The Montreal World Film Festival today announced the films in Official Competition, First Films Competition and World Greats (Out of Competition) for the 31st event.
Of 230 features, 53 are world premieres, 56 are international premieres (premieres outside the country of origin), 59 are North American premieres, and 42 are Canadian premieres.
Among the world premieres in Official Competition are Mark Brokaw's Spinning Into Butter, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Miranda Richardson, Jacob Berger's Switzerland-France coproduction 1 Journee (1 Day), featuring Bruno Todeschini and Natacha Regnier and Luis Filipe Rocha's Portugal-Brazil production A Outra Margem (The Other Side) with Filipe Duarte and Maria d'Aires.
Canada is represented in Official Competition by two world premieres: Francois Delisle's Toi starring Anne-Marie Cadieux, Laurent Lucas and Marc Beland, as well as Surviving My Mother, directed by Emile Gaudreault and starring Caroline Dhavernas and Ellen David.
The Opening and Closing titles, previously announced, are Bluff by Quebecois debut directors Simon-Olivier Fecteau and Marc-Andre Lavoie, screening out of competition as part of World Greats, and Claude Miller's Un Secret respectively.
International premieres in Competition include Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales, an Italian-French co-production starring Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins, Matthew Modine, Asia Argento and Lou Doillon, and Ayelet Menahemi's Noodle, recently selected as Israel's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language. Christopher Cain's September Dawn, featuring Jon Voight, Lolita Davidovich and Terence Stamp, makes its Canadian premiere.
The First Films World Competition features 23 features from 16 countries, including three films from Canada, three from Spain, two from France, two from Russia and three from China.
The World Greats programme has three other world premieres: Romuald Beugnon's Vous Etes De La Police' (Last Investigation) from France, starring Jean-Pierre Cassel, Spanish director Antonio Mercero's Y Tu Quien Eres' (And Who Are You') and Behruz Akfhami's Farsh-E Tran (Persian Carpet) from Iran.
Nicolas Roeg's Puffball, featuring Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson, Donald Sutherland and Rita Tushingham, heads the line-up of North American premieres in the programme. Other titles include 2006 title Los Borgia (The Borgias) directed by Antonio Hernandez and starring Paz Vega, Irina Palm, directed by Sam Garbarski and starring Marianne Faithfull, and Dialogue Avec Mon Jardinier (Conversations With My Gardener) from France's Jean Becker starring Daniel Auteuil.
MWFF 2007 WORLD COMPETITION
World premieres
1 Journee (1 Day)
Dir: Jacob Berger (Switzerland/France)
The chronicle of a decisive day in the life of a Swiss family: an unfaithful husband, his wife and their young son.
A Outra Margem (The Other Side)
Dir: Luis Filipe Rocha (Portugal/Brazil)
Recovering from an attempted suicide after the death of his partner, Ricardo moves in with his sister and befriends his down's syndrome afflicted nephew. A quick bond develops to their mutual benefit.
Ben X
Dir: Nic Balthazar (Belgium/Netherlands)
Mildly autistic Ben lives in his own world, located mostly online, in the galaxy of computer games. Bullied mercilessly at school, Ben plots his revenge...
Der Andere Junge (The Other Boy)
Dir: Volker Einrauch (Germany)
The Morells and the Wagners, each a father-mother-son family, live near each other in a suburb of Hamburg. Perfectly happy neighbours on the surface, the boys are in fact
Kuro-Obi (Black Belt)
Dir: Shunichi Nagasaki (Japan)
Set in the 1930s in Japan, three martial arts practitioners who are competing to inherit the mantle of their late master, are ordered to enlist in the military. Having no choice, the trio leave their dojo for an encounter with fate.
Samira Fi Adayaa (Samira's Garden)
Dir: Latif Lahlou (Morocco)
Samira's new husband, selected by her father, is a widowed farmer with no family. But Samira quickly discovers that he is impotent and only interested in her as a nurse for his father and as a guardian for his nephew. Samira must seek affection elsewhere...
