Festival des Films du Monde (Montreal World Film Festival) complete programming announced

A RICH AND VARIED MENU WITH AN ABANDANCE OF PREMIERES AT THE MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

August 18 to 28, 2011

383 FILMS FROM OVER 70 COUNTRIES
230 features and medium-length films
(107 world or international premieres and 51 North American premieres)
153 short films

A jury presided over by Spanish director Vicente Aranda

André Forcier's COTEAU ROUGE as opening film

A tribute to Catherine Deneuve
A master class with Claude Lelouch

Bertrand Tavernier will present his personal favourites

A poster designed by Claude Robinson

The sections
World Competition (features and shorts)
First Films World Competition (features)
Out of Competition (features)
Focus on World Cinema (features and shorts)
Documentaries of the World (features, medium-length films, shorts)
Canadian Student Film Festival (short films)
Bertrand Tavernier's favourites
Loto-Québec Movies Under the Stars (features)
Our Cinema – Review of a year of hits (features)


THE WORLD COMPETITION
THE MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
A collection of favourites

20 features and 11 shorts from 19 countries will be shown in the World Competition. They represent a collection of favourites.

We note the return of several directors who previous films graced our screens in the past. The new film by André Forcier will open the show with COTEAU ROUGE starring Roy Dupuis, Céline Bonnier, Gaston Lepage in an offbeat fable populated by a body disposer for the mob, a shady property developer, an ex-boxer and a grandmother who volunteers to be the surrogate mother for her daughter's new child. Forcier's An Imaginary Tale was shown at the Festival in 1990 and he was a member of the MWFF Jury in 2006.

The MWFF is also presenting many first works in the World Competition. This includes the 2nd Quebec film, LA RUN by Demian Fuica, starring Jason Roy Léveillé, Marc Beaupré and Pierre-Luc Brillant. Guillaume is a “clean” young man. He doesn't do hard drugs and has no criminal record. But his whole world is suddenly turned upside down when he learns that his father, a compulsive gambler, is in hock to the tune of $50,000 to a local loan shark.

Another returning director is Eran Riklis (MWFF Grand Prize winner in 2004 for The Syrian Bride) who will be here with his latest film, PLAYOFF (Israel/France) starring Danny Huston and Amira Casar. Despite public opinion and family opposition, an Israeli basketball coach, himself a Holocaust survivor, accepts an offer to manage the German national team.

Russian actor-director Andrey Smirnov whose work was on display here in the past and who was a member of the jury in 1988, has a new film, THE DAY OF WRATH, which deals with the tumultuous period between 1909 and 1921, a time when Russia was being buffeted by the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution. The life and loves of a Russian woman become a mirror of the country's turbulent destiny.

Belgian filmmaker Geoffrey Enthoven was in Montreal two years ago with The Over the Hill Band, a hit with audiences and professionals. This year he returns in Competition with COME AS YOU ARE, a film that takes a light-hearted look at love, friendship and desire. Three guys in their 20s love wine and women but they are still virgins. They embark on a journey to Spain hoping to have their first sexual experience. Nothing will stop them. Not even their handicaps: one is blind, the other is confined to a wheelchair and the third is completely paralysed.

Emmanuel Mouret is a name we have heard before at the MWFF, specifically with Laissons Lucie Faire! in 2000 and Venus and Fleur in 2004. This year he is competing with THE ART OF LOVE (France), starring François Cluzet, Julie Depardieu, Judith Godrèche, who play characters that strive to love and desire in complete freedom but are constantly faced with the moral consequences of their behaviour

Japanese director Takahisa Zeze is also no stranger to Montreal. His 1999 film Hysteric and his 2001 film Dog Star were both shown at the MWFF. This year he's back, in competition, with LIFE BACK THEN in which a young man and a young woman, both nursing psychological wounds from their adolescent days, find work with a service specializing in the cleaning up of houses and the disposal of property left behind by people who die alone. Their work slowly brings them out of their shells. Ironically, they come to realize the preciousness and joy of life by dealing with death.

Another Japanese director, Masato Harada, who showed Heartbreak Yakuza here in 1988, is back in competition with CHRONICLE OF MY MOTHER, in which an aging mother clings to fading memories of her son and the maternal love which she always had for him but was never able to express because of the complex history of the family: it had always been hidden under layers of feelings.

A thoroughly Japanese story encompasses DIRTY HEARTS, a Brazilian film directed Vicente Amorim. In Brazil after WWII, the large population of Japanese immigrants, already oppressed by the state, refused to believe that Japan has lost the war and a private war was begun against the “defeatists”. This is the story of one man caught up in this war and his wife's struggle to extricate him.

DAVID, the first feature by young American director Joel Fendelman, also deals with cultural and ethnic divisions. It is the story of Daud, a young Muslim boy who is training to be an imam in Brooklyn. Through an innocent act of good faith, Daud inadvertently befriends a group of Jewish boys who mistake him for Jewish and accept him as one of their own. While working together on a summer project, a genuine friendship is formed between Daud and Yoav, one of the Jewish boys. Unable to resist the joy of a camaraderie that he has never felt before, David, as he is known to the Jewish boys, gets drawn into a complicated situation that is based on the best of intentions, and youthful deceit.

