Montreal refuses to give in to criticism

The World Film Festival this year to feature works by Italians Avati, Piccioni, Scola and Franchi

This doesn't look like a good year for Montreal's World Film Festival. In a statement issued earlier this year, federal and provincial agencies that provide almost $1 million in funding to the international festival want to see some changes in the near future.
In particular, Telefilm Canada slammed the festival for its strained relations with the film industry, arrogant management style and lack of collaboration with public sector partners.
The criticisms came in a report on the country's main festivals by Montreal consulting firm Secor. It was commissioned by Telefilm and Quebec provincial funding agency Sodec.
The Toronto, Vancouver and Atlantic events were given top marks but Montreal, whose president Serge Losique refused to co-operate with the study, didn't fare well.
"With respect to deal-making, the verdict is unanimous: Montreal offers few opportunities since the film market is not normally on the agenda of major international buyers and sellers," says the report. "The market is poorly attended and the majority of people consulted question its usefulness."
The report goes on to says that local industry players are dissatisfied with Montreal's style of management. "This may be a turning point for the festival's future, as some industry members admit that dialogue now appears to be out of the question," the report said.
The study does concede that the festival is popular with local film fans, but says attendance is small for the size of the city.
Meanwhile for the festival, which runs from August 26 to September 6, it's business as usual but without the big names.
The Hollywood majors, in fact, have virtually deserted Montreal in recent years, so it's notable that the festival managed to snare two studio pics for its official competition. One of the studio entries in the competition is Scottish director Paul McGuigan's Montreal-shot drama Wicker Park which stars Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Diane Kruger and Matthew Lillard. The other U.S. picture in competition is Around the Bend, from writer-director Jordan Roberts that stars Michael Caine, Christopher Walken and Josh Lucas.
The competition also includes Montreal regular, Chilean filmmaker Raoul Ruiz's Dias de Camp, about two old friends conversing about their lives in a Santiago bar. Another festival regular is Spaniard Carlos Saura who brings The 7th Day to the competition. In the arid heat of rural Spain, two families have been fighting for years over the boundaries of their land. These quarrels have already led to much bloodshed when Isabel, a teenager and eldest daughter of one of the families, tries to discover the true origin of the terrible conflict. Isabel finds out, with the help of her new boyfriend Chino, that it all started after an affair of unrequited love between Luciana Fuentes and Isabel's uncle, Amadeo Jiminez.
And Australian Brian Cox, another regular, adds Human Touch to the competition, about Anna, a singer, whose life is disrupted when she meets a mysterious millionaire.
Other films in the competition are Gracia Querejeta's Hector (Spain), about a 16-year-old boy suddenly left motherless; Nikos Panayotopoulos's Delivery (Greece), about a young man who arrives in Athens during a heatwave; Yoichi Higashi's The Crying Wind (Japan), where an elderly man and his grandson confront a troubling past; An Zhanjun's The Parking Attendant in July (China), about a divorced parking attendant who decides to marry a divorced flower shop owner; Yesym Ustaoglu's Waiting for the Clouds (Turkey), the story of a woman forced to live for half a century with the haunting secrets of a hidden identity; Vinko Möderndorfer's Suburbs (Slovenia), where middle-aged friends ponder their mostly unrealized and squandered lives to disastrous results; Niko von Glasow's Edelweiss Pirates (Germany), about a 17-year-old youth unwilling to follow father and brother in Hitler's footsteps; Craig Monahan's Peaches (Australia), where a teenage girl learns about her deceased parents' lives; Karen Shakhnazarov's The Rider Named Death (Russia), about a 1920s socialist revolutionary group that directed acts of terrorism against various high officials of the state in different cities; Sergio Cabrera's The Art of Losing (Colombia), where journalists uncover a political murder; Eran Riklis's The Syrian Bride (Israel), about an Israeli woman about to marry a Syrian television star and thus banned from returning to her Golan Heights home ever again; Juan José Campanella's Avellandeda's Moon (Argentina), about one of Buenos Aires' most popular nightclubs; François Favrat's The Role of Her Life (France), a thriller about a journalist who befriends a film star; Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou's Genesis (France), about an African griot (a traditional storyteller) who tells the true tale of existence; and Giuseppe Piccioni's The Life I Wish For, from Italy.
