Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma is to open its 40^th edition on Oct. 12 with La guerre est declarée (Declaration of War), by French actor and director Valérie Donzelli.

And the Montreal festival on Thursday said it will close on Oct. 23 with Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar, the Locarno award-winner that will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival this month.

Declaration of War, Donzelli’s second feature after The Queen of Hearts, will screen at the Imperial Cinema, with the director and co-writer Jérémie Elkaïm attending.

Monsieur Lazhar, Falardeau’s fourth feature, is set to be released in Quebec on Oct. 28.

The Festival du Nouveau Cinema is set to run from Oct. 12 to 23.