Spinning Into Butter
Dir: Mark Brokaw (US)
Sarah Daniels, dean of students at an elite New England college is thrust into a racial hate crime investigation against an African-American student, forcing her to confront her own prejudices.
Surviving My Mother
Dir: Emile Gaudreault (Canada)
A dramatic comedy about the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, SURVIVING tags along as a mother is taken on an emotional roller-coaster ride when she delves into the troubled life of her 21-year-old daughter.
Toi (You)
Dir: Francois Delisle (Canada)
Michele shares her life with Paul, her husband and colleague at work. She also has a lover, Thomas, a musician with whom she's been in love for some time. Attracted by Thomas' love of life and his non-conformity, Michele decides to leave her husband, son and profession to live her passion to the fullest.
Un Secret (A Secret)
Dir: Claude Miller (France)
The saga of a Jewish family after the end of World War II. A lonely boy invents a brother and reimagines his parents' past, but on his fifteenth birthday he discovers a secret - tying his family's past to the Holocaust - that will finally enable him to develop his own sense of self.
North American premieres
DP75-Tartina City
Dir: Issa Serge Coelo (Chad/France/Morocco)
Adoum, a young African journalist finally gets his passport so he can go abroad and do a report on the situation in his country. But, at an inspection at the airport, a compromising letter is mysteriously found in his belongings...
International premieres
Go Go Tales
Dir: Abel Ferrara (Italy/France)
Abel Ferrara's screwball comedy is set in a downtown Manhattan 'go go' cabaret called Ray Ruby's Paradise, but all is not well in in this factory of dreams and if Ray doesn't get some cash quick, his landlady is threatening to foreclose.
L'uomo Di Vetro (A Man Of Glass)
Dir: Stefano Incerti (Italy)
One afternoon in 1973, Leonardo Vitale, an innocent-looking young man, walked into police headquarters in Palermo saying he wanted to confess to a long list of crimes. He was 31 years old and had spent half of those years following the orders of his uncle, a Mafia boss...
Mutluluk (Bliss)
Dir.: Abdullah Oguz (Turkey/Greece)
When a 17-year-old girl is found unconscious by a lake in remote eastern Turkey, her parents suspect she's had sex and that she should pay for 'dishonouring' the family. The task falls to the girl's cousin, but he proves incapable of the deed...
Noodle
Dir: Ayelet Menahemi (Israel)
When her Chinese cleaning lady is deported, leaving her passport-less 6-year-old son behind in Tel Aviv, an El Al flight attendant decides to take risky measures to re-unite the boy with his mother.
Oh-Oku (Oh-Oku, The Women Of The Inner Palace)
Dir: Toru Hayashi (Japan)
Set during the short reign of child Shogun Ietsugu Tokugawa, OH-OKU recounts the legendary power struggle between the young shogun's natural mother and his official wife, who must watch her stake in the bloodline.
Otets (Father)
Dir: Ivan Solovov (Russia)
The terrible ordeal of World War II is over, but instead of relief and happiness, Russian soldier Aleksei Ivanov is filled with apprehension. What will he come home to' Clouds of emotional doubt hang over his reunion with his wife and children. The war may be over but its wounds remain.
Partes Usadas (Used Parts)
Dir: Aaron Fernández (Mexico/France/Spain)
Fortteen-year-old Ivan lives with his uncle Jaime, a dealer in stone car parts. Both dream of a better life in Chicago and are working to save the money necessary to get across the border...
Teresa: El Cuerpo De Cristo (Teresa)
Dir: Ray Loriga (Spain/France/UK)
Rejecting her designated role as a woman in the man's world of 16th century Spain, Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada, daughter of an Avila nobleman, founds a new order of Carmelites, establishes over a dozen monasteries and authors some of the most remarkable works in the mystical literature of the Roman Catholic Church.
Canadian premieres
September Dawn
Dir: Christopher Cain (US)
An up-close look at the devastation wrought by religious fanaticism with this romantic drama set against the backdrop of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre. As a wagon train of westward-bound settlers makes its way across southern Utah, a confrontation with a congregation of Mormons led by the venerable Brigham Young soon leads to deadly consequences for all involved.
