Montreal: It’s like receiving a liberal arts education, via 10 days of documentary films. The 22nd annual Festival of Films on Art, March 11-21 in Montreal, is a heady mix of everything from cine-painting and ballet to dance video and architecture. This year, the program includes 240 films and features a tribute to multidiscipline artist Robert Wilson, who will attend.

Of the 50 films in competition, Canadian hopefuls include 913, a filmed photo installation by Bertrand Carriere; Bernar Hebert’s film about painter Stanley Cosgrove, Esquisses du Nouveau Monde; Joseph Hillel and Patrick Demers’ Regular or Super – Views on Mies van der Rohe; Anne Troake’s ballet performance Pretty Big Dig; Philippe Baylaucq’s Sables emouvants, about Sable Island; Esther Pelletier’s Sur les pas de Rene Richard; and Brenda Longfellow’s film on photographer Tina Modotti, Tina in Mexico.

FIFA’s opening film is Adam Low’s The Life and Times of Count Luchino Visconti, while the closer is Cocteau et compagnie by Jean-Pierre Fargier from France. The jury is presided over by Jean-Luc Monterosso, France’s esteemed photographic curator.

Of special note to cinephiles is the festival’s Artificial Paradise section, including films on Abbas Kiarostami, Mike Leigh, Michel Moreau, Peter Sellers and Anthony Hopkins.

-www.artfifa.com