The Montreal competition often has a strong selection of Quebecois and English-Canadian movies, but that's not the case this year. The sole Canadian entry is French-language Quebec picture The Five of Us, from helmer Ghyslaine Cote, about a young, troubled woman in search of love.
In fact, the Canadian presence is minimal this year. The Panorama Canada sidebar has only seven features, and there is just one other high-profile Quebec movie in the festival aside from The Five of Us - novelist-turned-helmer Dany Laferriere's How to Conquer America in One Night, the tale of a Haitian living in Montreal.
The Hors Concours out-of-competition section includes a couple of prominent North American premieres, including Eric Rohmer's Triple Agent, a 1930s-set story of espionage and betrayal; and Youssef Chahine's French-Egyptian co-production Alexandria... New York.
Aside from The Life I Wish For, Italy is present at the Festival this year with five films. Pupi Avati's Christmas Rematch centres on a man ruined by a poker game; Alessandro Di Robilant's Forever is about an adulterous lawyer; Ettore Scola's People of Rome centres on the people of Rome; Roberto Andó's Strange Crime follows a man who, on his way to his son's wedding, has an affair with his future daughter-in-law; and Paolo Franchi's The Spectator, about a woman too interested her neighbour.
The festival will also offer a special screening of John Duigan's Montreal-shot historical drama Head in the Clouds, which stars Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend.
Another out-of-competition movie is Criminal, a caper film marking the directorial debut of Gregory Jacobs, and starring John C. Reilly, Diego Luna and Maggie Gyllenhaal, a remake of the 2000 Argentinean hit Nine Queens.
This year's festival also includes several tributes. Director Krsto Papic is one of the most influential Croatian filmmakers of his generation, and a member of the Yugoslav new wave of the 1960s and 1970s. His most important films are 1965's The Key, 1970's Handcuffs, and 1988's My Uncle's Legacy.
Greek auteur Theo Angelopoulos is among contemporary Greek filmmakers the most active in devising a film syntax, noticeably via the use of continuous shots as a metaphor for history's perpetual movement and the individual's existential quest. Out of this intellectual engagement emanates a view of the world and of cinema that is at once social, political and personal. His most notable works are 1970's Reconstruction, 1975's The Travelling Players, and 1998's Eternity and a Day.
And French actress Isabelle Adjani also gets a tribute. Among the select few who are at once celebrities and great actresses, Adjani has made relatively few major films but, thanks to her talent, glamour and flamboyant personality, has been a top French and international star since the late 1970s. Adjani made her film debut in 1969 in Bernard Toublanc-Michel's Le Petit Bougnat, and followed in 1971 by a role in Nina Companeez's Faustine and the Beautiful Summer. But it was her appearance in the title role of François Truffaut's The Story of Adele H that effectively launched her big-screen career. She was named best actress by the New York Film Critics Circle and, along with César and Oscar nominations, received offers to play in a plethora of films. Other notable performances are in Roman Polanski's The Tenant, André Téchiné's Barocco, as Rodin's embittered mistress in Camille Claudel, and the tempestuous French sovereign in Patrice Chéreau's Queen Margot.
Montreal's international jury this year will be comprised of French director Claude Zidi, Mexican actress Diana Bracho, Spanish filmmaker Jaime Camino, Italian actress Anita Caprioli, Bengali director Goutam Ghose, Czech animated filmmaker Bretislav Pojar, Canadian producer Denise Robert, and American director Jerry Schatzberg.

Montreal's World Film Festival takes place August 26 to September 6. For more information visit www.ffm-montreal.org.

Publication Date: 2004-08-22
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