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...

  It doesn’t get much better than this…..the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which presents the New York Film Festival each Fall, is in the midst of a revelatory review of one of the major film movements of the 20th century, presenting a list of acknowledged classics along with previously unknown (at least to me) gems. ITALIAN NEOREALISM AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN CINEMA is an exhaustive look at the cinema that flourished in Italy in the post-war period and that still remains a high poi...

PROGRAMME FOR SUNDAY MAY 17th 2009 COMPÉTITION - Grand Théâtre Lumière 8:30am and 7:30pm: VENGEANCE by Johnnie To – 1h48 4:30pm: KINATAY by Brillante Mendoza – 1h40   OUT OF COMPETITION - Grand Théâtre Lumière   7:45pm: L’ARMEE DU CRIME (The Army of crime) by Robert Guédiguian – 2h19  (Salle du soixantième)   11:30am and 10:30pm: AGORA by Alejandro Amenabar – 2h21     UN CERTAIN REGARD - Salle De...