Mark Rydell, president of the jury which includes actress Evelyne Bouix, public representative Johanne Dugas, directors Xie Fei and Vojtech Jasny, and writer and cinéaste Dany Laferrière

“PARIS 36” by Christophe Barratier will open the Festival

Tributes to Alan Ladd Jr. and Tony Curtis A Masterclass conducted by Brian de Palma

An important delegation representing Bavarian cinema and a large and diversified selection of Bavarian films

A retrospective of Russian musicals from the Soviet era

And other goodies to be announced...

WORLD COMPETITION: 20 feature films and 12 shorts
FIRST FILMS WORLD COMPETITION: 17 feature films
HORS CONCOURS / WORLD GREATS & SPECIAL SCREENINGS: 30 feature films
FOCUS ON WORLD CINEMA: 84 feature films AND 108 shorts
DOCUMENTAIRIES OF THE WORLD: 35 feature length, 13 medium and 15 shorts
TRIBUTES: 15 feature films (Alan Ladd Jr., Tony Curtis, Kashiko Kawakita, Russian musicals from the Soviet era)
CINEMA UNDER THE STARS: 18 feature films
OUR CINEMA AT RADIO-CANADA: 15 feature films
STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL: 73 short films

JURY OF THE 32nd MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

MARK RYDELL (President)
Mark Rydell is an Academy Award-nominated director, a classically trained actor, and an accomplished jazz pianist. Throughout his multi-hyphenated career, Rydell’s films have received twenty-six Oscar nominations. Born in the Bronx, he studied jazz at the Juilliard School of Music before turning to acting at Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors' Studio. He made his Broadway debut in Seagulls Over Sorrento with Rod Steiger, and his feature film acting debut opposite John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo in Don Siegel’s 1956 CRIME IN THE STREETS. After a stint directing serial television he made directorial debut in features with THE FOX (1968), based on the D.H. Lawrence novella. THE FOX won the Golden Globe for Best English Language Foreign Film. Among his other notable films are THE ROSE (1979), which earned Bette Midler an Oscar nomination, ON GOLDEN POND (1981) which earned Rydell an Oscar nomination and won Oscars for Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn and writer Ernest Thompson, and THE RIVER (1984, five Oscar nominations) starring Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson. His most recent film was EVEN MONEY (2006), starring Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and Kelsey Grammer.

EVELYNE BOUIX
While still in lycée, Evelyne Bouix caught the attention of Pierre Dux who recruited her to play a small part at Comédie-Française in Montherlant's Malatesta. Attracted by the craft, she enrolled in drama classes for two years and made her stage breakthrough in On ne badine pas avec l'amour, directed by Caroline Huppert. After several roles in television she turned to the big screen winning small parts in such films as Francis Girod's RENÉ LA CANE (1977). In 1980 Claude Lelouch directed her in BOLERO and she began a long association with him on and off screen: EDITH AND MARCEL, LONG LIVE LIFE, A MAN AND A WOMAN, 20 YEARS LATER, TOUT ÇA POUR ÇA. Evelyne Bouix continued a parallel career in the theatre. After several television films and extensive work on stage, she has returned to the big screen in MUSÉE HAUT, MUSÉE BAS, directed by Jean-Michel Ribes.

JOHANNE DUGAS
A HEC business school graduate, Johanne Dugas was chosen in a contest to represent the public on the official jury of the 32nd Montreal World Film Festival. For more than 20 years, she has trotted the globe exploring the human condition and keeping her eye out for peculiar worlds. Working in the field of public diplomacy, Dugas is a huge cinema fan. She also takes trips where the transportation is provided by poets and painters of the screen. Over the years, when everyone else was returning from vacation to school or work, her curiosity would lead her to play hooky so as not to miss anything of the Festival, to which she has always remained faithful. Many of her reminiscences are associated with films that she saw at the Festival; over time, these films have become friends and good memories. For her, cinema is a representation of reality, never too far from real life, close enough to make us dream and think.

XIE FEI
Born in Shaanxi, China in 1942, Xie Fei is one of the most prominent of China's "Fifth Generation" of film directors. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1965 and began his career as a director for stage and screen. In 1976 Fei returned the the Beijing Academy to teach and became a full professor in 1989. After making a few shorts films, Fei directed his first feature, FIRE BOY, in 1978. OUR FIELDS (1983), which described life under the Cultural Revolution, earned Fei international recognition. His BEN MIN NIAM won the Silver Bear at the 1990 Berlin Film Festival, and THE WOMEN FROM THE LAKE OF SCENTED SOULS (also shown at the Montreal World Film Festival) won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 1993. Two years later his A MONGOLIAN TALE won Best Director in Montreal.