The two Polish films in competition also look back at a Poland of the past, a country that was still under Communist dictatorship. In THE MOLE by Rafael Lewandowski, Pawel, a young man who grew up thinking that his father was a hero of the Solidarity revolt of the 1980s, is shocked to read a newspaper exposé accusing the man of having been a Communist informer. Pawel's wife happens to be the daughter of a miner killed during the Solidarity protests and his marriage suffers. He doesn't know whom to believe. A former Communist secret policeman may have some answers, but will anyone listen?

The second Polish film, BLACK THURSDAY by Antoni Krauze, also deals with protests against the old regime. Two weeks before Christmas, 1970, the Polish Communist government raised food prices. The next day, Gdansk shipyard workers refused to go to work and took to the streets. On Thursday December 17, 45 protesters were shot and killed. The film follows the plight of a family caught up in the violence. This protest and its brutal suppression occurred a decade before the Solidarity union emerged to lead the opposition, but they were events that were clearly preparative for what happened later.

A more contemporary phenomenon, one that we encounter regularly in news these days, is the subject of FIVE SQUARE METERS by Max Lemcke of Spain. Alex and Virginia, a new young couple, put down a deposit on a to-be-built condo with a spectacular view of the ocean. But as the months pass and construction drags, their dream house quickly turns into a legal and financial nightmare. Alex teams up with others to fight the developer but domestic pressures and frustration at the inability to obtain justice prompts Alex to take stronger measures.

Germany confirms the vitality of its new young cinema with three films in competition. Sebastian Grobler's entry, LESSONS OF A DREAM, is set in Germany in 1874. Young Konrad Koch, just returned to his hometown from four years at Oxford University, is hired to teach English at a strict local school for boys. All that the boys know about England are common prejudices handed down from one generation to the next. In order to stir up some enthusiasm for the foreign language, Koch resorts to unorthodox means and introduces his students to a curious sport that comes from England: soccer. Unfortunately, Koch's unconventional ways soon earn him many enemies: influential parents, local dignitaries and, above all, his colleagues, who prefer to retain the school's routine of Prussian drills and discipline.

In THE FIRE, directed by Brigitte Maria Bertele, a young woman is assaulted after a night out dancing and has to live with the aftermath. The justice system, doctors, and even her closest friends prove to be of little help. But she is determined get justice. Not revenge, simply justice.

A FAMILY OF THREE, the third German entry, is the first feature by Pia Strietmann. In appearance, the Dwenters are a happy family, but beneath the placid surface, domestic dysfunction abounds. Christian, the father, has had a long series of extramarital affairs. Lars, his son, hates him for it and has run off to Berlin right after graduation. And Elaine, his sister, simply doesn't want to know about anything at all. Andrea, novelist, wife and mother, is the only one trying to hold it all together -- until she is killed in a car accident.The remaining Dewenters wonder if there is anything worth saving. Is the family nothing more than a collection of its individuals?

Two Italian films are competing this year. Presented as a politically incorrect comedy, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY by Gennaro Nunziante raises the issues of corruption, church influence, terrorism, and the North-South division in Italy. Checco, a guard at a seedy suburban disco, dreams of becoming a member of the carbinieri but he keeps failing the academy exam and he ends up working security at the Milan Cathedral. Very soon, thanks to his bottomless stupidity, Checco becomes the real threat to Italy's cultural heritage.

TATANKA (Italy) by Giuseppe Gagliardi, is the cinematic portrait of a young Southern Italian man's degradation and redemption through boxing. Michele, played in an acting debut by real-life boxing champion Clemente Russo, is doomed to a life of crime, but manages to emancipate himself through boxing. The film follows Michele on an adventure that takes him from the organized crime-ridden hinterland of Caserta, plagued by the Neapolitan Camorra mafia, to the inferno of clandestine boxing rings in Berlin and beyond.

HERE WITHOUT ME (Iran) by Bahram Tavakoli, is an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie. In this contemporary Iranian adaptation of the play, a single mother works hard to find a match for her painfully shy and lame-legged daughter, while her son dreams mostly of the cinema and escaping the trap of family obligations.

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION (China) by Zhao Tianyu is a portrait of urban love told through four stories. In Detector, Gao Yuan, an auditor, crosses paths with an airport screener every Tuesday for three years. She's been watching him, but he doesn't notice her until he misses his plane because of her mistake. Sometimes, love needs courage. In Thermometer, Xue Lian and her husband Wang Yong are deeply in love with each other, but everything changes when they begin trying to have a baby. In Stoplight, A Mei and her lover are seriously hurt in a traffic accident. As the details of the accident are revealed, her husband's behaviour takes on a darker hue. In Parachute, Hai Qiao and his girlfriend Jia Xin were the perfect skydiving team until she became addicted to drugs. Faced with his girlfriend's descent into chaos, Hai Qiao opts for his own way to save her.


SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION

OEDIPUS - Paul Driessen (Canada / Netherlands)
MUYBRIDGE'S STRINGS - Koji Yamamura (Canada / Japan)
OVERCAST - Velislav Kazakov (Canada)
ROMANCE - Georges Schwizgebel (Canada / Switzerland)
THANKSGIVING DINNER - Jean-Patrick Joseph (Canada)
THE CHILD WILL DIE - César Esteban Alenda, José Esteban Alenda (Spain)
IT'S NOBODY'S FAULT - Esteban Crespo (Spain)
IN THE FRAME - Philippe Lasry (France)
IN STILL WATERS - Astrid Rondero (Mexico)
PLAYING GHOST - Bianca Ansems (United Kingdom)
WANT TO SEE SOMETHING? - Tomas Jonsgarden (Sweden)


FIRST FILMS WORLD COMPETITION
MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL 2011
26 FEATURES FROM 21 COUNTRIES

We received a large number of first fiction features and we were particularly impressed by the maturity of the films. The directors of these works have this in common: they seem more interested in human stories than in gadgets or special effects. Many have trained in film school and have clearly learned their lessons well; their technical skills are remarkable. As well, some of these films have had substantial budgets, in some cases even rivalling those of veteran directors. We should also mention that other sections of the Festival contain many first films as well.

THE EDUCATION - Dirk Lütter (Germany)
LESS MODERN TIMES - Simon Franco (Argentina / Chile)
THE FINGER - Sergio Teubal (Argentina / Mexico)
HERE I AM - Beck Cole (Australia)
LIVING AFTERWARDS - Géraldine Doignon (Belgium)
NORTH SEA, TEXAS - Bavo Defurne (Belgium)
SHE'S NOT CRYING, SHE'S SINGING - Philippe de Pierpont (Belgium / France / Luxem.)
BRUTALBOX - Oscar Rojo (Spain)
17 GIRLS - Delphine Coulin & Muriel Coulin (France)
A BUTTERFLY KISS - Karine Silla (France)
LET MY PEOPLE GO! - Mikael Buch (France)
THE MAIDEN DANCED TO DEATH - Endre Hules (Hungary / Canada / Slovenia)
THE DEAD SEA - Leena Manimekalai (India)
ESCORT IN LOVE - Massimiliano Bruno (Italy)
DONKEYS - Odin Salazar Flores (Mexico)
BETWEEN US - Patricia Martinez de Velasco (Mexico)
FEAR OF FALLING - Bartosz Konopka (Poland)
THE PHANTOM FATHER - Lucian Georgescu (Romania)
IN OUR NAME - Brian Welsh (United Kingdom)
ELIMINATE: ARCHIE COOKSON - Rob Holder (United Kingdom)
HOUSE OF THE WIND - Viatcheslav Zlatopolski (Russia)
BLOODY BOYS - Shaker K. Tahrer (Sweden)
BODY - Mustafa Nuri (Turkey)
SEPTEMBER - Cemil Agacikoglu (Turkey)
THE PASSAGE - Roberto Minervini (USA / Belgium / Italy)
ETERNAL ASHES - Margarita Cadenas (Venezuela / France)


HORS CONCOURS / WORLD GREATS
MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL 2011

This prestigious Out of Competition section includes work by noted directors or films that for various reasons are not eligible to be in Competition

ABALLAY, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR - Fernando Spiner (Argentina)
THE STAR AND THE SEA - Li Qiankun et Xiao Giuyun (China)
BLACK BREAD - Agusti Vallaronga (Soain)
THE CONQUEST - Xavier Durringer (France)
THE ARTIST - Michel Hazanavicius (France)
WHAT LOVE WILL BRING - Claude Lelouch (France)
HIS MOTHER'S EYES - Thierry Klifa (France / Belgium)
THIS IS NOT A FILM - Jafar Panahi (Iran)
A CUBE OF SUGAR - Reza Mirkarimi (Iran)
LOVE & SLAPS - Sergio Castellitto (Italy)
THE WOMAN OF MY LIFE - Luca Lucini (Italy)
THE PERFECT LIFE - Lucio Pellegrini (Italy)
THE JEWEL - Andrea Molaioli (Italy / France)
SIBERIA MON AMOUR - Slava Ross (Russia)
INNOCENT SATURDAY - Alexander Mindadze (Russia / Ukraine / Germany)
SHADOW AND FACES - Dervis Zaim (Turkey)


FOCUS ON WORLD CINEMA
MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL 2011
73 features and 70 short films

This section is the most diverse of the Festival, with films from countries very different from one another not only in their cultures but in their levels of cinematic production. The bigger film countries are represented by several films each: Germany, Argentina, Canada, South Korea, Spain, France, Indian, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, United States, Venezuela. Four Canadian features are included in this section. It's when we see films from countries that are rarely represented on the commercial distribution circuit, that we are made aware of the vitality of some cinemas.

