September’s inaugural edition of the New Montreal FilmFestival might also turn out to be the last if its rival, the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, does not accept an olive branch.

NMFF organizers issued a statement on Oct. 29 that, while acknowledging their event’s failure, put forward an ambitious proposal for next year – a merger with the 34-year-old FNC.

If not, the festival’s bosses at L’Équipe Spectra say they will not organize a second edition and will end their contract with the fest’s governing body.

Organizers admit that the NMFF debut ‘was not a success,’ citing poor ticket sales and marketing and the fest’s problematic calendar placement as sore points.

‘As we feared,’ the statement reads, the ‘change of dates impacted negatively on the festival and on the international image of Montreal as host for such events. It displayed our inability to agree among ourselves.’

NMFF took shape after Telefilm Canada and SODEC pulled their support from the World Film Festival, eventually handing their annual $1 million contribution to L’Équipe Spectra, which also organizes the city’s popular jazz festival.

When NMFF announced its dates, they overlapped directly with those of FNC. FNC cried foul and called for NMFF to back off. It did, but only to conflict with the Atlantic Film Festival and the afterglow of the Toronto International Film Festival. NMFF ran Sept. 18-25, when most Montrealers were returning to work or school.

The statement notes that the festival made several efforts to merge its event with either or both of the WFF and the FNC. Both merger offers were spurned, repeatedly.

The latest offer ‘proposes to the FNC that we form a single team, on new footing, in order to present, starting in 2006, a major collective festival that would take place annually in October.’ Organizers further recommend that a member from their ranks would meet with FNC representatives to negotiate the merger.

But they conclude that, should the FNC reject this offer, L’Équipe Spectra will pull out of its deal with Regroupment pour un festival de cinéma à Montréal, the fest’s governing body, almost certainly spelling the end for NMFF. A merger is considered a long shot, given the bad blood between both festivals.

FNC officials had no comment, but say their board of directors will meet later this month to discuss the offer. Spectra president Alain Simard also would not comment, with a company spokesperson stating that ‘everything is in the letter.’

Telefilm Canada spokesperson Jeanine Basile remains optimistic, commenting, ‘They have put forward a new idea, a notion of cooperation… The event is still valid and we’ll have to see what happens.’

WFF founder and programming director Serge Losique declined to comment directly on the document, but said that people ‘were beginning to open their eyes’ to the situation. ‘The winds are changing.’

The statement is signed by the board of directors of the Regroupement – which includes Seville Pictures copresident Pierre Brousseau, CBC/SRC chairman Guy Fournier, Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm president Guy Gagnon and Ex-Centris owner and president Daniel Langlois.

Notably absent is the signature of Moritz de Hadeln, the NMFF director of programming, who slammed the festival during its run and whose handling of programming, some say, hindered the event in its first year.

De Hadeln said he didn’t want to rerun premieres from the Venice and Toronto film festivals, and instead relied on world premiere films. This excluded higher-profile films like Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck, which could have generated better buzz and bigger crowds.