Of 230 features, 53 are world premieres, 56 are international premieres (premieres outside the country of origin), 59 are North American premieres, and 42 are Canadian premieres.
Among the world premieres in Official Competition are Mark Brokaw's Spinning Into Butter, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Miranda Richardson, Jacob Berger's Switzerland-France coproduction 1 Journee (1 Day), featuring Bruno Todeschini and Natacha Regnier and Luis Filipe Rocha's Portugal-Brazil production A Outra Margem (The Other Side) with Filipe Duarte and Maria d'Aires.
Canada is represented in Official Competition by two world premieres: Francois Delisle's Toi starring Anne-Marie Cadieux, Laurent Lucas and Marc Beland, as well as Surviving My Mother, directed by Emile Gaudreault and starring Caroline Dhavernas and Ellen David.
The Opening and Closing titles, previously announced, are Bluff by Quebecois debut directors Simon-Olivier Fecteau and Marc-Andre Lavoie, screening out of competition as part of World Greats, and Claude Miller's Un Secret respectively.
International premieres in Competition include Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales, an Italian-French co-production starring Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins, Matthew Modine, Asia Argento and Lou Doillon, and Ayelet Menahemi's Noodle, recently selected as Israel's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language. Christopher Cain's September Dawn, featuring Jon Voight, Lolita Davidovich and Terence Stamp, makes its Canadian premiere.
The First Films World Competition features 23 features from 16 countries, including three films from Canada, three from Spain, two from France, two from Russia and three from China.
The World Greats programme has three other world premieres: Romuald Beugnon's Vous Etes De La Police' (Last Investigation) from France, starring Jean-Pierre Cassel, Spanish director Antonio Mercero's Y Tu Quien Eres' (And Who Are You') and Behruz Akfhami's Farsh-E Tran (Persian Carpet) from Iran.
Nicolas Roeg's Puffball, featuring Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson, Donald Sutherland and Rita Tushingham, heads the line-up of North American premieres in the programme. Other titles include 2006 title Los Borgia (The Borgias) directed by Antonio Hernandez and starring Paz Vega, Irina Palm, directed by Sam Garbarski and starring Marianne Faithfull, and Dialogue Avec Mon Jardinier (Conversations With My Gardener) from France's Jean Becker starring Daniel Auteuil.
MWFF 2007 WORLD COMPETITION
World premieres
1 Journee (1 Day)
Dir: Jacob Berger (Switzerland/France)
The chronicle of a decisive day in the life of a Swiss family: an unfaithful husband, his wife and their young son.
A Outra Margem (The Other Side)
Dir: Luis Filipe Rocha (Portugal/Brazil)
Recovering from an attempted suicide after the death of his partner, Ricardo moves in with his sister and befriends his down's syndrome afflicted nephew. A quick bond develops to their mutual benefit.
Ben X
Dir: Nic Balthazar (Belgium/Netherlands)
Mildly autistic Ben lives in his own world, located mostly online, in the galaxy of computer games. Bullied mercilessly at school, Ben plots his revenge...
Der Andere Junge (The Other Boy)
Dir: Volker Einrauch (Germany)
The Morells and the Wagners, each a father-mother-son family, live near each other in a suburb of Hamburg. Perfectly happy neighbours on the surface, the boys are in fact
Kuro-Obi (Black Belt)
Dir: Shunichi Nagasaki (Japan)
Set in the 1930s in Japan, three martial arts practitioners who are competing to inherit the mantle of their late master, are ordered to enlist in the military. Having no choice, the trio leave their dojo for an encounter with fate.
Samira Fi Adayaa (Samira's Garden)
Dir: Latif Lahlou (Morocco)
Samira's new husband, selected by her father, is a widowed farmer with no family. But Samira quickly discovers that he is impotent and only interested in her as a nurse for his father and as a guardian for his nephew. Samira must seek affection elsewhere...
Spinning Into Butter
Dir: Mark Brokaw (US)
Sarah Daniels, dean of students at an elite New England college is thrust into a racial hate crime investigation against an African-American student, forcing her to confront her own prejudices.