A MILLION COLOURS - Peter Bishai (South Africa / Canada)
AMNESTY - Bujar Alimani (Albania / Greece / France)
ABOVE US ONLY SKY - Jan Schomburg (Germany)
ALMANYA – WELCOME TO GERMANY - Yasemin Samdereli (Germany)
ROMEOS - Sabine Bernardi (Germany)
MY PRINCE. MY KING - Ciril Braem Tscheligi (Germany)
FORTRESS - Kirsi Marie Liimatainen (Germany)
THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR - Stephan Rick (Germany)
BLACK BUTTERFLIES - Paul van der Oest (Germany / Netherlands / South Africa)
THE WATER AT THE END OF THE WORLD - Paula Siero (Argentina)
THE BAD TRUTH - Miguel Angel Rocca (Argentina / Spain)
FACE TO FACE - Michael Rymer (Australia)
BRAND - Thomas Roth (Austria)
ONLY SON - Miel Van Hoogenbemt (Belgium / Luxembourg / France)
TILT - Victor Chouchkov Jr. (Bulgaria)
WEBDULTERY - Charles Wahl (Canada)
KILLING RUTH – THE SNUFF DIALOGUES - Nicholas Kinsey (Canada)
DEAD DREAMS - Josh Koffman (Canada)
HAPPY SLAPPING - Christos Sourligas (Canada)
SECRETS, OBJECTS - Young-mi Lee (South Korea)
DANCE TOWN - Jeon Kyu-hwan (South Korea)
TICKET TO PARADISE - Gerardo Chijona (Cuba / Spain)
CATALUNYA ÜBER ALLES! - Ramon Térmens (Spain)
COUSINHOOD - Daniel Sanchez Arévalo (Spain)
CHINESE TAKE-AWAY - Sebastian Borensztein (Spain / Argentina)
TRANSGRESSION - Enric Alberich (Spain / Canada / Italy)
THE GRAVEYARD KEEPER'S DAUGHTER - Katrin Laur (Estonia)
GARBAGE PRINCE - Raimo O. Niemi (Finland / Norway)
BACHELOR DAYS ARE OVER - Katia Lewkowicz (France)
THE ART OF SEDUCTION - Guy Mazarguil (France)
THE LONG FALLING - Martin Provost (France / Belgium)
SALT WHITE - Keti Machavariani (Georgia)
FISH'N CHIPS - Elias Demetriou (Grèce / Cyprus)
ADVENTURE - Jozsef Sipos (Hongary)
COLOUR - S.M. Raju (India)
ARENA - Vetri Maaran (India)
SOUND OF HEAVEN - Ravi Jadhav (India)
FACING MIRRORS - Negar Azarbayjani (Iran)
INVISIBLE - Michal Aviad (Israel / Germany)
THE SLUT - Hagar Ben Asher (Israel / Germany)
THE FLOOD - Guy Nattiv (Israel / Canada / France)
UNLIKELY REVOLUTIONARIES - Lucio Pellegrini (Italy)
ALL AT SEA – Matteo Cerami (Italy)
ON THE WAY HOME – Emiliano Corapi (Italy)
SCHOOL IS OVER – Valerio Jalongo (Italy / Switzerland)
THE FLOWERS OF KIRKUK – Fariborz Kamkari (Italy / Switzerland / Iraq)
MY WIFE – Yukinari Hanawa (Japan)
MOONLIGHT MASK – Itsuji Itao (Japan)
CRAZY-ISM – Shoji Kubota (Japan)
TRANSIT CITIES – Mohammed Al Hushki (Jordan)
HUVELIN STREET – Mounir Maasri (Lebanon)
RED HEART – Halkawt Mustafa (Norway / Iraq)
CLUB ZEUS – David Verbeek (Netherlands / China)
DEADLINE – THE REIGN OF IMPUNITY – Joel C. Lamangan (Philippines)
HERITAGE – Andrzej Baranski (Poland)
AMÉRICA – Sonia Fritz (Puerto Rico)
INNOCENCE – Jan Hrebejk (Czech Republic)
A WEDDING MOST STRANGE – Trevor Garlick (United Kingdom)
THE ROADSIDE HOUSE – Anton Sivers (Russia)
SHE-MONKEYS – Lisa Aschan (Sweden)
CORNELIS – Amir Chamdin (Sweden)
THEN AND NOW – Beyond Borders and Differences – Tata Amaral, Fanny Ardant, Hüseyin Karabey, Masbedo, Jafar Panahi, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Robert Wilson (Switzerland)
BLOWFISH – Chi Y. Lee (Taiwan, China)
HAYDE BRE – Orhan Oguz (Turkey)
MERRY-GO-ROUND – Ilksen Basarir (Turkey)
PRESS – Sedat Yilmaz (Turkey)
THE SUN – Atilla Cengiz (Turkey)
HOW TO CHEAT – Amber Sealey (U.S.A.)
FORT McCOY – Kate Connor & Michael Worth (U.S.A.)
A DECENT ARRANGEMENT – Sarovar Banka (U.S.A. / India)
STRANGER THINGS – Eleanor Burke / Ron Eyal (U.S.A. / United Kingdom)
RUMBLE OF THE STONES – Alijandro Bellame (Venezuela)
THE KID WHO LIES – Marité Ugas (Venezuela / Peru)


