Montreal: Twenty-one feature films from around the world have been selected to compete for the Grand Prix des Ameriques at the 20th edition of the Montreal World Film Festival, Aug. 22 to Sept. 2.

The festival’s combined program was unveiled Aug. 6 by president Serge Losique and vp Daniele Cauchard and includes more than 400 films and videos from 60 countries.

This year’s anniversary event is dedicated to the late Harold Greenberg, founder of Astral Communications and a major patron of the festival, who died last month.

The wff’s Panorama Canada section has 18 features and 22 short films on tap as well as 58 productions in the 27th Canadian Student Film Festival, which runs Aug. 24-28.

Canadian premieres include Gilles Carle’s Pudding Chomeur and Philip Goodhew’s Intimate Relations, both entered in official competition; Arthur Lamothe’s Silencing the Guns, Giles Walker’s Never Too Late, John Greyson’s Ontario/Quebec coproduction Lilies, Cynthia Roberts’ Bubbles Galore, Jean and Serge Gagne’s La Marche a l’Amour, Srinivas Krishna’s Lulu and Bernar Hebert’s La Nuit du Deluge.

The nfb’s impressive festival lineup includes six animated shorts, six documentaries and two coproductions. Jacques Godbout’s ironic encounter with history, Le Sort de l’Amerique, is among the premieres.

Foreign films in competition include: from Italy, Lina Wertmuller’s The Nymph; from Sweden, Jan Troell’s Hamsum; and from the u.s., Edward Burns’ She’s The One, Keith Gordon’s Mother Night, shot in Montreal last year, and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth.

This year’s wff jury president is French movie legend Jeanne Moreau. The Canadian jury member is producer Denis Heroux.

The program includes a Cinema Under The Stars series of 10 outdoor showings. The national showcase is Russian cinema.

A $25,000 Telefilm Canada Award is being introduced at this year’s festival and will be presented to the director of the best Canadian film on the program.

The prize money will be earmarked for the development of a short film, feature or video, according to the winner’s choice.