Moritz de Hadeln seems to be perfectly and oddly pleased with his new job at the Montreal International Film Festival – a top programming spot that puts the Swiss-born festival vet in the middle of the three-way slap fight that has broken out between MIFF and its cross-town rivals, the World Film Festival and the Festival du Nouveau Cinema.

The lawsuits? The name-calling? The scheduling conflicts? It’ll all get worked out, he says with a chuckle. ‘I’m optimistic. If I wasn’t I’d jump out a window.’

De Hadeln joined MIFF in February and did a press tour in Toronto a few days later, by which time WFF had filed a $2-million lawsuit against his fest’s parent company L’Équipe Spectra, alleging that the new fete was infringing on WFF’s territory and 28-year reputation. MIFF is also drawing heavy fire because its Oct. 12-23 run overlaps almost exactly with that of the FNC.

De Hadeln is keeping his distance from the scheduling fracas – that’s a problem for the higher-ups, he says – but at the same time seems to be extending one or two olive branches, playing the diplomat.

‘I think it could easily work out with a bit of goodwill on both sides,’ he says, chatting amiably in the lobby of Hôtel le Germain in downtown Toronto. He points out other film events that run side by side – the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, the Forum of Young Cinema at Berlin, as examples. His voice is creaky and German, oddly like Henry Kissinger’s. ‘I think this will be clarified very soon… I did not agree to come to Montreal as a samurai.’

And yet he speaks matter-of-factly about Serge Losique. The embattled WFF boss has been fighting all challengers to keep his festival afloat since last year, when Telefilm Canada and SODEC pulled their funding amid allegations of sloppy management. Losique recently denounced de Hadeln’s presence in Montreal, questioning his ability to keep the city on the film festival map.

De Hadeln – who programmed the Berlin Film Festival for 22 years and later did the same job for Venice – says Losique built a ‘great festival’ in the ’70s and ’80s, but erred by getting into a ‘stupid, useless war’ with the Toronto International Film Festival. Both festivals have always downplayed their differences, but in 2003, WFF changed its schedule to overlap with that of TIFF in early September. It has since backed off.

‘Clearly one of his major mistakes was… underestimating the strength of Toronto,’ he says – one more reason that MIFF will run in October before moving to a permanent spot in August in 2006.

(Shortly after this interview, de Hadeln was sued by Losique. See sidebar.)

De Hadeln’s vision for MIFF is a European-style film festival, a more thoughtful, cultural affair that breaks from the market-driven fests of Toronto and the rest of North America. ‘I think Canada has everything to gain by a strong event in Montreal based on the European model,’ he says.

Be that as it may, both WFF and FNC already promote themselves as Euro-esque fests aimed at film lovers, not buyers. Is there really room for a third in a city of three million?

‘Well, let’s wait and see if there really are three,’ he says, deadpan. ‘There’s definitely room for two.’

MIFF must appeal to the rest of Canada and to the world, he says, by playing an even quality-not-quantity mix of domestic and international films, including those from Hollywood. ‘There’s a certain duty to Canadian cinema that has to be fulfilled,’ he says.

Again, a good idea on paper. But Canadians already have plenty of access to international films, and are famously disinterested in their own movies.

‘Ah,’ he waves his hand, ‘Europeans don’t respond to European movies. Why else do German films go to Cannes, or the best French films go to Venice? Because they’re too scared of the French films going to Cannes. You never profit at home.’

Towards the end of our talk, I ask if he can name his three favorite Canadian films. A stock question for any festival programmer, but an uncomfortable one in his case.

He winces. ‘That’s a very dangerous question,’ he says. ‘You know, you can like different films for different reasons.’

Okay, how about the first three Canadian films that spring to mind? Anything – from Strange Brew to Mon Oncle Antoine.

‘Again, you can’t compare the work of, say, Denys Arcand to David Cronenberg. It’s two different worlds. You’re comparing black and white. It’s a completely different approach to cinema.’

That’s a very diplomatic answer, I say.

‘Well, no, it’s sincere.’

Welcome to Montreal

Moritz de Hadeln’s name has been added to a $250,000 defamation suit by Serge Losique over remarks he made in a 2003 interview with Montreal’s La Presse. Losique was under fire at the time for rescheduling his World Film Festival to coincide with the major festivals in both Toronto and Venice. De Hadeln, then head programmer of Venice, called him the ‘Al Capone of Montreal.’ In court papers, Losique says the comparison hurt his reputation.

The newspaper is a codefendant in the suit, filed in Quebec Superior Court. De Hadeln was served with papers on his way into a meeting of the MIFF board of directors.

WFF itself recently sued de Hadeln’s employers at L’Équipe Spectra for $2 million and has brought a $2.5-million suit against Telefilm Canada. Both of those suits are in connection to the new Montreal International Film Festival.