VOJTECH JASNY
A central figure of the Czech New Wave, Vojtech Jasný was born in Kelc, Czechoslovakia in 1925 and entered the celebrated Prague film school, FAMU, in its inaugural year. He worked in documentaries with early collaborator Karel Kachyna, and began directing fiction features in the mid-50s. His first solo feature was SEPTEMBER NIGHTS (1957). DESIRE (1958) brought him to international attention, and THAT CAT (1963) won a prize at Cannes and remains his best known work in the West. He left his country after the Soviet invasion cut short its "Prague Spring", worked for Austrian and German television, and after 1984 taught cinema at Columbia University, where his old pupil and colleague, Milos Forman, was co-chairman of the film department. He directed THE GREAT LAND OF SMALL for Montreal's Productions La Fête in 1986 and WHY HAVEL? in 1991. His WHICH SIDE EDEN and GLADYS (also a La Fête production), were both shown at the 1999 Montreal World Film Festival.

DANY LAFERRIÈRE
A Haitian by birth and Québécois by adoption, Dany Laferrière achieved fame and notoriety with his first novel, How to Make Love to a Negro, which depicts Haitian, Quebec and North American society with humour and incisive clarity. The book was successfully adapted to the screen from a script penned by Laferrière himself. In 2004 he made his directorial debut in HOW TO CONQUER AMERICA IN ONE NIGHT. Premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival, this comedy of racial and cultural manners again cast a wry eye on the condition of Haitian immigrants in Quebec. A prolific writer and regular radio and television host, his views are amply illustrated in such books as Chronique de la dérive douce, Pays sans chapeau, La chair du maître, Le charme des après-midi sans fin, Le cri des oiseaux fous and Vers le sud, which was adapted for the screen by French director Laurent Canet.

HOMMAGES

TONY CURTIS
Originally dismissed as little more than a pretty boy, Tony Curtis overcame a series of bad reviews and undistinguished pictures to emerge as one of the most successful actors of his era, appearing in a number of the most popular and acclaimed films of the late '50s and early '60s. Born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, in New York City, his performance as the seedy, ruthless Sidney Falco in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS led to more substantial parts, most notably in THE DEFIANT ONES opposite Sidney Poitier, and SOME LIKE IT HOT, when, in drag, he and Jack Lemmon competed for the heart of Marilyn Monroe.
Since the 1980s, Curtis has had a second career as a painter. He has his star in Hollywood's Walk of Fame and a slew of honours including the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
The Montreal World Film Festival pay tribute to Tony Curtis for his lifetime achievement.

ALLAN LADD JR.
Alan Ladd Jr. is one of Hollywood most respected and successful executives. He started in the movies as an agent in 1963, moved to London to produce, making nine films, then returned to the States in '73 to become Head of Creative Affairs at Fox. Within three very successful years Ladd was President of 20th Century Fox. STAR WARS, ALIEN, and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, were a few of the classics during his tenure. In 1979 Ladd founded his own production company, The Ladd Company, where he enjoyed great success with comedies like NIGHT SHIFT and POLICE ACADEMY, and Oscar Winners THE RIGHT STUFF and CHARIOTS OF FIRE. After successful stints at MGM/UA and Pathé, Ladd reformed the Ladd Company and went on to produce other hits including Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART.
Alan Ladd Jr. is active in various industry associations, served on the Academy Board of Governors and received an honourary degree from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television, where he was instrumental in shaping the curriculum of the Critical Studies Program.
The Montreal World Film Festival will honour Alan Ladd Jr. for his lifetime achievement.

Mrs KASHIKO KAWAKITA
The Kawakita Memorial Film Institute was founded to promote Japanese cinema abroad. The Institute's mission is to collect and protect films and other items of film heritage, so as to make them available to the public. Beginning in 1974, the Institute organized itinerant and thematic programs of Japanese films which toured worldwide until 1992. Co-operating with film festivals to promote Japanese film is one of the main activities of the Institute, which endeavours to facilitate the work of festival directors throughout the process of selection. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Madame Kashiko Kawakita, founder of the Institute, it is presenting a sampling of significant works by prominent postwar directors, each a winner of the Kawakita Award, in recognition of their lifetime contributions to Japanese cinema. The Memorial Screenings are co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the National Film Centre in Tokyo.

