It always seemed a strange fit. The World Film Festival likes to position itself as an event with old-world European snob appeal. And then, all of a sudden, it was championing Karla, the controversial yet unseen movie about serial sex-killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.

In agreeing to screen the L.A.-produced movie – which Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty urged people to boycott – the WFF scored scads of free publicity. The move, announced on July 25, tested the concept that any publicity, no matter how nasty, is good publicity, allowing Canadian media to wallow in yet more headlines about the notorious case. In the vast majority of coverage, Quantum Entertainment, which produced the film, was painted as crass California types, and the WFF was held up as desperate.

This made the marriage between WFF president Serge Losique and Karla seem all the more strange, as Losique has long held that his rival, the Toronto International Film Festival, was far too beholden to the City of Angels and its trademark brand of sensationalism.

Pressure from WFF’s sponsors ultimately caused the divorce. During the first round of publicity surrounding Karla at WFF, Air Canada expressed grave misgivings about the programming choice. By coincidence, the announcement that Karla would be yanked came on Aug. 3, the same day Losique’s rival, the New Montreal FilmFest, announced its own primary lineup of corporate sponsors, including Quebecor, Holt Renfrew and Air France. With corporate sponsors spreading thinner in the Montreal film fest landscape, clearly festival administrators are now feeling more pressure to please their corporate backers.

When reached for comment, Karla producer Michael Sellers expressed frustration over the WFF decision to drop his film.

‘But beyond our disappointment,’ he says, ‘I think this raises some alarming questions about the barrier between festival programmers and their sponsors. Karla was clearly stopped because sponsors were uncomfortable with the film and its content. This sets a very bad precedent for the World Film Festival and for film festivals across Canada.’