A lack of financial support from Telefilm Canada and SODEC won’t stop Montreal’s World Film Festival from celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Recognizing the WFF’s funding shortfall, producer Rock Demers of La Fête Productions says he has put together an anniversary committee to create and underwrite the costs of public and festival events to mark the milestone.

‘Knowing not all the money [festival organizers] hoped for was there, we decided to show our sympathy and create and sponsor certain events,’ Demers says.

The festival’s opening night on Aug. 24 will include a tribute to Quebec cinema, including a planned showcase of Quebecois film stars. That night, the festival will also host a free outdoor screening at Place des Arts of Cadavre exquis, a multimedia show inspired by a Serge Gainsbourg song. The two-hour event will feature on-stage performances by screen and music performers Dédé Traké, Pierre Verville, Jean-François Fortier, Annie Dufresne, Jean-Guy Bouchard, Kaliroots and Mado, while a compendium film will screen in the background.

Festival spokesperson Amély Tremblay explains that filmmakers producing nine shorts for the multimedia show will base their work on the last 10 seconds of a film produced by a preceding director.

The WFF will also inaugurate a ‘Street Films’ sidebar, giving ordinary festival attendees a chance to star in a movie. Each afternoon, a young filmmaker, from a group including Virginie Brault and Henri Pardo, will shoot a short film using only natural light and featuring anyone who shows up at Place des Arts between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The final works will screen at the festival’s closing ceremony.

Demers and his team are also organizing a symposium on Quebecois cinema to discuss new ways to finance homegrown movies with local and international distribution.

Quebec filmmaker and writer Jacques Godbout (IXE-13), also part of the 30th anniversary committee, will chair the symposium.