OXYGEN (ADEM), a Belgium/Netherlands co-production by debut director Hans Van Nuffel, won the Grand Prix des Ameriques at the Montreal World Film Festival last evening. The award is the highest honor given at the Festival, which concluded a 10-day homage to world cinema that includes nearly 450 feature and short films from 80 countries.
OXYGEN tells the poignant tale of two young men who suffer from cystic fybrosis, a genetic disease that slowly destroys their lungs....
The Montreal World Film Festival comes to a close this evening with the North American Premiere of THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER, the latest film from celebrated French director Bertrand Tavernier. The film will screen following the announcement of the Festival awards at the Theatre Maisonneuve, a spectacular concert hall that is the Festival’s most luxurious screening venue. The lavish historical epic is set in France in the mid sixteenth century, when the religious wars betwe...
Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez in UNE LIAISON PORNOGRAPHIQUE
If one is a fan of French cinema (c'est moi) and gaga over French movie stars (moi aussi), then the closing weekend of the Montreal World Film Festival is a gift from the cinema gods. Jetting into town for a series of talks and film presentations are actors Gerard Depardieu and Nathalie Baye, two formidable presences on the Gallic screen.
Nathalie Baye will receive a special Career Achievement Award...
HENRY OF NAVARRE (Jo Baier, Germany/France/Spain)
It is always tempting to ascertain a link or a thematic accent in the programming of a film festival. Threads are there but creating a strong argument in that direction is always a bit of a false road. In truth, film festivals come together based on the films that are made available to them. However, as with an individual, each Festival has its own distinct personality and interests. At the Montreal World Film Festival, ...
LOST LOVE MURDER (Shoji Kubota, Japan)
The Montreal World Film Festival, which is now in its final weekend, has always been a bridge for Asian films coming to North America. Films from this part of the world resonate with Montreal audiences and juries. In the past ten years, the number of Asian films winning the Festival’s top prize is more consistent than at any other major film event. This year, this trans-ocean love affair continues.
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The word diva is often used these days to denote bad behavior and outsized arrogance but in its original incarnation, it was coined to described someone whose artistic gifts were, in fact, divine….a gift from God. So, it is with this original interpretation that I acknowledge the presence at the Montreal World Film Festival of a true cinematic diva, the Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli.
Sandrelli has been part of the cinema firmament for over 60 years. As with her...
Premiering here at the Montreal World Film Festival in the same week that saw U.S. President Barack Obama deliver a television address announcing the end of combat operations by the U.S. military in Iraq, the timing could not be better for the new American documentary film CAMP UNITY.
After more than seven years of bloody combat, the American role in Iraq has shifted to one of helping build a solid democracy from the ruins of a devastated nation. What role the 50,000 U....
SILENCE LIES (Julie Hivon, Canada)
The Montreal World Film Festival, which is at the midway point of its celebration of world cinema, also sees part of its mission as a showcase for new Canadian film talents to shine for both local audiences and for visiting professional guests from all over the globe. While Canada’s film industry is rather strong, it still must compete with the overwhelming marketing machine of its powerful neighbor to the south. Fighting for screens an...
On my first evening at the Montreal World Film Festival on September 1, my thoughts are going to Venice. Not only because that venerable film festival opens today but because Venice, as both a real place and a metaphor, is a potent symbol in the Polish film viewed this evening in Montreal, which is simply called VENICE.
The film, which is making its International Premiere in the World Competition section here, is written and directed by Jan Jakub Kolski, a vete...
Premiering in the Competition section of the Montreal World Film Festival this week are two American independent productions from directors with long histories in the indie arena.
TWELVE THIRTY is the fourth film from writer/director Jeff Lipsky, whose films have been major hits at film festivals worldwide. TWELVE THIRTY is drama about a family with adult children that is broken, and a self-centered young man who, in the span of a week, becomes entangled in each of their lives,...
Billie August
Norwegian director Billie August (the winner of two Cannes Palme d'or prizes for the PELLE THE CONQUEROR in 1987 and THE BEST INTENTIONS in 1992) is the President of the Jury at this year's Montreal World Film Festival (running from August 26 to September 6).
The famed director and his jury colleagues will determine the Grand Prix des Ameriques, the Festival's most prestigious award, as well as winners for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Be...
The 34th edition of the Montreal World Film Festival kicked off its celebrations last evening with a world premiere screening of local director Louis Belanger's ROUTE 132. Films from across the European continent dominate the Festival's main competition section....all in contention for Grand Prix des Ameriques, the Festival's highest honor.
France is the country with the most films in the section, not surprising considering the Festival's love of French cinema and cinema stars. Lea...
Celebrated Quebec writer/director Louis Bélanger makes a triumphant return to the Montreal World Film Festival, which opens this evening with the director's latest film ROUTE 132. The film is making its World Premiere in the Competition Section of the event.
