The
Montreal World Film Festival (WFF) , founded in 1977, is one of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's oldest international
film festivalA film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. The films may be of recent date and, depending upon the focus of the individual festival, can include international releases as well as films produced by...
s and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the
FIAPFThe FIAPF based in Paris, created in 1933, is an organization composed with 31 member associations from 25 of the leading audiovisual production countries...
. The public festival is held annually in late August in the city of
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
in
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Unlike the
Toronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival begins the Thursday night after Labour Day and lasts for ten days. Between 300-400 films are screened at approximately 23 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, its counterpart in English-speaking Canada, the Montreal World Film Festival focuses on various kinds of films from all over the world but features few if any produced in Hollywood.
The 31st Festival des Films du Monde was held between August 21 and September 1, 2008.
The 2009 edition will take place from August 27 to September 7, 2009. The President of the Jury has yet to be announced.
Programmes
The World Film Festival is organised in various sections:
- World Competition - The main event of the festival.
- First Films World Competition
- Hors Concours (World Greats, out-of competition)
- Focus on World Cinema (Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania)
- Documentaries of the World
- Tributes
- Cinema Under the Stars
- Canadian Student Film Festival
Juries
Prior to the beginning of each event, the Festival’s board of directors appoints the juries who hold sole responsibility for choosing which films will receive the blessing of a WFF award. Jurors are chosen from a wide range of international artists, based on their body of work and respect from their peers.
Awards
Competition
- Grand prix des Americas
- Special Grand Prix of the jury
- Best Director
- Best Actress
- Best Actor
- Best Screenplay
- Best Artistic Contribution
- Innovation Award
- Short Films (1st Prize and Jury Prize)
In addition the festival-going public votes for the films they liked best in different categories:
- People's Choice Award
- Award for the Most Popular Canadian Film
- Glauber Rocha Award for the Best Film from Latin America
- Best Documentary Film Award
- Best Canadian Short Film Award.
History
The goal of the
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
World Film Festival (Montreal International Film Festival) is to:
encourage cultural diversity and understanding between nations, to foster the cinema of all continents by stimulating the development of quality cinema, to promote filmmakers and innovative works, to discover and encourage new talents, and to promote meetings between cinema professionals from around the world.
The president of the Montreal World Film Festival (WFF) is
Serge LosiqueSerge Losique is the founder & president of the Montreal World Film Festival since its opening. He is the father of the well-known television host Anne-Marie Losique.- External links :*...
; its vice-president is
Danièle Cauchard. Losique's management has been controversial. The WFF lost the sponsorship of its previous government cultural funders, SODEC and
Telefilm CanadaTelefilm Canada or Téléfilm Canada is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Canada.It is the primary federal cultural agency dedicated to the development and promotion of the Canadian audiovisual industry....
as a result of disagreements with Losique in 2004. Subsequently, these two funding agencies announced that they would support a new international film festival, called the
New Montreal FilmFestFestival International de Films de Montréal , also known in English as the New Montreal FilmFest was a film festival held in Montreal in 2005 to concentrate on Francophone films...
(FIFM), to be managed by Spectra Entertainment and headed by Daniel Langlois (of SoftImage and Ex-Centris and the
Festival du Nouveau CinémaThe Festival du Nouveau Cinéma was known as the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media until 2004. Founded in 1971, by Claude Chamberlan and Dimitri Eipides, it is an annual independent film festival held in Montreal and features independent films from around the world.-FNC and FIFM:In...
). After the inaugural edition of that new festival was unsuccessful, it was abandoned early in 2006. As of July 2007, Losique's lawsuits against the funding agencies were dropped, paving the way for a restoration of government funding.
http://www.playbackmag.com/articles/daily/20070725/wff.html
Impact
According to a survey by Léger Marketing:
- Approximately 385,000 attended the 2008 World Film Festival. Of these, 323,352 (84%) were local filmgoers and 61,591 (16%) were out-of-town visitors.
- Among visitors, 27% were less than 35 years old, 34% were 35 to 54 years old and 39% were more than 54 years old.
- During their stay in the greater Montreal area, visitors attracted here by the Festival spent an average of $921.60. Visitors from outside the province spent on average twice as much as visitors from Quebec, and this money was spent specifically within the framework of their attendance at the Festival.
- Tourist spending generated by visitors to the Montreal World Film Festival is estimated at $21 million.
Controversy
In 2005, Losique first announced and later withdrew the film
KarlaKarla is a 2006 American motion picture drama and thriller. The film is based on the true story of two of Canada's most notorious serial killers, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka....
from the WFF after the principal sponsor of the festival,
Air CanadaAir Canada is Canada's largest airline and flag carrier. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transportation for passengers and cargo to 96 destinations worldwide. Its largest hub is Toronto Pearson International Airport in Ontario. Its main base is Montreal-Pierre...
, threatened to withdraw its sponsorship of the festival if that film were included. The film — about
Karla HomolkaKarla Leanne Homolka, also known as Karla Leanne Teale , is a Canadian ex-convict who attracted worldwide media attention when she was convicted of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the 1991 rape-murders of two Ontario teenage girls, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, as well as the rape and...
, a young woman who was convicted of manslaughter and who served twelve years in prison for her part in the kidnapping, sex-enslavement, rapes and murders of teenage girls, including her own sister, in a case said to involve
ephebophiliaEphebophilia is a term originally used in the late 19th to mid 20th century for a chronophilia in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19, and recently revived by Ray Blanchard...
— was controversial in Canada, with many calling for its boycott throughout the country.
External links