Montreal WFF Awards Announced

The Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) wrapped last night and presented a large slate of awards. The International Film Critics FIPRESCI PRIZE, as well as the Special Grand Prix of the Jury (feature film) went to WEAVING GIRL by Wang Quan'an (China).

The other top top feature film prize, the Grand prix des Americas, went to KORKORO (FREEDOM) by Tony Gatlif (France), which also garnered the Public Award for the most popular film of the Festival, and Special mention of the Ecumenical Jury.

The Award for Best Documentary Feature went to THE MAIN THING IS TO STAY ALIVE (L'IMPORANT C'EST DE RESTER VIVANT) de Roshane Saidnattar (France-Cambodia). In the short films category the First Prize went to PIGEON IMPOSSIBLE by Lucas Martell (U.S.A.)m abd the Jury Award went to ATTACHED TO YOU (FÄST VID DIG) de Carin Bräck, Cecilia Actis, Mia Hulterstam (Sweden).

OTHER FEATURE-FILM AWARDS:

Best Director: VILLON'S WIFE (VIYON NO TSUMA) by Kichitaro Negishi (Japan);

Best Actress: MARIE LEUENBERGER for the film WILL YOU MARRY US? (DIE STANDESBEAMTIN) by Micha Lewinsky (Switzerland);

Best Actor: CYRON MELVILLE for the film LOVE AND RAGE (VANVITTIG FORELSKET) by Morten Giese (Denmark);

Best Screenplay: I'M GLAD THAT MY MOTHER IS ALIVE (JE SUIS HEUREUX QUE MA MÈRE SOIT VIVANTE) by Claude Miller and Nathan Miller, screenplay by Alain Le Henry (France);

Best Artistic Contribution: SAINT GEORGE SHOOTS THE DRAGON by Srdjan Dragojevic (Serbia-Bosnia-Bulgaria);

Innovation Award: ATASHKAR (FIRE KEEPER) by Mohsen Amiryoussefi (Iran).

ZENITHS FOR THE BEST FIRST FICTION FEATURE FILMS 2009:

Golden Zenith for the Best First Fiction Feature films: JE TE MANGERAI (YOU WILL BE MINE) by Sophie Laloy (France);

Silver Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film: WHEN THE LEMONS TURNED YELLOW by Mohammadreza Vatandoost (Iran);

Bronze Zenith for the Fisrt Fiction Feature Film: LOS CANALLAS (RIFF RAFF) by Cristina Franco, Jorge Alejandro Fegan; Diego Coral López, Nataly Valencia (Ecuador).

PUBLIC AWARDS (not noted above)

Public Award for the most popular Canadian Feature Film: A CARGO TO AFRICA by Roger Cantin (Canada).

Award for Best Canadian Short Film: SURMENAGE by Alexandre Leblanc, Benoît Bourbonnais (Canada).

Glauber Rocha Award for the Best Latin American Film: ANDRÉS NOS QUIERE DORMIR LA SIESTA (ANDRÉS DOESN'T WANT TO TAKE A SIESTA by Daniel Bustamante (Argentina).

ECUMENICAL PRIZE (not noted above), CEASEFIRE (WAFFENSTILLSTAND) by Lancelot von Naso (Germany).

OTHER AWARDS

Special Awards for their exceptional contribution to the cinematographic art: PIERRE LEBEAU (Canada) and GU JUN (China).

Montreal World FF Opens Thursday

The 33rd Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF, Le Festival des Films du Monde Montréal) opens Thursday, 27th, and will run through 7 September. The Iranian New Wave director, Jafar Panahi, will preside over the international jury, and the full film lineup is available for download in PDF on their Web site. Most of Panahi's films are banned in his home country.

Other members of the jury include Japanese actor-turned-director Eiji Okuda, Quebec actor-producer David La Haye, Spanish writer-director Fernando Méndez-Leite Serrano, French director Pascal Thomas, French film music composer Reinhardt Wagner, and Diane Demers of Montreal, who was chosen in a contest to represent the public on the official jury.

Unfortunately, their press release with the list of films is one big muddle, and the PDF file is by venue and date. There is an alphabetized index at the end of the document, but it is in French.

Thus, I apologize for not giving Film highlights here. I have not the time to wade through it all, so you are on your own. See previous posts on this blog about this year's festival, and click title of this post for link to Web site.

Sorry, that's all I can do concerning Montreal until the jury awards are announced, unless, I get some press releases that are better written.

SERIES: Upcoming Film Festivals - August II

Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF)

The film program for the 33rd Montreal World Film Festival, 27 August to 7 September 2009, was announced today. This year, once again, the MWFF has a strong program of non-fiction films, beginning with the world premiere of the Official Documentary Film of the Beijing Olympics, THE EVERLASTING FLAME - BEIJING 2008, directed by Gu Jun.

Steven Spielberg called Yang Zhimou's production of the Olympic show "the grandest spectacle of the new millennium." This film, a record of what happened at the 2008 games, will be shown on 5 September. Gu Jun will attend.