In this highly dramatic caper drama, two old friends and small-time crooks embark on a crime spree, but take an unexpected detour that could lead them down the road to redemption. The film, co-written by the director ...
Nothing ignites interest like a world premiere, and this year's Montreal World Film Festival is boasting several. Among its most highly anticipated red carpet events is the presentation of THE NEIGHBOR, a film written and directed by Naghmeh Shirkhan. The film will be screened in the First Films World Competition section.
Starring Azita Sahebjam, Tara Nazemi, Parisa Wahedi, Kamyar Mahinsa, Matt Dean, Ramin Sanadizadeth and Parvin Sahebjam this Canadian/USA co-production set in ...
The calendar may still say August, but the busy Fall film festival season kicks off in earnest in Montreal later this week as the Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) will celebrate its 34th edition. The Festival, one of the only FIAPF A-Class film festivals in North America, is the first in a marathon that will take film buffs and professionals to film events in Toronto, Venice, San Sebastian, New York, Woodstock, Deauville and Chicago (just to name a prominent few).
The MWFF,...
With the start of the season's first major film event, the Montreal World Film Festival on Thursday, September 26, an announcement comes from Quebec about the makeup of the 8 member delegation of the International Film Critics jury, members of the The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). The critics organization continues to
have an important presence in Montreal, with an impressive delegation of international journalists.
FIPRESCI JURY MEMBERS FOR MONTREAL WORLD F...
For devotees of French cinema, it doesn't get much better than this. Gérard Depardieu, the bad boy-turned-eminence grise of French cinema, will give a master class on the cinema at the Montreal World Film Festival on the Festival's final day of September 6. The celebrated French star will reflect on his craft, his experiences with the great film directors of his era and on his vision of the contemporary cinema.
“It was in Montreal, in 1983, that Gérard Depardieu received h...
The Montreal World Film Festival will pay tribute to the celebrated French actress Nathalie Baye, who will be in Montreal to present a selection of her films. One of the most well-respected and versatile French actresses of her generation, Nathalie Baye has enjoyed a lengthy career that has included multiple César awards and a wide variety of roles. She has been the muse of many of the great directors of the French screen, such as Alain Cavalier, Nicole Garcia, Jean-Luc Godard, Toni...
ROUTE 132, directed by Montreal filmmaker Louis Bélanger, will open the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival, and will inaugurate its official competition. The film is making its world premiere at the Festival, one of North America's largest, which runs from August 26 to October 6, 2010.
Written by Bélanger and Alexis Martin, ROUTE 132 was produced and by Fabienne Larouche and Michel Trudeau for Aetios Productions and by Denise Robert and Daniel Louis for Cinémaginaire. The film...
Monday, September 1-------After a 10 day marathon of world cinema, the Montreal World Film Festival concluded this evening with its gala Awards Ceremony and a screening of the French/Swiss/Belgian film Home, starring Isabelle Huppert. While French-language films are de rigeur in this French speaking city, the Festival’s highest honor went to a Japanese film. The Grand Prix des Ameriques, announced from the stage of the Theater Maisonneuve by Jury President (and Oscar nominated American directo...
Monday, September 1--------The Montreal World Film Festival closes this evening with the North American Premiere screening of Home, the newest film from French/Swiss director Ursula Meier. The film will screen at the Theatre Maisonneuve following the announcement of the juried awards. Home, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Critics Week, is a Franco-Swiss-Belgian co-production, starring Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet as a husband and wife whose family's peaceful existence in an...
Monday, September 1-------A new Indian film is making its World Premiere bow at the Montreal World Film Festival. Chaturanga is based on the novel by the Nobel Prize winning author Rabindranath Tagore, and is directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay, one of the most exciting and promising young filmmakers working in India. The film is the story of a love that is caught between conflicting worlds of ideas. The lead protagonist Sachish flees from radical positivism to religious mysticism in his quest f...
Sunday, August 31-------The Montreal World Film Festival is saluting the fine work done by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, a Japanese organization that promotes both classic and contemporary Japanese films, by showcasing three classic Japanese films here. The Film Institute was founded by Madame Kashiko Kawakita to promote Japanese cinema abroad. The Institute's mission in the past 35 years has been to collect and protect films and other items of film heritage and to make them available to...
Saturday, August 30------The Montreal World Film Festival hosted the World Premiere last evening of Scottish filmmaker Steven Lewis Simpson’s latest film REZ BOMB. This marks the director's third feature in a row to World Premiere at the Festival, with previous showings of THE TICKING MAN (2003) and its sequel RETRIBUTION (2005).While his previous films were set in his native Scotland, REZ BOMB provides quite a contrast. The story is set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota...
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