Location | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
---|---|
Founded | 1977 |
Film titles | 400+ |
Hosted by | Montreal World Film Festival Group |
Language | International |
Website |
www |
The Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF; French: Festival des films du monde de Montréal) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto International Film Festival is North America's only accredited non-competitive festival). The public festival, which was founded in 1977 as a replacement for the defunct Montreal International Film Festival (1960–68), was held annually in late August in the city of Montreal in Quebec. [1] Unlike the Toronto International Film Festival, which has a greater focus on Canadian and other North American films, the Montreal World Film Festival had a larger diversity of films from all over the world. [2] The festival was cancelled in 2019.
In 2022, former festival president Serge Losique announced plans to revive the festival as the Global Montreal Film Festival, with a 2022 edition featuring free screenings of a selection of films that had previously screened at FFM, leading to a full revival of the festival in 2023. [3] However, the 2023 revival did not materialize, and there has been no subsequent news about the festival's return.
The World Film Festival is organised in various sections:
Prior to the beginning of each event, the Festival's board of directors appoints the juries who hold sole responsibility for choosing which films will receive the blessing of a WFF award. Jurors are chosen from a wide range of international artists, based on their body of work and respect from their peers.
Competition
In addition the festival-going public votes for the films they liked best in different categories:
Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
1978 | Ligabue | Salvatore Nocita | France / Italy | |
1979 | 1+1=3 [de] | Heidi Genée | West Germany | |
1980 | The Stunt Man | Richard Rush | United States | |
Fontamara | Carlo Lizzani | Italy | ||
1981 | The Chosen | Jeremy Kagan | United States | |
1982 | Time for Revenge | Tiempo de revancha | Adolfo Aristarain | Argentina |
Brimstone and Treacle | Richard Loncraine | United Kingdom | ||
1983 | The Go Masters | Mikan no taikyoku | Ji-shun Duan & Jun'ya Satô & Shu'an Liu | Japan / China |
1984 | The North | El Norte | Gregory Nava | United States / United Kingdom |
1985 | Our Father | Padre nuestro | Francisco Regueiro | Spain |
1986 | Betty Blue | 37°2 le matin | Jean-Jacques Beineix | France |
1987 | The Kid Brother | Kenny | Claude Gagnon | Japan / United States / Canada |
1988 | The Reader | La lectrice | Michel Deville | France |
1989 | Freedom Is Paradise | S.E.R. - Svoboda eto rai | Sergey Bodrov | Soviet Union |
1990 | Fallen from Heaven | Caídos del cielo | Francisco J. Lombardi | Peru / Spain |
1991 | Salmonberries | Percy Adlon | Germany | |
1992 | The Dark Side of the Heart | El lado oscuro del corazón | Eliseo Subiela | Argentina / Canada |
1993 | Betrayal | Trahir | Radu Mihaileanu | France / Switzerland / Spain / Romania |
1994 | Once Were Warriors | Lee Tamahori | New Zealand | |
1995 | Georgia | Ulu Grosbard | United States / France | |
1996 | Different for Girls | Richard Spence | United Kingdom / France | |
1997 | Children of Heaven | Bacheha-Ye aseman | Majid Majidi | Iran |
1998 | The Quarry | Marion Hänsel | Belgium / France / Netherlands / Spain | |
Full Moon | Vollmond | Fredi M. Murer | Switzerland / Germany / France | |
1999 | Color of Paradise | Rang-e khoda | Majid Majidi | Iran |
2000 | The Taste of Others | Le goût des autres | Agnès Jaoui | France |
Innocence | Paul Cox | Australia / Belgium | ||
2001 | Rain | Baran | Majid Majidi | Iran |
Abandoned | Torzók | Árpád Sopsits | Hungary | |
2002 | The Best Day of My Life | Il più bel giorno della mia vita | Cristina Comencini | Italy / United Kingdom |
2003 | The Cordon | Kordon | Goran Markovic | Yugoslavia |
2004 | The Syrian Bride | Ha-Kala Ha-Surit | Eran Riklis | France / Germany / Israel |
2005 | Off Screen | Kleisterlee | Pieter Kuijpers | Netherlands / Belgium |
2006 | A Long Walk | Nagai sanpo | Eiji Okuda | Japan |
The Greatest Love of All | O Maior Amor do Mundo | Carlos Diegues | Brazil | |
2007 | Ben X | Nic Balthazar | Belgium / Netherlands | |
A Secret | Un secret | Claude Miller | France | |
2008 | Departures | Okuribito | Yōjirō Takita | Japan |
2009 | Freedom | Korkoro | Tony Gatlif | France |
2010 | Oxygen | Adem | Hans van Nuffel | Belgium / Netherlands |
2011 | Come as You Are | Hasta la Vista | Geoffrey Enthoven | Belgium |
2012 | Where the Fire Burns | Ateşin Düştüğü Yer | İsmail Güneş | Turkey |
2013 | Life Feels Good | Chce sie zyc | Maciej Pieprzyca | Poland |
2014 | Perfect Obedience | Obediencia perfecta | Luis Urquiza | Mexico |
2015 | Mad Love | Fou d'amour | Philippe Ramos | France |
2016 | The Constitution | Ustav Republike Hrvatske | Rajko Grlić | Croatia |
2017 | And Suddenly the Dawn | Y de pronto el amancer | Silvio Caiozzi | Chile |
