A MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

OPEN TO THE WORLD

AND TO THE NEXT GENERATION

Montreal, August 9, 2006 – The Montreal World Film Festival, which will take place August 24 to September 4, 2006,  is placing particular emphasis on an openness to the world and to cultural diversity that has been its raison d'être since the beginning. It also welcomes the next generation of cineastes with a large selection of first works.

215 features and 194 short and medium-length films from 76 countries are included in the program of the 30th Montreal World Film Festival.

Of the 215 features, 106 will be getting their world or international premieres (premieres outside their countries of origin), 58 will have their North American premieres, and 34 their premieres in Canada.

The World Competition comprises 21 fiction features and 15 shorts from 25 countries.

Canada is well represented by several feature films in different sections. The Secret Life of Happy People by Stéphane Lapointe (Official selection) will be presented on closing night of the Festival, The Daughters of the Chinese Botanist by Dai Sijie, co-produced with France) will be presented in the Competition. Three Canadian shorts will also compete: Jack et Jacques by Marie-Hélène Copti, Monument  by Alain Delannoy, and  Roadtrain 66 by Roger Otis).

Since last year, a special competitive section has been devoted to first works of fiction. 24 features are entered in the World Competition of First Films. This section not only presents first works, it also provides a showcase for films from such countries as Afghanistan, Ecuador, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mauritius.

The plethora of first works in this year's Festival is significant. This trend has been noticed in many other festivals as well; the number of first films submitted is remarkable. In all, 70 first works of fiction will be shown at the 2006 Festival. A first  work is often key for a new director's career. Many first films shown at the Montreal World Film Festival have served as passports to international recognition, for example Radu Mihaileanu with “Trahir” (Romania) in 1993, Alexander Payne with “Passion of Martin” (USA) in 1990. and more recently “The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros” by Aureaus Solito (Philippines) in 2005.

Among the films in the Out of Competition section, there are large commercial productions, such as  the Japanese blockbuster Yamato by Junya Sato and  Antonio Vivaldi, Prince of Venice by Jean-Louis Guillermou, and comedies with actors in top form such as Orchestra Seats by Danièle Thompson.

As its name implies, the Focus on World Cinema section is thoroughly open to the world and is marked by its eclecticism. One hundred features from six continents were selected for this section. There is a first film Saudi Arabia here together with a long list of other countries, big film producers and smaller ones. Europe and the Americas are particularly well represented. There are also films from such relatively unknown countries (production wise) as Sri Lanka, Haiti, Morocco and Thailand.

The Documentaries of the World section offers a reflection of what preoccupies many filmmakers around the globe: individual or collective destinies, abused children, child labour, living with handicaps, anti-personnel mines, music, painting, etc. Many filmmakers are still affected by the tragedy of 9/11. This event, as seen by a Japanese director, is different from how it is viewed by an American director. Israel, Iraq and Lebanon also inspired documentarists.

The Festival will honour four great actors with numerous showings of their films. There will be a tribute to Bulle Ogier including several films that have marked her long career: Jacques Rivette's L'amour fou, The Salamander by Alain Tanner, Mistress by Barbet Schroeder, Venus Beauty Institute by Tonie Marshall. 

Rémy Girard, Bruno Ganz and Kiyoshi Atsumi will also be honoured during the Festival. The films Rémy Girard selected for his mini-restrospective are In the Belly of the Dragon by Yves Simoneau, Georges Mihalka's La Florida, Kalamazoo by Marc-André Forcier, The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions by Denys Arcand.

The tribute to Bruno Ganz is also comprised of films that he selected: Knife in the Head by  Reinhard Hauff, The Inventor by Kurt Gloor, Bread and Tulips by Silvio Soldini, The Downfall by Oliver Hirschbiegel.

Japanese actor Kiyoshi Atsumi (1928-96) was so popular that, according to one critic, at the height of his career, his face was "better known than the Emperor himself". The character he played, Tora-san, or Torajiro Kuruma, to give him his full name, is the recurring anti-hero in a remarkable series of 48 films that were made between 1969 and 1995, a street-smart but kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. In Japan, the character of Tora-san is as familiar and popular as Mickey Mouse, as bumbling and endearing as Ralph Kramden and as durable as James Bond. Four films of the Tora-san series will be presented with the collaboration of Shockiku: “Tora-San, Our Lovable Tramp”, “Tora-San Meets The Songstress Again”, “Tora-San's Sunrise And Sunset”, “Tora-San Goes Religious?”

The 37th Festival of Student Films will be held during the World Film Festival, from August 26 to 30. 54 films from 16 schools and universities across Canada were selected. As in years past, the National Film Board of Canada will join us in presenting the Norman McLaren Award, and Kodak will offer a scholarship to the most promising director.

A program of free cinema will be offered to the public. For many years now Radio-Canada have joined with the Festival to present Notre cinéma à Radio-Canada, free screenings of domestic cinema under a big tent on Ste-Catherine street  in front of the Place des Arts esplanade. These showings will be held every afternoon beginning at 2 p.m.

And, as usual, the Festival itself offers a selection of classics and popular films as Movies Under the Stars – daily from 8.30 p.m. The list of scheduled films will be announced later.

Source:

Montreal World Film Festival

(Montreal International Film Festival)

Information:Amély Tremblay

(514) 289-0866

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