BAVARIAN CINEMA
The Bavarian film is unique in its diversity. Various styles, genres and topics can be found in the 100-year film history of Germany’s largest state. And contemporary productions have no reason to hide behind this impressive history. Names like Doris Dörrie and Sönke Wortmann have become famous worldwide. In the past years, Bavarian films have won innumerable prizes, even on the international scene, including Oscars for Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Caroline Link and Florian Gallenberger. And at the same time, Bavarian films have won over the hearts of local audiences.
Ten feature films produced thanks to the help of the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and 2 shorts (including documentaries made under the Bavaria-Quebec partnership with INIS and HFF) will be presented in different sections. An important delegation will be present during the Festival .

RUSSIAN MUSICAL COMEDIES OF THE SOVIET ERA
Seven of the best Russian musicals of the Soviet era will be presented with the collaboration of Mosfilm Studios. Entertainment Soviet style!

MASTERCLASS WITH BRIAN DE PALMA
. Brian De Palma will conduct a Masterclass during the Festival.
A master of the psychological thriller, De Palma has consistently demonstrated a fluent, inventive cinematic style. Sometimes criticized as a mere imitation of Alfred Hitchcock, De Palma's work, though it pays homage to Hitchcock, differs strikingly in subject matter and technique. Similarly criticized for portraying graphic violence, De Palma responds that he is incorporating Eisenstein's theory of montage as conflict, that "film is violence". Stylization acts to aesthetically distance De Palma's violence so that it becomes a visual effect rather than a naturalistic detail.
De Palma began making films as a student, first at Columbia then at Sarah Lawrence, directed several low-budget films in the '60s, but it was with CARRIE, his 1976 commercial breakthrough, that he began deal with recurrent themes and narrative patterns. OBSESSION, BODY DOUBLE and DRESSED TO KILL crowned De Palma's "Hitchcockian" period, while SCARFACE, WISE GUYS, THE UNTOUCHABLES and CARLITO'S WAY displayed his inventiveness with the gangster/crime drama. In recent years he has extended his talent and intelligence to other genres including action adventure, sci-fi and political drama

PROGRAM OF THE 32nd MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL

For its 32nd edition, the Montreal World Film Festival has gathered a large harvest of remarkable films from around the world, as one would expect at an event whose credo is openness to the world and promotion of diversity.

More than 2000 films were screened either in the countries of production or in Montreal. New technologies allow a larger number of new filmmakers to achieve their dream. Faithful to its tradition, the Montreal World Film Festival strongly supports emerging cinemas.

WORLD COMPETITION
The 20 features picked for the Official Competition, are all world or international premieres, and serve to confirm that regardless of context, the human condition is a universal preoccupation of directors and writers.

Two Quebec films were selected for the World Competition. EN PLEIN COEUR by Stéphane Géhami introduces us to Benoît and Jimi, a big guy and a small man, two hypersensitive people looking to be loved, like everyone else. Except that these two steal Jeeps for a gang and Benoît is 32 years old and Jimi just 14.

CE QU'IL FAUT POUR VIVRE by Benoît Pilon is set in the early 1950s. When Tivii, an Inuit hunter stricken with tuberculosis, is flown to a hospital in southern Quebec, he finds himself isolated and unable to communicate. Depressed, he decides to give up his fight to live. But a sympathetic nurse transfers a young Inuit to his ward to buoy Tivii’s spirits and renew his will to live.

A human being caught up in a conflict that he cannot control is a recurring theme in many films. The German film THE INVENTION OF CURRIED SAUSAGE by Ulla Wagner places the character played by Barbara Sukowa smack in the middle of World War II. THE TOUR by Goran Markovic (winner of the Grand Prize of the Americas in 2003), features a troupe of actors touring a Yugoslavia that is degenerating into civil war. The Spanish film WHO'S NEXT? by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, involves a young Basque terrorist who has barely recovered from his earlier wounds when he is recruited for a new mission. The Israeli film WHISPERING EMBERS by Arab director Ali Nassar depicts a young Arab husband who is facing the collapse of everything he has ever believed in: his political convictions, his religious beliefs and, most important, his love.