Surviving My Mother
Dir: Emile Gaudreault (Canada)
A dramatic comedy about the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, SURVIVING tags along as a mother is taken on an emotional roller-coaster ride when she delves into the troubled life of her 21-year-old daughter.
Toi (You)
Dir: Francois Delisle (Canada)
Michele shares her life with Paul, her husband and colleague at work. She also has a lover, Thomas, a musician with whom she's been in love for some time. Attracted by Thomas' love of life and his non-conformity, Michele decides to leave her husband, son and profession to live her passion to the fullest.
Un Secret (A Secret)
Dir: Claude Miller (France)
The saga of a Jewish family after the end of World War II. A lonely boy invents a brother and reimagines his parents' past, but on his fifteenth birthday he discovers a secret - tying his family's past to the Holocaust - that will finally enable him to develop his own sense of self.
North American premieres
DP75-Tartina City
Dir: Issa Serge Coelo (Chad/France/Morocco)
Adoum, a young African journalist finally gets his passport so he can go abroad and do a report on the situation in his country. But, at an inspection at the airport, a compromising letter is mysteriously found in his belongings...
International premieres
Go Go Tales
Dir: Abel Ferrara (Italy/France)
Abel Ferrara's screwball comedy is set in a downtown Manhattan 'go go' cabaret called Ray Ruby's Paradise, but all is not well in in this factory of dreams and if Ray doesn't get some cash quick, his landlady is threatening to foreclose.
L'uomo Di Vetro (A Man Of Glass)
Dir: Stefano Incerti (Italy)
One afternoon in 1973, Leonardo Vitale, an innocent-looking young man, walked into police headquarters in Palermo saying he wanted to confess to a long list of crimes. He was 31 years old and had spent half of those years following the orders of his uncle, a Mafia boss...
Mutluluk (Bliss)
Dir.: Abdullah Oguz (Turkey/Greece)
When a 17-year-old girl is found unconscious by a lake in remote eastern Turkey, her parents suspect she's had sex and that she should pay for 'dishonouring' the family. The task falls to the girl's cousin, but he proves incapable of the deed...
Noodle
Dir: Ayelet Menahemi (Israel)
When her Chinese cleaning lady is deported, leaving her passport-less 6-year-old son behind in Tel Aviv, an El Al flight attendant decides to take risky measures to re-unite the boy with his mother.
Oh-Oku (Oh-Oku, The Women Of The Inner Palace)
Dir: Toru Hayashi (Japan)
Set during the short reign of child Shogun Ietsugu Tokugawa, OH-OKU recounts the legendary power struggle between the young shogun's natural mother and his official wife, who must watch her stake in the bloodline.
Otets (Father)
Dir: Ivan Solovov (Russia)
The terrible ordeal of World War II is over, but instead of relief and happiness, Russian soldier Aleksei Ivanov is filled with apprehension. What will he come home to' Clouds of emotional doubt hang over his reunion with his wife and children. The war may be over but its wounds remain.
Partes Usadas (Used Parts)
Dir: Aaron Fernández (Mexico/France/Spain)
Fortteen-year-old Ivan lives with his uncle Jaime, a dealer in stone car parts. Both dream of a better life in Chicago and are working to save the money necessary to get across the border...
Teresa: El Cuerpo De Cristo (Teresa)
Dir: Ray Loriga (Spain/France/UK)
Rejecting her designated role as a woman in the man's world of 16th century Spain, Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada, daughter of an Avila nobleman, founds a new order of Carmelites, establishes over a dozen monasteries and authors some of the most remarkable works in the mystical literature of the Roman Catholic Church.
Canadian premieres
September Dawn
Dir: Christopher Cain (US)
An up-close look at the devastation wrought by religious fanaticism with this romantic drama set against the backdrop of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre. As a wagon train of westward-bound settlers makes its way across southern Utah, a confrontation with a congregation of Mormons led by the venerable Brigham Young soon leads to deadly consequences for all involved.
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