The Opening Film of the World Competition is the French film, FAUBOURG 36, written and directed by Christophe Barratier, a nephew of French producer - director Jacques Perrin. The movie stars Gérard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, Kad Merad, Nora Arnezeder and Pierre Richard.

Barratier drew from his classical music education for his debut movie, LES CHORISTES (The Chorus). It was the closing film of the 2004 MWFF, and a runaway box office hit in France. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song, Vois Sur Ton Chemin (Look to Your Path), for which Barratier wrote the lyrics.

The famous Cirque Éloize will perform at the opening of the 33rd Montreal World Film Festival at the Théâtre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts. The circus troupe will highlight the Festival's visual accent with a performance on the Russian bar, an exciting circus act which combines the skills of the balance beam, the rebound tempo skills of trampoline and the swing handstands skills of the uneven bars and the parallel bars.

The performance will precede the world premiere of 1981, directed by Ricardo Trogi. The Festival's opening evening is by invitation only. Direct Information. Click title of this post for Website. Also, see previous posts in this series for more.

SARAJEVO

The 15th Sarajevo Film Festival (SHFF) opens today, 12 August. The full program is available online in English. There is no one list, searching will be a chore. As mentioned here before, TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE will open the Festival.

The Teen Arena opens Thursday, 13 August. The German film THE WILD CHICKS CREW AND LIFE will open the program at the Bosnian Cultural Center. The Sarajevo Film Festival staff has prepared numerous entertaining events for the evening.

This year, the Sarajevo Film Festival launches online ticket sales. A limited number of tickets are available through Bosnia and Herzegovina's first online ticket shop. See previous posts in this series for more.

SERIES: "Upcoming Film Festivals"

Montreal, Venice and Telluride

MONTREAL





The 33rd Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF): Le Festival des Films du Monde Montréal, 27 August - 7 September. The world première of Ricardo Trogi's 1981 will open the Festival 27 August at the Théâtre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts. The semi-autobiographical dramatic comedy will open in Quebec theaters 4 September.

Writer-director Ricardo Trogi came to critical and popular attention in 2003 when his debut feature QUEBEC-MONTREAL won four Jutras, including best film, script and direction, enjoyed box office success in Quebec, and won plaudits in festivals around the world. Trogi's second film, (DODGING THE CLOCK) won the Olivier prize in 2006 for best comedy, and scored a similar hit at the box office.

The Festival will pay tribute to Quebec film, television and stage actor Pierre Lebeau, and will honor him with Festival's highest award, the Grand Prize of the Americas. As a corollary to this tribute, the World Film Festival will show Lebeau's latest starring vehicle, Roger Cantin's CARGO FOR AFRICA (Un Cargo pour l'Afrique), which will receive its world première in the World Competition of this year's Festival.

The complete program has not yet been announced. For more info about tickets, etc., visit the Web Site, call 514-848-3883, or send an e-mail: info@ffm-montreal.org.

VENICE

The 66th Venice International Film Festival (VIFF), the world's oldest film festival, opens in Venice 2 September and runs through the 12th. BAARÌA, written and directed by Italian Oscar-winner Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), will be the Opening Film of the 66th Venice International Film Festival, to be held at the Venice Lido from 2 to 12 September 2009, again under the direction of Marco Müller and organized by the Venice Biennale, which is chaired by Paolo Baratta. The film will screen in competition.

It will also be the gala world première for BAARÌA in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema at the Lido. It is the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival for two decades and is the Italian film industry’s most costly production for many years.

The Festival also offers an online channel with video and interactive elements. The final film program has not yet been announced. Web Site.

TELLURIDE

Alexander Payne, American director and screenwriter, will be this year's Guest Director at the 36thTelluride Film Festival (TFF), 4-7 September 2009, in Telluride, Colorado, presented by National Film Preserve LTD. Director, Alexander Payne.

Each year the Festival’s directors select one of the world’s great film lovers to join them in the creation of the Festival. The Guest Director serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s programming decisions, bringing new ideas and overlooked films to Telluride.

ACME Passes are sold out - Cinephile, Festival, and Patron Passes still available!

Kudos to the Festival for a much-improved Web Site.

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QUICK NOTES:

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TRAVERSE CITY



Additional screenings have been added at the Traverse City Film Festival due to demand. Also, some additional special programs. The Festival runs Tuesday, 28 July, through Sunday, 2 August. Check the Web Site for more info.

Become a 2010 Friend of the Film Festival before noon on 2 August 2009, to be entered into a Grand Prize Drawing for the chance to win a FESTIVAL PASS FOR LIFE and passes to next year's film festival! And Friends who join before 1 September will pay the original Friends prices before they double again!

For current ticketing info call 231-946-3731, or send an email: info@traversecityfilmfestival.org. Web Site.

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NEW YORK

The 47th New York Film Festival (NYFF) will return to the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall in NYC. Presented by The Film Society, the 17-day New York Film Festival runs 25 September to 11 October, 2009. September 25 - October 11, 2009. Film submissions have now closed.