The problems of families and couples is also a common theme in many films. In the Flemish film, NOWHERE MAN by Patrice Toye, a middle-aged man craving for a new start in life disappears without any warning to his wife. In the Argentine film RAIN by Paula Hernandez, a young woman who has just broken up with her partner encounters a man who has just returned to Buenos Aires to bury his father. Caught in a traffic jam, her car door opens unexpectedly and, just as suddenly, he enters the car and her life. In IT ALL BEGINS AT SEA by Eitan Green, an Israeli family cope with a familiar array of life experiences -- friendship, love, sex, death. In the Japanese film OKURIBITO by Yojiro Takita, a young cellist who suddenly finds himself out of work when his orchestra disbands, moves back to his hometown and takes a job as an undertaker. It's not a job his wife appreciates, but his daily encounters with death teach him about life. In Ryoichi Kimizuka's NOBODY TO WATCH OVER ME, the second Japanese film in competition, the Funamaras seem a typical suburban family until the police knock on the door one day and arrest their 18-year-old boy for murder. His teenage sister and the cop assigned to protect her must hide out from a relentless public braying for blood. In Zhuo Gehe's Chinese entry, NIMA'S WOMEN, the men have all left home leaving three single women at home. Now the aging matriarch has a birthday coming up and her two daughters pretend to bring home some good marital news as a birthday gift. Nima is happy for them... or so she also pretends.

The contemporary world, its inhumanities and the struggle to survive are also the key themes of several films. In the Spanish film WELCOME TO FAREWELL-GUTMANN by Xavi Puebla, when the head of human resources at a big pharmaceutical company dies, his subordinates engage in a fierce competition to succeed him. The struggle to survive is even more graphically depicted in Walter Doehner's Mexican film TEO'S VOYAGE, where 9-year-old Teo sets out with his father to cross illegally into the U.S. The Philippine film, SELDA (THE INMATE), directed by Paolo Villaluna and Ellen Ramos, tells the story of a friendship that develops between two prisoners, Rommel and his friend Esteban, who acts as his protector in the harsh environment behind bars. Out of jail, however, their attempt to define and explore the boundaries of their relationship leads to tragedy.

As in Benoît Pilon's film, the problems of aboriginals is the focus in the Swedish film VARG / WOLF by Daniel Alfredson. Set in the remote mountains of northern Sweden, the film follows an indigenous Sami (Lapp) family, who are trying to protect their herd of reindeer from the wolves, but, in doing so get entangled in the modern (white man's) machinery of justice.

The Indian entry, CHATURANGA by Suman Mukhopadhyay, adapted from a story by Rabindranath Tagore, is set in Bengal at the turn of the twentieth century, and its hero, Sachish, is caught between reformist western ideas and conservative Hindu asceticism.

YOUR NAME HERE by Matthew Wilder, stars Bill Pullman as a famous science fiction writer under pressure to finish his latest literary masterpiece. As he struggles , the lines between reality and perception become blurred and he comes to realize that he is now living in a world which he created; he is living one of his novels.

Based on a true story, BLOOD BROTHERS by Dutch director Arno Dierickx, takes place one hot summer in the 1960s. On a large estate three boys spend their time playing tennis, listening to music. Meanwhile, in the attic of the villa, their friend Ronnie, a petty criminal, is hiding from the police. All is well until Ronnie becomes a burden...

FIRST FILMS WORLD COMPETITION
Seventeen first fiction features have been selected for this section, a veritable world of discovery. Films from Australia, Germany, Bolivia, Iran, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Canada, among others, are competing in this category. Young filmmakers (in most cases: one director is making his debut feature at age 90!) who are finding the right language, the right technique and the right subject to suit their emerging talents. A large number of films were submitted: the availability of digital technology now allows new directors to plunge right into projects which, in the past, would have taken years, possibly forever, to get off the ground. The results are often exciting.

HORS CONCOURS / WORLD GREATS
This section includes thirty features, some by filmmakers whom the Festival has honoured in the past. Five German films are programmed in this section: BAVARIAN REBEL by Bavarian director Marcus H. Rosenmüller; THE MIRACLE OF BERLIN by Roland Suso Richter (past prize-winner with "The Tunnel"); CHERRY BLOSSOMS – HANAMI by Dorris Dörrie, several of whose films have been appreciated by MWFF audiences. LISSI AND THE WILD EMPEROR by Michael Herbig is an animated pastiche of the "Sissi" films. THE WAVE by Dennis Gansel will surely make waves with festivalgoers.