Short films of Focus on World Cinema :

Amok – Christoph Baumann (Germany)
1000 Grams – Tom Bewilogua (Germany)
Let Live – Felix Charin (Germany)
Teardrop – Damian John Harper (Germany)
Wasteland – Felix Harmuth (Germany)
House Wanders, Bird Water Fullr – Veronika Samartseva (Germany)
Changeling – Maria Steinmetz (Germany)
Rescue Yourself – Daniel Seideneder (Germany)
Seventh Day – Nadine Ilarina Voss (Germany / France)
The Swimsuit – Justin Koch (Germany / France)
The Window – Juan Manuel Diaz (Argentina)
Stick Together – Julius Telmer (Australia)
Swimsuit 46 – Wannes Destoop (Belgium)
Dancing With Travolta – Lenny Van Wesemael (Belgium)
Lunchbox Story – Pieter Dirkx (Belgium)
Fancy-fair – Christophe Hermans (Belgium)
Final Demand – Mireille Verboomen (Belgium)
The Extraordinary Life of Rocky – Kevin Meul (Belgium)
Life on the River – Chris Remerowski (Canada)
Drat – Farzin Farzaneh (Canada)
Between the Lines – Émilie Gaudet (Canada)
The Washing Machine – Danny Lynch (Canada)
A Cup of Wine – Daniel Conrad (Canada)
Teach'er – Cody Campanale (Canada)
The History of Stand-up Comedy – Neil McArthur (Canada)
Born in Iran – Jeannette Pople & Banafcheh Hejazi (Canada)
Dear God – Caroline Mailloux (Canada)
A Night Out – Heather Young (Canada)
Jane – Martin Edralin (Canada)
The Patient – Elizabeth Lazebnik (Canada)
Célia – Nancy-Lyne Beaudry (Canada)
Deliveries – James Anthony Usas (Canada)
55 Socks – Co Hoedeman (Canada)
A Very Candid Game – Will Khan (Canada / Australia)
3 Needs – Aksel Stasny (Canada / Austria / Slovenia)
Let's Play the Frog's Game – Michel Tintin Deslandes (Canada / U.S.A.)
The Shower – Maria José San Matin (Chile)
The Award – Leon Siminiami (Spain)
Bloody Dreams – Pablo Navarro-Rubio (Spain)
The Last Scene – Arturo Ruiz Serrano (Spain)
Sweet – Ivan Ruiz Flores (Spain)
Shift - Anu Aun (Estonia)
Tous les hommes s'appellent Robert – Marc-Henri Boulier (France)
Empty Stomachs – Julien Guetta (Fance)
Checkpoint – Ruben Amar (France)
A Perfect Day – Evris Papanikolas (Greece)
Open Doors – Ashish Pandey (India)
Bride Can – Ronak Taher (Iran / Australia)
Mornin', Good Night – Omer Bublil (Israel)
Overbooking – Michele Mortara (Italy)
Clics et déclics – Abdelilah Eljaouhary (Morocco)
Awaken – Cristina Kotz Cornejo (Mexico / U.S.A.)
Munted – Welby Ings (New Zealand)
Hauraki – Kirsten Green (New Zealand)
Meathead – Sam Holst (New Zealand)
Zebu and the Photo Fish – Zipporah Nyaruri (Uganda / Kenya)
Last Resort – Barney Elliott (Peru)
Paths of Hate – Damian Nenow (Poland)
The Photograph – Victor Dragomir (Romania)
Budarash – Kirill Modylevsky (Russia)
I Want to Remember – Linus Lim (Singapore)
Las Palmas – Johannes Nyholm (Sweden)
This Means Forever – Amanda Kernell (Sweden)
Death is in the Field – Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland)
The Tree – Kaynipa Polninkorn (Thailand)
Clay – David Kashkooli (U.S.A.)
Exposure – Larin Sullivan (U.S.A.)
Down Here – Diogo Costa Amarante (U.S.A. / Portugal)
Down this Road – Vinz Feller (U.S.A. / Switzerland)
No Stignray Cake for Dinner Tonight – Brualio Rodriguez (Venezuela)


DOCUMENTARIES OF THE WORLD
MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL 2011
40 features, 13 medium-length films, 11 short films

The documentary is a window on the world that surrounds us. The variety of subjects and the daring of the filmmakers that document them, never ceases to grow. Ever smaller and lighter equipment – of ever higher graphic and aural quality – allows filmmakers to shoot wherever they want, breaking taboos and showing humanity as it truly is.