2018 | Curtiz | Tamás Yvan Topolánszky | Hungary |
Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | Queen of Hearts | Queen of Hearts | Jon Amiel | Great Britain |
1990 | Lost Springtime | Printemps perdu | Alain Mazars | France |
Time of the Servants | Cas sluhu | Irena Pavlaskova | Czechoslovakia | |
1991 | Benjamin's Woman | La Mujer de Benjamin | Carlos Carrera | Mexico |
North | Nord | Xavier Beauvois | France | |
1992 | Little Sharks | Kleine Haie | Sonke Wortmann | Germany |
1993 | Betrayal | Trahir | Radu Mihaileanu | Romania / France |
1994 | Everynight ... Everynight | Everynight... Everynight | Alkinos Tsilimidos | Australia |
1995 | Cross My Heart and Hope to Die | Ti kniver i hjertet | Marius Holst | Norway |
Manneken Pis | Manneken Pis | Frank Van Passel | Belgium | |
1996 | Welcome Home | Okaeri | Makoto Shinozaki | Japan |
1997 | Gypsy Lore | Romani kris - Cigánytörvény | Bence Gyöngyössy | Germany / Hungary |
1998 | 2 Seconds | 2 secondes | Manon Briand | Canada |
1999 | Juan, I Forgot, I Don't Remember | Del Olvido al no me acuerdo | Juan Carlos Rulfo | Mexico |
2000 | Daughters of the Sun | Dakhtaran-e khorshid | Mariam Shahriar | Iran |
2002 | Various Positions | Various Positions | Ori Kowarsky | Canada |
2003 | I Always Wanted to Be a Saint | J'ai toujours voulu être une sainte | Geneviève Mersch | Luxembourg / Belgium |
2004 | The Magician | El mago | Jaime Aparicio | Mexico |
2005 | The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros | Ang pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros | Auraeus Solito | Philippines |
2006 | More Than Anything in the World | Más que a nada en el mundo | Andrés León Becker, Javier Solar | Mexico |
2007 | The Wooden Box | La caja | Juan Carlos Falcón | Spain / Portugal |
2008 | For a Moment, Freedom | Ein augenblick, freiheit | Arash T. Riahi | Austria / France |
2009 | You Will Be Mine | Je te mangerai | Sophie Laloy | France |
2010 | Liquid Love | Amore liquido | Mario Luca Cattaneo | Italy |
2011 | In Our Name | In Our Name | Brian Welsh | United Kingdom |
2012 | Casadentro | Casadentro | Joanna Lombardi | Peru |
2013 | The Long Way Home | Eve Dönüs: Sarikamis 1915 | Alphan Eseli | Turkey |
2014 | González | González: falsos profetas | Christian Díaz Pardo | Mexico |
2015 | The Funeral | Chuyi | Qi Wang | China |
2016 | A Father's Will | Atanyn kereezi | Bakyt Mukul, Dastan Zhapar Uulu | Kyrgyzstan |
2017 | The Return | Dolaonda | Chul Heo | South Korea |
2018 | The Gazelle's Dance | El Baile de la Gacela | Iván Porras Méndelez | Costa Rica / Mexico |
The stated goal of the Montreal World Film Festival (Montreal International Film Festival) is to:
encourage cultural diversity and understanding between nations, to foster the cinema of all continents by stimulating the development of quality cinema, to promote filmmakers and innovative works, to discover and encourage new talents, and to promote meetings between cinema professionals from around the world. [6]
The president of the Montreal World Film Festival (WFF) is Serge Losique; its vice-president is Danièle Cauchard. [7] Losique's management has been controversial. The WFF lost the sponsorship of its previous government cultural funders, SODEC and Telefilm Canada as a result of disagreements with Losique in 2004. Subsequently, these two funding agencies announced that they would support a new international film festival, called the New Montreal FilmFest (FIFM), to be managed by Spectra Entertainment and headed by Daniel Langlois (of SoftImage and Ex-Centris and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma). After the inaugural edition of that new festival was unsuccessful, it was abandoned early in 2006. As of July 2007, Losique's lawsuits against the funding agencies were dropped, paving the way for a restoration of government funding. [8]
According to a survey by Léger Marketing: [9]
In 2005, Losique first announced and later withdrew the film Karla from the WFF after the principal sponsor of the festival, Air Canada, threatened to withdraw its sponsorship of the festival if that film were included. The film — about Karla Homolka, a young woman who was convicted of manslaughter and who served twelve years in prison for her part in the kidnapping, sex enslavement, rapes and murders of teenage girls, including her own sister, in a case said to involve ephebophilia — was controversial in Canada, with many calling for its boycott throughout the country. [10]
In 2015 a group of employees claimed they were not paid. [11] In 2016 many of the employees resigned, citing poor leadership and financial uncertainty amongst other issues. [12] In an interview with CTV News, Gazette entertainment columnist Bill Brownstein referred to Losique as having a "Napoleonic complex" and not "playing well with the other children" resulting in government and sponsors withdrawing their funding support. [13]
In 2019, the WFF announced that it was cancelling the 43rd edition of the event, leaving behind speculations about its later continuation. [14]