Argentine director Eliseo Subiela, who has won several times at the MWFF, returns this year with DON'T LOOK DOWN, in which the death of his father and his encounter with an older Spanish woman propel 19-year-old Eloy into an adulthood that he never anticipated but quickly learns to enjoy.

In ALL INCLUSIVE by Chilean director Rodrigo Ortuzar Lynch, a vacationing family plays out a gallery of personal dramas at a lush resort in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, with the family’s tempestuous shenanigans presaging an incoming hurricane.

In LONG TUNE by Mongolian-Chinese director Hasichalou, a Mongolian folk singer suffers emotional problems when her husband dies and she loses her voice. It takes the cries of a baby camel for her to regain her singing abilities.

PAINTED SKIN (China / Hong Kong / Singapore) is a martial arts fantasy directed by master Gordon Chan in which a certain General Wang saves a beautiful girl, Mei-ling, from a team of bandits. Despite the spate of brutal murders that accompany her arrival in town nobody suspects her as the killer.

THE BABY DOLL NIGHT by Adel Adeeb, is an expensive Egyptian production in which Hossam, an Egyptian travel agent in New York, is eager to return to Cairo to see his wife after a year’s absence. He buys her a sexy gift and is looking forward to a romantic reunion, but Middle Eastern politics intervenes in every possible way.

THE CHICKEN, THE FISH AND THE KING CRAB directed by José Luis Lopez-Linares is a documentary produced by Antonio Saura on the world restaurant competition. Jesus Almagro was a happy man when awarded Spain’s National Award as Best Cook 2007. His next challenge was to compete for the World Championship, the “Bocuse d’Or”. He thought he was up to the challenge, that preparing it was just a matter of time and skills...

In the Finnish film, THE HOME OF THE DARK BUTTERFLIES by Dome Karokosi, 14-year-old Juhani, after being bounced between foster homes and temporary families for several years, ends up in a boys’ home on an island. He quickly finds that this isolated community is a world onto itself.

Four French films figure in this section, in particular PARIS 36 by Christophe Barratier will open the Festival this year (his "Les Choristes" was the closing film of the 2004 MWFF). The film is set in a working class quarter in the north of Paris in 1936, after the spring election of the Popular Front government has given rise to all sorts of revolutionary hopes. While social and political violence waits in the wings, three unemployed show people decide to stage a “hit” show in a music-hall they have forcibly occupied. The voyage of LE VOYAGE AUX PYRÉNÉES by Jean-Marie & Arnaud Larrieu, is that undertaken by Alexandre Dard and Aurore Lalu, a famous acting couple, in the hopes that she can cure her nymphomania in the rarefied air of the mountains. In Laetitia Colombani's MY STARS, three glamorous French film actresses decide to fight back when an intrusive fan begins to take over their lives. Joachim Lafosse's PRIVATE LESSONS recounts how Jonas, a teenager with difficulties at school, meets Pierre, in his thirties, who is moved by the young man and starts taking care of him. Incapable of setting the boundaries of their relationship, his tutoring takes a turn that is more than merely academic.

In MARADONA BY KUSTURICA, Emir Kusturica shines a very personal spotlight on the cult of personality around the 47-year-old Maradona, who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title and to the final in 1990.

Two Israeli films are being presented in the Out of Competition section. LEMON TREE by Eran Riklis (winner of the MWFF's Grand Prize in 2004 with "The Syrian Bride") focuses on Salma Zidane, a 45-year-old widow who lives alone in a tiny Palestinian village on the West Bank. When the Israeli minister of defence builds a house on the other side of the green line, Selma’s lemon trees come to the attention of his bodyguards. Her trees are a security risk. But Salma finds an unlikely ally in the minister’s wife.

Tarek, the main protagonist of Dror Zahavi's FOR MY FATHER, is a young Arab who comes from Tulkarem in the West Bank to commit suicide in Tel Aviv. He arrives in a city market, takes a deep breath and tries to blow himself up. But the device will not go off and he is forced to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv... with an abundance of revelations.

Italy has two films in this section. Giuliano Montaldo's THE DEMONS OF ST. PETERSBURG imagines Dostoevsky in 1860 struggling to finish his new book as he gets involved in trying to head off a new assassination attempt on the Russian royal family. Marco Tullio Giodana's WILD BLOOD recalls the lives of Osvaldo Valenti and Luisa Ferida, two stars of the Fascist-endorsed "white telephone" movies of the 1930s. Idolized by the public, their private lives were as outrageous as those of the characters they played on screen. And their deaths were equally cinematic. They were executed by partisans just days after the fall of the Fascist regime.

