Frewin.
"If you place even in the top three of this competition, your life changes," he says.
Frewin speaks from experience having won first place in the general magic category at the 1994 world championships in Yokohama, Japan. He currently performs shows at the Greg Frewin theatre in Niagara Falls, Ont., and has been training the next generation of magicians. One of his students, Ding Yang of China, is also competing at FISM.
"I can't give away what she does, but I will say this, there is one part of her act that nobody, male or female, has ever done and probably won't do for a long time because of the skill level and the skill set besides magic that it takes."
Congratulations to the winners, the contestants, and the organizers!
From the July 31st Facebook post by Paul Romhany:
FISM OFFICIAL RESULTS:
CLOSE-UP – MICRO MAGIC
1st Place: (tie) Simon Coronel (USA); Luís Olmedo (Spain)
2nd Place: Jacob Schenström (Sweden)
3rd Place: Mr. Triton (France)
CLOSE-UP – CARD MAGIC
1st Place: Markobi (France)
2nd Place: Pere Rafael (Spain)
3rd Place: Erik Tait (USA)
CLOSE-UP – PARLOUR MAGIC
1st Place: Shoot Ogawa (USA)
2nd Place: (tie) Javi Rufo (Spain); Vincent (Australia)
3rd Place: Jonio (Japan)
MOST ORIGINAL CLOSE-UP ACT: Gleb (Lithuania)
CLOSE-UP INVENTION:
MARTIN EISELE (Germany)
Daniel Mormina (Argentina)
STAGE – MENTAL MAGIC
1st Place: Anca & Luca (Austria)
2nd Place: Rob & Emiel (Netherlands)
3rd Place: (tie) Mago Larry (Argentina); Andrea Rizzolini (Italy)
STAGE – COMEDY MAGIC
1st Place: Mortenn Christiansen
2nd Place: Ramo & Alegria (Spain)
3rd Place: Marie Helene (France)
STAGE – ILLUSIONS
1st Place: Yunke (Spain)
2nd Place: Double Mandoble (Belgium)
3rd Place: no prize awarded
STAGE – GENERAL MAGIC
1st Place: Laurent Piron (Belgium)
2nd Place: Ding Yang (China)
3rd Place: Zhu Mingzhu (China)
STAGE – MANIPULATION
1st Place: (tie) Artem Shchukin (Russia); Junwoo Park (Korea)
2nd Place: Eden (South Korea)
3rd Place: Francesco Della Bona (Italy)
STAGE MOST ORIGINAL ACT:
Ding Yang (China)
STAGE INVENTION:
HJ (Taiwan Province of China)
Ramo & Alegria (Spain)
Zhu Minhzhu (China)
SPECIAL AWARDS
CREATIVITY & ARTISTIC VISION:
Topas
HISTORY, RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIP:
Richard Kaufman
THEORY & PHILOSOPHY
Dani DaOrtiz
SPECIAL AWARD TO MAX MAVEN
GRAND PRIX / CLOSE-UP:
SIMON CORONEL (USA)
GRAND PRIX / STAGE:
LAURENT PIRON (Belgium)FISM 2025 will be in Torino, Italy
There were 28 posts at Canada's Magic this month. Here are the 5 most viewed posts in the past 30 days:
5. FISM in the news - More on that shortly. Watch this space.
4. Jokers is serious about comedy - Thursday night magic starting in August!
3. Toronto: Pit Hartling lecture [July 22] and workshop [July 23] - A fabulous event, from what we heard.
2. Shane Cobalt on Global, CP24, CTV, CFRA, and SXMCanadaTalks - Congratulations on all of your achievements Shane!
1. The Evasons' $100,000 pledge - That's a seriously large payout!
Looking forward to seeing which Canadians are featured this season!
From the July 21st Instagram post by PT Fool Us:
Another great season. Thank you, magic world!
