Although master classes are usually given by directors, not actors, the 61-year-old performer “will reflect on his craft, his experiences with the great film directors of his era and on his vision of the contemporary cinema,” say organizers, who describe the event as an innovative.

The festival has attracted some big-name international talent this year, including Academy Award-winning Danish filmmaker Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror, Good-bye Bafana) who will be the president of the jury and French director Bernard Tavernier, who will be in town for the North American premiere of La princesse de Montpensier, which will close the WFF.

Montreal vedette Anne-Marie Cadieux (Le coeur au poing, Trotsky) is on the jury, along with Chinese director Lijung Tang, who runs the Shanghai Festival of Film and Television; French auteur director and actor Edouard Molinaro (La Cage aux Folles); Italian film critic Irene Bignardi, a former director of the Locarno Festival; Egyptian director Marwan Hamed; and Paris-based Ukrainian director Igor Minaiev (Far From Sunset Boulevard).

The world premiere of Montreal helmer Louis Belanger’s Route 132 will open the WFF. Written by Belanger and Alexis Martin, Route 132 was produced by Fabienne Larouche and Michel Trudeau for Aetios Prods. and by Denise Robert and Daniel Louis for Cinemaginaire. Belanger’s Gaz Bar Blues opened the 2003 edition while his first film, Post Mortem, played in competition in 1999.

Despite this year’s star power, some journalists here maintain that the beleaguered WFF is still flailing and gets little guidance from its principal backers, SODEC and Telefilm. Five years ago Telefilm and SODEC pulled funding from the WFF alleging that it was badly managed by founder Serge Losique. In a recent column Gazette film critic Brendan Kelly said the WFF is still recovering from the public funding agencies’ failed attempt to destroy Losique’s festival and that SODEC and Telefilm “clearly have no vision for the future of our film festivals.”

The festival runs Aug. 26 to Sept. 6.