GRANDMA, A THOUSAND TIMES – Mahmoud Kaabour (Abu Dhabi/Qatar/Lebanon)
KHODORKOVSKY – Cyril Tuschi (Germany)
SOLARTAXI – Erik Schmitt (Germany)
TASTE THE WASTE – Valentin Thurn (Germany)
RENT BOYS – Rosa von Prauheim (Germany)
THE REAL AMERICAN – JOE McCARTHY – Lutz Hachmeister (Germany)
THE KINGDOM OF SURVIVAL – M.A. Littler (Germany)
GENERATION KUNDUZ – Martin Gerner (Germany / Afghanistan)
ARRANGED HAPPINESS – Daniela Dar-Creutz (Germany / India)
UXO-UNEXPLORED ORDNANCE – Julia Weingarten (Germany / Vietnam)
A KING FOR PATAGONIA – Lucas N. Turturro (Argentina)
TATA CEDRÓN – Fernando Pérez (Argentina / Spain / France)
JOE CAMILLERI : AUSTRALIA'S MALTESE FALCON – Fiona Cochrane (Australia)
IBIZA OCCIDENT – Günter Schwaiger (Austria / Spain)
EPILOGUE – Manno Lanssens (Belgium)
BLINDING – Steve Sanguedolce (Canada)
A PEOPLE UNCOUNTED – Yeger Aaron (Canada)
LES PALES DU MAL – PARCOURS CITOYEN – Jean & Serge Gagné (Canada)
WE AIN'T RICH OR FAMOUS BUT WE ARE HAPPY PALS – Jay Bajaj (Canada)
BEHIND THE CAMERA – Bob McKenna (Canada)
THE STRAWBERRY TREE – Simone Rapisarda (Canada)
QALLUNAALIAQPALLIANIQ – Guy Simoneau (Canada)
THE INVISIBLE RED THREAD – Maureen Marovich (Canada)
IN THE WAKE OF THE TITANIC – Alain Vézina (Canada)
THEY THINK I'M CHINESE! – Nicole Giguère (Canada)
SURVIVRE ET VIVRE – Tomi Grgicevic / Davyd Tousignant (Canada)
FINDING FIDEL – Bay Weyman (Canada / Austria)
TIN CITY VOICES – Elijah Marchand (Canada / Guyana)
KARLA'S ARRIVAL – Koen Suidgeest (Spain / Belgium / U.S.A.)
FROM ONE FILM TO ANOTHER – Claude Lelouch (France)
TAGNAWITTUDE – Rahma Benhamou El-Madani (France / Algeria / Morocco)
MASSAGE, CAMEROON STYLE – Josza Anjembe (France / Cameroon)
DREAM COUNTRY – Jihane Chouaib (France / Lebanon)
NOT WHITE – BLACK – Konstantin Mindia Esadze (Georgia)
WILL THERE BE A THEATRE THERE? – Nana Janelidze (Georgia)
TRUE GODS HAVE BONES – Belén Santos & David Alfaro (Guinea-Bissau / Spain)
AMIN – Shahin Parhami (Iran / Canada / South Korea)
A BOATLOAD OF IRISHMEN – Mac-Dara O'Curraidhin (Ireland / United Kingdom)
MOSTAR ROUND TRIP – David Fisher (Israel)
THE HEISEI DILEMMA – Jun-ichi Saito (Japan)
AGNUS DEI: LAMB OF GOD – Alejandra Sanchez (Mexico / France)
THE OPEN SKY – Everardo Gonzalez (Mexico / Salvador)
FLOWERS OF ZION – Josu Larunbe / David Moncasi (Mozambique / Spain)
CALVET – Dominic Allan (United Kingdom)
AFRICA. BLOOD AND BEAUTY – Sergey Yastrzhembskiy (Russia / France)
NICKY'S FAMILY – Matej Minac (Slovakia / Czech Republic)
LOVE DURING WARTIME – Gabriella Bier (Sweden)
BITTER TASTE OF FREEDOM – Marina Goldovskaya (Sweden / Russia)
MARCEL OPHÜLS AND JEAN-LUC GODARD – Frédéric Choffat / Vincent Lowry (Switzerland)
WHEN THE DRUM IS BEATING – Whitney Dow (U.S.A. / Haiti)
THE RESCUERS – Michael King (U.S.A. / Rwanda)
THE MARRIAGE – Aldo Garay (Uruguay / Argentina)
THE MYSTERY OF THE LAGOONS – Atahualpa Lichy (Venezuela)


Short films in the section « Documentaries of the World » :

Underneath the Skin – Mathias Verleyen (Belgium)
Jungle 66 – The Malaysia Triangle – Roger Otis (Canada)
Quand tout est possible – Christine Chevarie-Lessard (Canada)
Nomade en ville – Benjamin Groulx (Canada)
Je suis, point – Claudia Gama (Canada)
De cire et d'acier – Jean-Michel Boré (Canada)
Villeraymmiut – Kenza Afsahi (Canada)
Des insectes et des hommes – Helgi Piccinin (Canada)
Chaque jour et demain – Fabrice Main (France)
Into Thin Air – Mohammad Reza Farzad (Iran)
Leap Before You Look – Stephane Goldsand (U.S.A. / Mexico)



THE CANADIAN STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL

The 42nd Canadian Student Film Festival will take place during the Montreal World Film Festival, from August 20 to 24, and the winners will be announced on August 24.

61 films were selected from schools, universities and training institutions across Canada. The films in this year's festival come from: the British Columbia Institute of Technology (Burnaby, B.C.), Concordia University (Montreal), Humber College (Toronto), INIS (Montreal), Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Halifax), Ryerson College (Toronto), Sheridan College (Oakville, Ontario), Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), University of British Columbia (Vancouver), Université de Montréal, UQAM (Montreal), University of Regina, York University (Toronto), CEGEP de Rivière-du-Loup, CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal.