In THE MAGIC HOUR, the Japanese entry by Koki Mitani, a gangster having an affair with the wife of his boss is found out, but promises to save face by recruiting a famous hitman. Instead, when he can’t find the real thing, he hires an actor to fill the role until he can find a suitable replacement.

The Lithuanian LOSS by Maris Martinsons, is a dramatic story told across two countries, connected by the vast migration after the fall of the Soviet Union, and six people whose destiny is tied in more different ways after a tragic accident more than two decades ago.

Set during the conflict between the Sami people and the Norwegian government representatives in the mid 19th century, THE KAUTOKEINO REBELLION, by Nils Gaup, focuses on the famous 1852 uprising in northern Norway and its tragic consequences, including the beheading of two of its leaders in 1854.

The latest film by Polish master Andrzej Wajda, KATYN, revolving around the notorious 1940 massacre in the Katyn forest, takes the perspective of an imprisoned Polish captain in telling the story of a country pinned precariously between Germany and Russia during their respective incursions in the dark years during and after World War II.

Veteran Russian director Karen Shakhnazarov's THE VANISHED EMPIRE depicts a love triangle between students in Moscow at the beginning of the 1970s. They never dream that the USSR that they are growing up in will soon disappear from maps of the world.

MY MAGIC, the new film by Singapore director Eric Khoo, two of whose films ("Mee Pok Man" and "12 Storeys") were previously appreciated by Festival audiences, tells the real-life story of a single dad who looks to give up drinking and his bartender job in order to impress his son and find work as a magician.

In ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, American documentarist Marina Zenovich asks why Roman Polanski fled the U.S. after admitting to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor some 30 years ago? And her answer is clear: “Who wouldn’t think about running when facing a 50-year sentence from a judge who was clearly more interested in his own reputation than a fair judgment or even the well-being of the victim?”

In VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, Woody Allen brings the twinkle in his eye to Spain, to chronicle the romantic misadventures of two girlfriends on a summer holiday. Vicky and Cristina become enamoured with the same painter, unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.

Special Presentation

Sébastien Rose's LE BANQUET is set in a milieu that seems to have lost its values. A university professor, its rector, its student leader and others are caught up in a campus conflict where heart and head, romantic sentiments and personal welfare, never seem to be on the same side.

FOCUS ON WORLD CINEMA
At once a panoramic survey of recent world cinema and the most eclectic section of the Festival, Focus on World Cinema offers something for every taste.

Filmmakers whose works were appreciated in the past will present their new films at the Festival, such as RUNAWAY HORSE by Rainer Kaufman, ABSURDISTAN by Veit Helmer, PEACEFUL TIMES by Neele Leana Vollmar, MY MOTHER’S TEARS by Alejandro Cardenas, THE STRANGER IN ME by Emily Ataf from Germany, LA RABIA by Albertina Carri from Argentina, Jan Verheyen from Belgium with two films VERMIST and LOS, Walter Lima Junior from Brazil with OS DESFINADOS. Four feature films represent China in this section: NICK OF TIME (OLD FISH) by Gao Qunshu presents a new reality of China caught between profit and the fight against locals mafias. TWO MEN’S CLASSROOM by Dong Lin, THE BLUE XANADU by Gege Zhuo, LOST AND FOUND by Ma Liwen. From Spain, José Corbacho and Juan Cruz present COBARDES. From France, René Ferret will present COMME UNE ÉTOILE DANS LA NUIT, and Edouard Niermans, JURY DUTY, Tonie Marshall is back with her new film PASSE PASSE. Jean-Claude Brisseau has made a new film À L’AVENTURE. The new wave of Russian cinema confirms its talent: SHULTES by Bakur Bakuradze, MERMAID by Anne Melikian, THE ELDER WIFE by Ivan Solovov. Violence in our contemporary world is the common theme of two Swedish films: LEO by Josef Fares and KING OF PING-PONG by Jens Jonsson. Turkish cinema is more creative than ever and the new generation is ready for recognition: AUTUMN by Özcan Alper, NOKTA by Dervis Zaïm and SHADOW by Mehmet Güreli. Four independent American films are part of this section: THE MISSING PERSON by Noah Buschel, HOME by Mary Haverstick, MISCONCEPTIONS by Ron Satlof and REZ BOMB by Steven Lewis Simpson. From Venezuela, Alberto Arvelo, who had a film in competition in Montreal in the past, will present his new film CYRANO FERNANDEZ. The Vietnamese film THE LITTLE HEART by Thanh Van Nguyen has received many awards in Vietnam.

