Montreal: More than 200 films and videos culled from 29 countries are featured in this year’s 25th edition of Festival du Nouveau Cinema de Montreal, June 6-16.

Festival director general Claude Chamberlan says, ‘We have a big lineup this year. There are so many new discoveries in film and video (in ’95) from around the world. That’s what we’re here for.’

The program will be showcased at seven venues – four theaters and three free outdoor screening locations, including a new site at the Jean Talon market in Little Italy.

Le Huitieme

This year’s opening night film, Jaco van Dormael’s Le Huitieme Jour, will be screened at the charming uptown Rialto Theatre.

The feature film lineup promises an eclectic choice of 1995-produced entries, among them Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, Nicolas Roeg’s To Death, Mary Harran’s I Shot Andy Warhol, Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse, John Sayles’ new film, Lone Star, documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Falls, Jacques Doillon’s Du Fond du Coeur, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Good Men, Good Women, Hal Hartley’s Flirt, Peter Watkins’ marathon tribute The Free Thinker, and Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald’s latest rock ‘n’ roll entry, Hard Core Logo.

Van Dormael (Toto Le Heros), Harran, Jarmusch, Sayles, Locarno festival director Marco Muller, Michael Moore (TV Nation), Cinque Lee and festival patron Wim Wenders are on this year’s guest list.

The ’96 edition has a budget of $600,000, with major private sector support coming from the Laurentian Bank of Canada and Microserv.

Telefilm Canada will introduce two awards worth $10,000 each at the festival. The prizes, one for film, one for video, will be given to the Canadian discoveries at the Nouveau fest. Only Canadian films and videos entered in the festival are eligible.

The twinned New York festival includes a portion of the Montreal program and will unspool June 21-24 at the New York Film Academy in Union Square.

New York highlights

Chamberlan says rooftop screenings are among the nyc highlights.

The Virtual Film Festival, headed by Necessary Illusions’ Peter Wintonick, will webcast festival news and events onsite from Microserv’s CafeMedia, ‘the Internet cafe.’ Microserv has donated $80,000 in equipment year-round to the installation and is making additional equipment available for the production of a daily electronic newspaper.

vff’s address is //www.virtualfilm,com.