The festival is competitive and various prizes will be awarded on August 24:
The Norman McLaren Prize sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada offers $2500 in technical services by the NFB towards the next production of the recipient.

The Kodak Film and Television Grand Prize for most promising filmmaker presented by Kodak Canada's Film and Television Division. The winner receives a camera valued at $800 along with film valued at $4200. And there are prizes in the the various categories: Animation, Documentary, Fiction, Experimental.

A new sponsor was added this year: Amazon.ca, the Canadian web site of the world's largest online retailer will be a new partner for the 42nd Canadian Student Film Festival.

This section of the MWFF has long been sponsored by Kodak Canada and the National Film Board of Canada. The support of Amazon.ca is invaluable to help the emergence of a new crop of Canadian filmmakers.


LOTO-QUÉBEC MOVIES UNDER THE STARS

The Montreal World Film Festival continues it program of free outdoor screenings in the Quartier des spectacles plaza on Jeanne Mance beside the Place des Arts. This year's lineup will feature a program of musicals under the banner: “BOLLYWOOD, HOLLYWOOD… and THE GIRLS”. Thanks to the support of Loto-Québec, festivalgoers will enjoy Bollywood films, Hollywood musical classics and Jacques Démy's The Young Girls of Rochefort in tribute to Catherine Deneuve.


OUR CINEMA – REVIEW OF A YEAR OF HITS

The annual program of Quebec cinema, Our Cinema – Review of a Year of Hits, comprising 20 features, will be presented in l'Espace Culturel G-E Lapalme of the Place des Arts. Admission is free.


CATHERINE DENEUVE TO BE HONOURED
AT 35th MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

Catherine Deneuve, icon of the French cinema, will be honoured by the Montreal World Film Festival. Ms. Deneuve will receive the Festival's Grand Prize of the Americas during its 35th edition August 18-28. “Catherine Deneuve occupies a special place the pantheon of great screen actors. She has collaborated with the greatest filmmakers of modern cinema and she has conquered the world with her immense talent. We are especially happy to be able to pay tribute to Ms. Deneuve at our Festival,” declared MWFF President Serge Losique.

She came to wide notice in Jaques Demy's “Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, Palme d'or winner at Cannes, a critical and box office hit. Her performance as a romantic middle-class girl who falls in love with a young soldier but gets imprisoned in a loveless marriage with another man, demonstrated a genuine talent beneath the classic physical beauty. And this talent was quickly confirmed in three career-establishing roles: as a schizophrenic killer in Roman Polanski's “Repulsion” (1965), as a married woman who works as a part-time prostitute every afternoon in Luis Buñuel's masterpiece, “Belle de jour” (1967), and as a frigid femme fatale in François Truffaut's “Mississippi Mermaid” (1969).
By now her reputation had spread well beyond French borders. Terence Young cast her opposite Omar Sharif in “Mayerling” (1968), Stuart Rosenberg cast her opposite Jack Lemmon in “The April Fools” (1969), Marco Ferreri cast her opposite Marcello Mastroianni in “Liza” (1972), and Robert Aldrich cast her opposite Burt Reynolds in “Hustle” (1975). Audiences loved to see her on screen, the critics were impressed and her directors kept coming back for more: Jacques Demy in “The Young Girls of Rochefort” (1967) and “Peau d'âne” (1970), Buñuel in “Tristana” (1970) and Truffaut in “The Last Metro” (1980), the vehicle for one of her most magnificent roles, opposite Gérard Depardieu, as a stage actress in Nazi-occupied Paris. Her passionate performance won critical plaudits as well as the César for best actress.

Another director with whom she has worked multiple times is André Téchiné. He first cast her in “Hotel America” (1981) and invited her back before his cameras in “My Favorite Season” (1993), “Thieves” (1996, both films opposite Daniel Auteuil); “Changing Times” (2004) in which she plays once again opposite Gérard Depardieu; and “The Girl on the Train” (2009). Thieves prompted critic Roger Ebert to pen this encomium to Deneuve: “(She) continues to fascinate. She has a timeless beauty and avoids stereotyping by consistently playing against it… “Belle de Jour”, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “Indochine”.

Régis Wargnier's “Indochine” (1992), a critical and commercial hit, was another highlight in a career full of them: it earned Deneuve a second César and a best actress Oscar nomination. But her popularity and success has never prevented her from accepting smaller roles in smaller, artier, edgier movies like Leos Carax's “Pola X” (1999), or Julie Lopes-Curval's “Mères et filles” (2009). Or in films where her regal stature is the object of comedy: next year in Laurent Tiard's new “Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia”, she will be the English Queen Cordelia! At the Festival this year she stars in Thierry Klifa's “His Mother's Eyes”.

In 1999 Deneuve was named UNESCO's special ambassador for the preservation of our cinematographic heritage.




