Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or winner The Class will close the 37th Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinema. A long-time Cantet supporter, the FNC awarded him its 2001 Louve d'Or for Time Out (L'Emploi Du Temps).

The Class (aka Entre Les Murs) will open the New York Film Festival on Sept 26.

Other titles screening at the FNC are Jacques Doillon's Just Anybody (Le Premier Venu), Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, and Canada-France coproduction Martyrs, which is raising eyebrows on release in France for its extreme violence. Directed by Pascal Laugier, the story is about two young girls who massacre a family.