Two reports on the events leading up to the famously failed New Montreal FilmFest have arrived at two dramatically different conclusions – with the Quebec government coming down hard on Telefilm Canada and SODEC for mismanagement, while, in its own report, Telefilm insists it did nothing wrong.

The first, commissioned by the provincial government and conducted by its former minister of cultural affairs Denis Vaugeois, criticizes Telefilm and the Quebec agency, charging that both badly mismanaged their efforts to create a new film festival in Montreal.

The 93-page report, tabled on May 4, states that the call for proposals – issued in 2004 after both funders pulled their support from the World Film Festival – was ‘excessively complex’ and that the time allotted to assess the proposals was too short.

Vaugeois also puts a harsh spotlight on a ‘mysterious’ phone call from Telefilm’s legal department, in December of that year, that blocked what looked to be a winning proposal from the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma.

Vaugeois laments that there is ‘no trace’ of the legal opinion that led to the nixing of the FNC proposal. ‘To this day, no one seems able to produce it.’

Telefilm and SODEC instead gave the go-ahead and $1 million to L’Équipe Spectra, the private group behind Montreal’s popular jazz festival. The Vaugeois inquiry was formed in March, when documents made public by Quebec culture critic Daniel Turp revealed that FNC was originally the winning applicant. FNC has been operating in Montreal for 34 years.

The report also faults the selection committee, noting that all of its members were civil servants attached to either SODEC or Telefilm.

Both the head of SODEC, Jean Chaput, and the Quebec minister of culture and communications, Line Beauchamp, immediately accepted the report’s findings and recommendations. In a conference call with journalists, the minister said new legislation will be created in the coming months to review how SODEC is administered.

As well, SODEC will appoint a committee to review how it funds the province’s film festivals. Such funding is currently frozen.

The following day, May 5, Telefilm’s side of the story was released. The 39-page report insists the federal agency acted soundly throughout the selection process – though much of it has been blacked out because of a still-pending lawsuit with WFF boss Serge Losique.

During a call with reporters, executive director Wayne Clarkson reiterated that Telefilm ‘acted in good faith and followed its mandate during the entire process,’ though he confirmed that points relating to the FNC bid have been blacked out.

‘We believe that there is no wrongdoing, that the processes followed were the right ones and that we conducted ourselves in a responsible, transparent manner,’ he said.

The full Telefilm report was prepared internally for federal Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda, and was delivered to her on April 7.

A spokesperson for SODEC acknowledged that the two reports are ‘indeed very different’ but made no further comment.

The New Montreal FilmFest took place last fall to dismal attendance, scathing reviews and bitter infighting. Since declaring the NMFF dead in February, organizers have said the festival ran up a $1-million deficit.