Responding to the debaclethat was the inaugural Festival International de Film de Montreal, itslong-established rival, the Montreal World Film Festival, is calling for anindependent inquiry into the decision to fund the fledgling event, whichreceived C$2m in government support, most of it from Telefilm Canada and itsQuebec equivalent SODEC.

While onlookers might accuseLosique of schadenfreude - he andFIFM programme director Moritz de Hadeln are not on speaking terms - there isno doubt as to which festival received more attention in the city this year.

The MWFF, which celebratedits 29th anniversary in 2005, has waned from its heyday but at leastMontrealers came to see the films during its run from August 26 to September 5.The FIFM, which ran from September 18 to 25, had an embarrassing lack ofpatrons. Indeed, the FIFM issued a lengthy statement on its closing night,apologizing to the filmmakers for the poor turnout and admitting that thefestival's timing was poor.

In its call for the inquiry,the MWFF pointed to what it termed the "inane 'putsch' of Telefilm (with SODECcomplicity) against the Montreal World Film Festival" as the starting point forthe disaster, which it says "has tarnished the image of Montreal at theinternational level." This is a reference to the August 2004 decision ofTelefilm and SODEC to stop funding the MWFF and direct those funds to a newevent through a call for proposals. The winning bid came from Equipe Spectra, aMontreal event management firm, which in turn hired former Berlin and Venicedirector de Hadeln to programme the FIFM.

"They [Telefilm and SODEC]gave C$2m of taxpayers' money to a 'phantom' festival," reads the MWFFstatement. "The general public and several media demand this inquiry and it isthe duty of the federal and provincial governments and of the City of Montrealto take responsibility for this unforgivable mess. This inquiry can only bedone independently of Telefilm and SODEC."

None of the above-namedparties was available for comment at time of going to press.