CLAUDE LELOUCH TO GIVE A MASTER CLASS
AT THE 35th MWFF

Claude Lelouch is the master of all cinematic trades in French film. Actor, director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, cameraman – he has worn all these hats and many more. On the occasion of two new films, “D'UN FILM À L'AUTRE” (From One Film to Another) and “CES AMOURS-LÀ” (What Love May Bring), the Montreal World Film Festival invited Lelouch to give a Master Class on August 26. “I'll come to tell you about the great love story that I have been living with cinema over the past 50 years,” offered the cineaste who has been a frequent guest at the MWFF. “Claude Lelouch embodies what is great about French cinema, including all genres, the most famous stars along with unknowns, forever taking the risks that make the 7th art at once so exciting and profound,” added Festival President Serge Losique

In addition to Lelouch's Master Class, the MWFF will present his two most recent films:

“D'UN FILM À L'AUTRE” (From One Film to Another). April 13, 2011 would be the 50th anniversary of the founding of Films 13… how to celebrate? Surely by making “another” film that sums up what preceded it. So “From One Film to Another” is a sort of anthology of the films made by Films 13 since the 1960s (short and feature-length films mostly directed by Claude Lelouch), the “best” of a half-century of filmmaking, stretching from “Le Propre de l'homme” (1961) to “What Love May Bring”. A biography in images of a filmmaker who has never left his viewers indifferent.

“CES AMOURS-LÀ” (What Love May Bring). The film follows cinema usher Ilva Lemoine (Audrey Dana) as she is swept from one romantic encounter to the next through a series of flashbacks while she stands trial for the murder of her husband. Described as a woman whose only crime is that she "loves too fast”, Ilva had a complicated childhood -- her pioneer filmmaker father getting killed in the trenches of World War I just as he receives news of her birth -- and after a mishap in Italy her mother takes up with a projectionist in Paris. But Ilva's childhood is only the prelude to a life lived to its fullest, not wisely but too well.


BERTRAND TAVERNIER PRESENTS HIS FAVOURITES

One of France's premiere directors, screenwriters, and producers, Bertrand Tavernier is also one of France's – no, the world's – great cinephiles. Tavernier grew up with a love of film and wanted to be a director from the age of 13. He was particularly influenced by such American directors as Joseph Losey, John Ford, Samuel Fuller, and William Wellman, and -- during a spell at the Sorbonne, where he studied law -- he became involved in the film industry as an assistant director for Jean-Pierre Melville. By his own admission, he was not very good at the job, so he became a film critic. While working for such prestigious publications as Positif and the Cahiers du cinéma, he wrote two books on the American cinema, one of which has become a standard work on the subject. Even now, after three decades of making some of the most interesting – and referential – films in contemporary cinema, there is still the heart of a critic and a film fan beating within his chest.

So, after coming to the MWFF last year to show two of his own works – In the Electric Mist (2009) and The Princess of Montpensier (2010) – he has consented to return this year to show six of his favourite films by other French and American directors, works that have influenced his own aesthetic, works that he feels deserve a wider audience. The workshop will be held in two sessions and will allow a discussion with festivalgoers.

FRENCH CINEMA: FORGOTTEN CLASSICS
Sucre by Jacques Rouffio (1978)
Douce by Claude Autant-Lara (1943)
Le Mariage de Chiffon by Claude Autant-Lara (1942)

AMERICAN CINEMA: UNAPPRECIATED NOIRS
Pitfall by André de Toth (1948)
Cry Danger by Robert Parrish (1951)
The Prowler by Joseph Losey (1951)

These screenings and discussions with Bertrand Tavernier will be held on August 20, 21 and 22.


A POSTER DESIGNED BY CLAUDE ROBINSON

We asked artist-illustrator Claude Robinson to design a poster for the 35th anniversary of the Montreal World Film Festival. Claude got to work on the project in December and came up with an illustration that stresses cinema's creative process.


HOW TO SEE LOTS OF FILMS
AT THE WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
WITHOUT GOING BROKE


THE THEATRES

IMPÉRIAL THEATRE, 1430, de Bleury St. (Metro Place des Arts)
Sandra & Leo Kolber Pavilion, Salle Lucie et André Chagnon
MAISONNEUVE THEATRE, Place des Arts (metro Place des Arts)
QUARTIER LATIN CINEMA (9 theatres, 350 Emery St. (metro Berri-UQAM)
CINÉMA ONF, 1564, St-Denis St. (Metro Berri-UQAM)

TICKETS

In its ongoing effort to make quality cinema accessible to as many people as possible, The Montreal World Film Festival has instituted a special quantity discount. The discount coupons are now available.

10 coupons are available for $65. representing a saving of 35% on individual tickets.

The coupons can be exchanged for tickets for specified showings beginning Saturday August 13 at the box offices of the Quartier Latin Cinema, the Imperial Cinema and the Place des Arts.

“Cinephile passes” are on sale for $250 each.
“Passports” are on sale for $100 each.

Purchase forms for “Cinephile passes” and “Passports” are available on the Festival's web site: www.ffm-montreal.org

Further information: (514) 848-3883