IT has been a hectic stretch for Montreal’s 2004 World Film Festival, where organizers are finalizing the programming and event lineup for this year’s fest. Some unwanted publicity has hung over the proceedings, however, specifically the results of the recently released Analysis of Canada’s Major Film Festivals, a study conducted by SECOR Consulting and backed by Telefilm Canada and SODEC, which both supply funding to the WFF.

The report accuses the Montreal fest of suffering poor attendance as well as having a weak market component and a closed relationship with the local industry. The timing, of course, could hardly be worse, with the start of the festival, running Aug. 26 to Sept. 6, just days away.

WFF’s ‘priority is finalizing plans for the 28th edition… and it will not be in a position to respond to the SECOR Report until after the festival ends… Its advisors will study the report in the interval,’ reads a response issued by fest director of communications David Novek, who returns this year to the post he left back in 1989.

Meanwhile, WFF has its formidable annual task at hand. It must ready a program of 416 international films, including 20 vying in the World Competition, and 21 Canuck features. (All information is as of Playback’s press time.) The Panorama Canada section also offers 38 Canuck shorts, and there is a Canadian student film sidebar, a feature that differentiates WFF from the Toronto International Film Festival, with which it is often compared.

The fest gets underway with the opening night screening of local drama Elles etaient cinq (English title: The Five of Us), directed by Ghyslaine Cote and produced by Remstar Productions and Forum Films (see story, p. 21). The film, about a woman who confronts the adolescent rape that tore her apart from her best friends, represents a departure for Cote, whose previous feature Pin-Pon: le film was aimed at children. Elles etaient cinq has some big shoes to fill – last year’s opener, Louis Belanger’s Gaz Bar Blues, went on to win four awards at the festival, on its way to more than $700,000 in box office and a pair of Prix Jutra and Genie noms.

Elles etaient cinq is Canada’s only hope in the World Competition. Other highlights of that program include the international premieres of The 7th Day, a Spain/France copro from veteran director Carlos Saura (Salome) with a plot that sounds like the Hatfields and McCoys in Europe, and The Human Touch from Australian director Paul Cox (Innocence), about a woman’s sexual awakening. Wicker Park, making its world premiere, is a Hollywood remake of the 1996 French film L’Appartement, about a man’s romantic obsession, starring Josh Hartnett and Quebec’s own Jessica Pare, helmed by Brit Paul McGuigan (Gangster No.1).

Although WFF is known more as a filmgoer’s festival, the fest’s annual Montreal International Film Market, Aug. 28 to Sept. 5, plans on welcoming more than 1,000 international industry professionals, including distributors and TV buyers, many of whom are from the U.S. The market will feature four conferences focusing on topics of financing and selling (see story, p. 23). WFF reports that registration for this year’s market is up 12%.

Other Canuck movie highlights include the world premiere of Citizen Black in the Documentaries of the World competition (see story, p. 20). The film, a profile of media mogul Conrad Black and his current business woes, is from Toronto director Debbie Melnyk of Persistence of Vision Productions. Melnyk’s film was not picked up by TIFF, which is generally regarded as the pre-eminent launch pad for films in the North American market, but the director sees her doc’s Montreal bow as a plus.

‘We might actually be getting more publicity there,’ she says. ‘In Montreal, there aren’t as many in-your-face films that the journalists and business reporters love to talk about. People love the whole gossipy thing [about Black]. They just want to go see it, because, after all, he was born there.’

Gary Howsam, producer and CEO at Toronto’s GFT Entertainment, which is bringing its Christian Slater suspense drama The Good Shepherd to the Panorama Canada program (see story, p. 23), is somewhat dismissive of the notion that no sales are made at WFF.

‘I think it’s a good place to at least support the process,’ Howsam says. ‘I don’t know how many deals close by people walking out of the theater, but they need to see the movie to buy it. I’ve been surprised at the level of market activity that goes on in Montreal. It’s quite a bit.’

Also among the eight Canuck features in Panorama Canada is Seven Times Lucky, a noirish heist/love story from Buffalo Gal Pictures and Odeon Films written and directed by Montrealer Gary Yates. The film stars Hollywood character actor Kevin Pollak (The Whole Ten Yards) and Canuck Liane Balaban (New Waterford Girl), and has gotten a ringing endorsement from Variety. The film will also screen at TIFF.

The hometown Comment conquerir l’Amerique en une nuit, from novelist-turned-director Dany Laferriere, produced by Boreal Films and distributed by Equinoxe Films, tells the story of two Haitian friends who cross paths in Montreal after 20 years. They spend an evening together, engaging in a poetic look at women, food, and sex. Michel Mpambara and Maka Kotto star in the film, which makes its world premiere.

A trio of Canadian features make their world premieres in video or digital formats: Dan Zukovic’s bizarre love triangle tale Dark Arc; Christos Sourligas’ Elephant Shoes, about a 12-hour love affair; and Tom Antos’ World War II yarn Under Black Skies. Meanwhile, Vancouver Film School acting teacher Bill Marchant’s Everyone, a dark comedy shot digitally but transferred to 35mm, also makes its world premiere. The film stars Brendan Fletcher, Marchant, and Carly Pope in an ensemble piece about a gay wedding.

Other programs on tap include showcases of movies from the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, as well as an Out of Competition category. French actress Isabelle Adjani is the subject of a five-film retrospective and will be presented with a Special Grand Prix des Ameriques on Aug. 27. Meditative Greek director Theo Angelopoulos (Ulysses’ Gaze) will also be saluted, and there will be a special sports films sidebar in honor of the Summer Olympics, the tail end of which overlaps with the fest. A new category, Variety Critics’ Choice: Americas Now, offers a selection of films from the Americas programmed by writers from the U.S. trade pub.

An international jury headed by French director Claude Zidi (Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar) will vote on a number of prizes. These include a best film award, the Special Grand Prize of the Jury, director, actress, actor and screenplay trophies, best artistic contribution, the Innovation Award, a first prize and jury prize for short films, and three Zeniths for top first fiction features. Festival-goers vote on the Air Canada Prize for most popular film and for Golden Zeniths, which are awarded in each of the continental sections and subsections and in the doc category, and on the FedEx Prize for best Canadian short.

At press time, WFF was planning to unveil these details at an Aug.10 press conference featuring its controversial president Serge Losique, VP Daniele Cauchard and market director Gilles Beriault.

Screenings will take place at the Cinema Imperial, Cinema Parisien, Eaton Centre Cinemas and Maisonneuve Theatre. Scheduling information is available on the WFF website. *

-www.ffm-montreal.org