The Montreal World Film Market has doubled in size this year and is moving to an attractive, partially open-air location in the Salon Jeanne-Mance in the downtown Wyndham Hotel.

The market activities include a Coproduction Exchange, a section on new technologies, a series of networking workshops with industry players from Latin America, Italy and Germany, organized in association with Telefilm Canada, and timely industry conference and symposium programs.

The market will showcase 25 to 30 stands and some 100 exhibitors, says market director Gilles Beriault.

Beriault anticipates an important U.S. delegation at this year’s WFF, with close to 300 producers, distributors and buyers registered at press time. Companies attending include Miramax Films, USA Films, Lions Gate Films, Franchise Pictures, Winstar New Media, Seventh Art Releasing, Overseas Film Group and Good Machine.

International promotion groups present this year include MECLA (representing Argentina, Brazil, Chili, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela), Italia Cinema, Export-Union des Deutschen Film as well as representatives from Scandinavia.

Conference 2001, Aug. 27-28, is made up of workshops and luncheons, with the focus on independent film production and international distribution. Honorary chairman of this year’s program is legendary producer Dino de Laurentiis. De Laurentiis is the recipient of the prestigious Irving Thalberg Award and over five decades has produced movies as diverse and acclaimed as La Strada, Les Nuits de Cabiria, Hannibal and the WWII submarine drama U-571.

Conference 2001 panelists include Liza Wilson, president, Franchise Pictures; Rob Aft, president, international distribution, Kushner-Locke; Clark Peterson, senior VP, Interlight; Jessica Borsiczky, head of production and development, Blue Tulip Productions; Bernhard Stampfer, VP and COO, film and TV division, Deutsche Bank AG; Silvia Laj, assistant director, Coficine; and Pierre Brossard, president, TF1 Video.

Keynote speakers are Jared Underwood, senior VP and co-manager of Imperial Entertainment Group, and Steve Bickel, president of Orpheum Communications.

Law firm Belanger Sauve is host of the Aug. 29 Symposium workshops, which will focus on strategies for successful international copyright management.

Also new this year, the market, in association with Radio-Canada, will broadcast selected films from the WFF official short film competition on the Internet platform www.SilenceOnCourt.TV. The platform is being twinned with an ARTV program dedicated to short films. ARTV, the new French-language arts specialty channel, begins broadcasting Sept. 4.

-www.ffm-montreal.org