Serge Losique will have a good reason to take a bow when the 30th edition of Montreal’s World Film Festival kicks off on Aug. 24.

He’s still standing.

L’Équipe Spectra head Alain Simard, backed by key Quebec industry players, tried hard to topple Losique last year by launching the ill-fated rival New Montreal FilmFest. Telefilm Canada and SODEC denied WFF key subsidies, instead giving their support to NMFF. Meanwhile, major Quebec distributors continue to choose the Toronto festival as a preferred launch pad.

But despite all this, the WFF founder and president remains the face of Montreal’s summer film festival season.

‘Losique is rising like the phoenix,’ says Les Boys IV director George Mihalka.

Bon Cop, Bad Cop producer Kevin Tierney has similar praise for the great survivor.

‘The only things that will be left standing after the atom bomb will be Keith Richards and Serge Losique,’ he insists.

As in past years, films from outside of North America and from little-known directors will dominate the lineup at the decidedly uncommercial WFF.

The 22-strong field vying for the Grand Prix of the Americas has no American movies – indie or otherwise – and only one Canadian picture – Stéphane Lapointe’s The Secret Life of Happy People. The romantic comedy about a young man falling in love with a woman on a mission screened out of competition in Cannes and will close out the WFF on Sept. 4.

Among the few notable homegrown pictures at WFF this year is the Canada/France copro The Chinese Botanist’s Daughter, a drama set in 1980s China by French-Chinese director Dai Sijie, with Max Films’ Luc Vandal and Roger Frappier sharing producer credits.

Out of competition, WFF will offer Canadian fare including: Hunt Hoe’s horror comedy First Bite, starring David La Haye; Pierre Gang’s serial killer drama Black Eyed Dog; Cerberes a l’horizon, a historic look at industrialization in Quebec by Jean Gagné and Serge Gagné; and Damian Lee’s romantic drama King of Sorrow.

The fest remains true to its mandate to celebrate world cinema, with a lineup boasting 215 features from 76 countries, reflecting the strength of Latin American, Asian and European films, with an emphasis on France. French titles include: Bernard Werber’s sci-fi flick Nos amis les Terriens (Our Earthmen Friends), which will open the festival; Jacques Fieschi’s French California, starring Nathalie Baye; Jean-Pierre Darroussin’s The Premonition; Gabriel Le Bomin’s Fragments of Antonin; and Dominique Lienhard’s Müetter.

‘We have big producing countries, but also emerging countries like Afghanistan, Haiti and Mauritius,’ says festival VP Danièle Cauchard. ‘This is the purpose of the festival – opening up films from a lot of countries and making sure they can be seen.’

U.S. movies at WFF include the doc Saint of 9/11, which bowed at Tribeca, Ryan Byrne’s drug-addict drama Á Colombia and Rick Stevenson’s romantic comedy Expiration Date.

Star-driven Hollywood pictures include Todd Robinson’s true-life crime thriller Lonely Hearts, with John Travolta and James Gandolfini, and Morgan J. Freeman’s drama Just Like the Son, starring Mark Webber and Rosie Perez.

But the fact of the matter is that WFF gets what’s left on the table after other international fests such as Toronto and Venice have finalized their selections. And, as in the past, the star wattage in Montreal will remain on dim, and the official film market will barely hum, as film buyers and sellers opt instead for business in Toronto.

Calling all volunteers

If the WFF is more no-frills than ever this year, it’s because the event will, for the second straight year, go on without the annual $1 million it once received from Telefilm and SODEC, but which was pulled last year. Those agencies had earlier commissioned a study that gave WFF failing grades in terms of attendance and relevance to the local industry.

Cauchard says the fest’s film selection has not been unduly impacted by the lost government funds, but the event now relies more on volunteers.

‘A lot of people are working for nothing. This is what you do. You cap expenses,’ she says, adding that some foreign directors and producers are paying their own way to Montreal.

But she contrasts WFF’s continued life on a lower operating budget with the rival New Montreal FilmFest, which toppled late last summer in its inaugural run despite funding from Telefilm and SODEC.

‘[New Montreal FilmFest] lasted for [11] days, and they had very few guests. I still don’t get it,’ she says with a survivor’s swagger.

She adds that WFF has had ongoing talks with Telefilm and SODEC about regaining the funders’ backing. A spokesman for Telefilm, meanwhile, refused to comment on whether channels of communication between his agency and WFF had resumed.

Joëlle Levie, director-general of film and television at SODEC, acknowledges that Losique has indeed been talking to SODEC executives, but there was as of yet no change in her agency’s stance regarding funding the WFF.

Rock Demers, head of La Fête Productions and chief organizer of the fest’s 30th anniversary festivities, explains that traditionally the WFF received its Telefilm and SODEC funding just before the festival got underway, so this year may not turn out much differently than those in the past.

‘Losique’s a real fighter. It’s difficult to maintain such an organization without knowing in advance how much money you will get,’ Demers says.

Losique’s stamina and abiding passion for world cinema continue to inspire surprising, albeit sometimes grudging, admiration.

‘[Losique] knows the business,’ says Michael Mosca, SVP and COO of Equinoxe Films. ‘The longer you are in this business, the more contacts you will have made. His circle of friends and contacts around the world is so huge.’

The fest also boasts continued loyalty from filmmakers it has helped launch.

‘Serge Losique changed my life,’ proclaims Beowulf & Grendel helmer Sturla Gunnarsson. The director’s 1977 graduate film, A Day Much Like the Others, grabbed top prize at WFF’s Canadian Student Film Festival showcase. After that, Losique took the film to screenings in Europe and the Museum of Modern Art. And from that, Gunnarsson’s career was born.

Voting on the fest’s juried prizes this year are local filmmaker André Forcier, Hollywood actress Kathy Bates, Danish Dogme film producer Vibeke Windeløv, Argentine actor Federico Luppi and French screenwriter Guillaume Laurant. Fest awards traditionally consist of the Grand Prix, the Jury Award, best artistic contribution, the Ecumenical Prize, best short film and best Canadian short.

In addition to the return of free outdoor screenings at Place des Arts, WFF this year will also feature retrospective tributes to actors Bulle Ogier (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie), Bruno Ganz (Downfall), the late Kiyoshi Atsumi (Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies) and Quebecer Rémy Girard (The Barbarian Invasions).

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