DOCUMENTARIES OF THE WORLD
Documentaries, which have always had a powerful following at festivals and special events, have gone popular in recent years thanks to the work of Michael Moore and others. This section at the MWFF reflects this dichotomy -- serious works of political commitment alongside works that are as amusing and entertaining as any in the entire festival.

As befits our strong history in this genre, Canadian documentaries figure very large in the selection: 14 feature- or medium-length works were made here. True to its own tradition, the National Film Board is offering documentaries of all stripes and colours: FOLLE DE DIEU by Jean-Daniel Lafond draws an astonishing portrait of Marie Guyart, known latterly as Marie de l'Incarnation, who became an Ursuline nun after her husband died, then left her son in Tours while she crossed the Atlantic to found the Ursuline order and the first hospital in New France. A spiritual thriller, the film accompanies actress Marie Tifo as she reincarnates this extraordinary character

Many documentaries at the Festival deal with the media and artistic creation. Among them, two films on Quebec cinema produced by Télé-Québec: LE CINÉMA – L'IVRESSE DES DÉBUTS and LE CINÉMA – LA POLITIQUE, directed by Georges Privet, Jean Roy and Yvonne Defour.

DISCORAMA, SIGNÉ GLASER by Esther Hoffenberg comes to us from France. Throughout the 1960s, millions gathered in front of their TVs to watch Denise Glaser’s Discorama, just before the traditional Sunday dinner. A variety show that ran for 15 years, the greats of French song were among its regular guests – Piaf, Aznavour, Gréco, Brel. New faces who became very familiar.

The German film REVERSE SHOT - REBELLION OF THE FILMMAKERS, by Dominik Wessely and Laurens Straub tells the story of the new wave of young filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Wim Wenders, who revolutionized the 7th art in Germany in the early 1970s. Interviews, films excerpts and some rare, unpublished archive footage.

Among the many works dealing with social and political problems – and solutions – are REFUGE by Canada's own Alexandre Trudeau, CHILDREN OF THE PYRE by Indian director Rajesh S. Jala, WAR, LOVE, GOD & MADNESS by Iraqi director Mohamed Al-Daradji, RAIN OF THE CHILDREN by noted New Zealand director Vincent Ward, WAR CHILD by Karim Chrobog, which tells the story of Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier of Sudan’s brutal civil war and an emerging international hip-hop star with a message of peace for his war-torn land. THE END OF POVERY? by Philippe Diaz traces the underlying roots of world poverty to a legacy of colonialism.

As it is in real life, sexuality is a recurring theme. 9 TO 5 – DAYS IN PORN by Jens Hoffmann and THE PRICE OF PLEASURE by Chyng Sun examine the more extreme manifestations, while gay rights are the subject of Rosa von Praunheim's DEAD GAY MEN AND LIVING LESBIANS and Tanaz Eshagian's BE LIKE OTHERS.

FREE SCREENINGS
The Festival continues its long and very popular tradition of free screenings on the plaza of Place des Arts.
As well, the free program of Quebec films -- "Notre Cinéma à Radio-Canada" – continues. This year it comes indoors to the Complex Desjardins.
The lineups for both series will be announced shortly.

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.

30 coupons are available for $150. representing half the normal $10 price per ordinary admission.

10 coupons are available for $60. representing a saving of 40% on individual tickets.

A limited quantity of reduced rate books of 10 or 30 coupons are now on sale at the Festival's offices, at Place des Arts and Quartier Latin Theatre (purchase forms are available on the Festival's web site: www.ffm-montreal.org). For those who cannot pick up their coupons in person, these can be ordered online at the Admission site (www.admission.com) and can be delivered to their home.

The coupons can be exchanged for tickets for specified showings beginning Saturday August 16 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 until August 15. After this date, the regular price will be $300. “Student Cinephile passes” are on sale for $150 each until August 15. After this date, the regular price will be $200.

Purchase forms for passes and coupons are available on the Festival's web site: www.ffm-montreal.org).