Montreal World Film FestivalOpens August 21st
By Staff
(August 13, 2014 – Montréal, Québec) Once again this year the financial health of one of the best film festivals in the country is crowding out headlines about the festival itself. Taking a cue from festival founder Serge Losique, who would like the media to concentrate on the films, we’ve decided to do just that. So, when the festival launches its 38th season in just over a week, the opening film will be Salaud, on t’aime (I Love You, You Bastard) by renowned French filmmaker Claude Lelouch. The film stars the venerable Johnny Halliday playing the role of Jacques, an aging photographer and womanizer. The Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) will close with Aimer, boire, chanter (Life of Riley) which will be presented as a posthumous tribute to another great French filmmaker, Alain Resnais.
In all the MWFF will screen a total of 350 movies. Slightly more than half, 160, are feature films selected from entries from 74 countries. The rest, 190 films, are shorts. As with most, if not all large festivals, the movies will screen in the various sections including: World Competition, First Films Competition, Out of Competition, Focus on World Cinema, Documentaries of the World, Tributes, and the Student Film Festival.
The Student Film Festival expands this year and offers entrants and festival goers films from two categories: Canadian and International.
In the major categories, 19 feature films have been selected to screen in the World Competition. They include:
The Last Wish directed by Namik Ajazi (Albania-Italy)
The Last Dance by Houchang Allahyari (Austria)
Lucky Stiff by Christopher Ashley (U.S.A.)
Un ragazzo d’oro by Pupi Avati (Italy)
Melody by Bernard Bellefroid (Belgium-France-Luxembourg)
The Summer House by Curtis Burz (Germany)
Guard Dog by Bacha Caravedo and Chinon Higashionna (Peru)
Un homme d’état by Pierre Courrège (France)
Maintenant ou jamais by Serge Frydman (France)
The Chambermaid Lynn by Ingo Haeb (Germany)
Lost in Karastan by Ben Hopkins (U.K.- Georgia)
Travelator by Susan Milic (Serbia-Montenegro-U.S.A.)
Cape Nostalgia by Izuro Narushima (Japan), and
The Light Shines Only There by Mipo O (Japan)
Other titles in competition are Zhang Wei’s Factory Boss (China); Luiz Urquiza Mondragon’s Perfect Obedience (Mexico) and from Canada, Dan Zukovic’s Scammerhead.
One of the positive bits of news out of the festival is the confirmation that Hollywood star Sharon Stone, who appears in the film Un Ragazzo d’Oro, in which she plays an alluring publisher interested in the life story of an ad copywriter’s deceased father, will be in attendance at this year`s festival.
The MWFF runs from August 21 to September 1 at the Imperial Theatre (1430 de Bleury St.) and Cinema Quartier Latin (350 Emery St.) Click here for a link to the Montreal World Film Festival and other August film festivals.