This year is the 60th year of the People’s Republic of China, and a Festival sidebar will showcase the first major U.S. retrospective of Chinese cinema between establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949 and the beginnings of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Also scheduled is a tribute to Hindi director, producer, and actor Guru Dutt, frequently credited with ushering in the golden era of Indian cinema in the 1950s and ’60s. Festival Web Site. Film Society of Lincoln Center.

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SAN SEBASTIAN

The San Sebastián International Film Festival's (SSIFF) early planning and work are paying off as the Festival is ahead of schedule in programming. American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino will open the Zabaltegi-Pearls section with his anticipated INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS, which won the Best Actor Award for Christoph Waltz at Cannes. It will be screened on the first day of the 57th edition, Friday, 18 September.

Already locked are new films by Woody Allen, Ang Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Bahman Ghobadi, Bong Joon-ho and Johnnie To, among others. Much, much more in next post. Web Site.

The films of director Richard Brooks and French Movie Trends will top the retrospective section. Web Site.

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TORONTO

The Toronto Film Festival (10 - 19 September) has announced the 20 films from film festival around the world. Documentary program announced. Canadian films will be announced 4 August. Web Site.

Japanese Film Wins Oscars

Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo. Director: Yojiro Takita. Writer: Kundo Koyama.

The Japanese movie OKURIBITO (Departures), which won the Grand Prize of the Americas at last September's Montreal World Film Festival, reaffirmed its merit by winning the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF) of 2008 at the 81st Academy Awards®, 22 February 2009.

OKURIBITO, directed by Yojiro Takita, 53, is the first Japanese film to receive an Oscar in the category. SAMURAI I: MUSASHI MIYAMOTO was given a special award in 1955, a year before the BFLF category was officially established in 1956. Takita and lead actor Masahiro Motoki accepted the award at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Vine®.

With a humorous touch, OKURIBITO portrays how a mortician observes people's lives and deaths. For the film, which was in the pipeline for more than 10 years, Motoki, who plays the mortician, studied relevant techniques under a real mortician. During his training he wiped the faces of bodies and dressed them.

The four other finalists in the BFLF category were: THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, Germany; THE CLASS, France; REVANCHE (Revenge), Austria; and WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Israel.

Actually, two Japanese films picked up Oscars® at the 81st annual Academy Awards. TSUMIKI NO IE (The House of Small Cubes) was named Best Animated Short Film. The French title is, La Maison en Petits Cubes. The animation was painstakingly drawn by hand, taking about seven months to complete the 12-minute film.

The animated short, directed by Kunio Kato, 31, was Japan's first Oscar in that category - the nation's only other animation success was in 2003 with Hayao Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY in the Best Animated Feature category.

The 2008 Montreal World Film Festival's International Jury was headed by Oscar-winning American director MARK RYDELL, along with French actress EVELYNE BOUIX, JOHANNE DUGAS, representing the general public (Canada), Chinese director XIE FEI, Czech director VOJTECH JASNY, and Montreal writer and director DANY LAFERRIÈRE.

The next Montreal World Film Festival will take place 2 August to 7 September 2009, and the next Oscars will be in March 2010.

My Film Festival Page News

Counted today and found there is information and links for 34 film festivals so far this year on my Film Festival Page, including some that are difficult to find information about such as the Festival of New Latin American Cinema held each December in Havana, Cuba. Ten are upcoming, or going on now, with the rest already completed this year. Altogether, there's a wealth of info. Here is the list of the 34:

AFIFEST, Berlin, Boston, Times BFI London, Canadian Hot Docs, Cannes, Deauville, Edinburgh, Guadalajara, Huelva, Havana, Jackson Hole, Los Angeles Independents, Memphis, Miami, Montreal, New York, Palm Sprngs, Puerto Valarta, River Run, Rome, San Diego, San Sebatian, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Sarajevo, Sitges, Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, Toronto, Tribeca, Vancouver, and Venice.

This weekend, I installed quick links to help you find the festivals in which you are interested. Just find the name of the festival you want, click, and you are there. Click the title of this post, which will take you to my Film Festival Page, and near the top you will find the links for the festivals going on now, or upcoming through December, including the one in Havana. There is a separate set of links for those already completed. Remember, there is always a link to my Film Festival Page on the right sidebar of this blog as well.

George Clooney and Jerry Weintraub at a recent Boston Film Festival gala.

My Film Festiva Page News

Wes Anderson’s new film, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, featuring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, and Anjelica Huston. (Fox Searchlight)

Winners at the Sarajevo and Edinburgh Film Festivals were posted today on my Film Festival Page as the fall film festival season is underway. My MIMI'S FILM FESTIVAL PAGE is currently reporting on happenings at the Edinburgh (England) and Sarajevo (Bosnia) festivals as well as the following: Montreal (Canada), Venice (Italy), Telluride (Colorado, USA), Toronto (Canada), San Sebastián (Spain), Vancouver (B.C.), New York (NYC, USA), Catalonian (Sitges, Spain), and the Times BFI London (UK) festivals. Others will be added as information becomes available.

The page is designed as a "quick stop" for viewers/readers to catch the highlights, and access the official sites immediately through quick links. Updates are sporadic, because they are made whenever information is received from various sources.

So, go visit and bookmark/favor the page for convenient frequent checking.