Montreal: Organizers of the New Montreal FilmFestival insist that their famously troubled fete has not been shut down, even though its recent make-or-break merger proposal with the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma has gone unanswered.

Published reports recently said that NMFF’s handlers at L’Équipe Spectra – the group that also runs Montreal’s famed jazz festival – would pull their support from the year-old fest if they could not reach a deal to team up with FNC by Jan 15.

But an unnamed source at Spectra now says, ‘That was not a deadline or ultimatum. Rather, it was an objective, a proposed date. If it passes, then it passes.’

The FNC has not been in touch with NMFF.

September’s inaugural edition of the NMFF was marred by dismal ticket sales, caustic reviews from the local press and public infighting between Spectra president Alain Simard and the fest’s chief programmer, Moritz de Hadeln.

Telefilm Canada has since announced that NMFF posted an $850,000 deficit in its debut year, though Spectra refuses to confirm or deny this figure. The federal agency and Quebec cultural funder SODEC are the fest’s biggest public backers.

In the post-mortem, organizers suggested a merge with the smaller but resilient FNC.

Many are predicting that the FNC – which fared the best of the three Montreal fall festivals, the other being the World Film Festival – will not merge with the NMFF. If no merger is in the works, and Spectra withdraws its support, many predict that the first NMFF will also be the last.

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