The Festival du nouveau cinéma will open its Canadian Focus lineup with Mars et Avril (pictured), a sci-fi fable by Martin Villeneuve that stars Jacques Languirand, Caroline Dhavernas, Robert Lepage and Paul Ahmarani.

In all, 17 films will screen in the Canadian sidebar, ten in competition for the Focus Grand Prize trophy, and another six out of competition.

The competition titles include Albert Nerenberg’s Boredom; Jeremy Larouche’s debut feature La Cicatrice; Deux jours et demi, by Pablo Diconca; and Ryan McKenna’s The First Winter, about a Portuguese man experiencing his first winter in Winnipeg.

Also booked into competition in Montreal is the Joe Balass documentary Joy!, about a congregation of men becoming nuns; Laylou, by Philippe Lesage; Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell; and Simon Lavoie’s Le Torrent, based on a collection of short stories by Anne Hébert.

Rounding out the competition lineup is Kazik Radwanski’s Tower, about a single, unemployed man who still lives with his parents in Toronto; and Uncontrollable, by Eugene Garcia, who won the best Canadian film at the 1997 FNC for his film Burnt Eden.

The six out-of-competition titles in Montreal are Alphée des étoiles, by Hugo Latulippe; Najeeb Mirza’s Buzkashi; Fernando Arrabal – Grand rectum – Université de Foulosophie, by François Ara Gourd and Hugo Samson;  Lewis Cohen’s Jews and Money; Un nuage dans un verre d’eau, by Srinath C. Samarasinghe; and Francine Pelletier’s Tango’s Revenge.

The 41st Festival du nouveau cinéma will be held in Montreal from Oct. 10 to 21, 2012.