'Dreamlife,' 'Violin' frame Montreal New Cinema

27th Festival goes back to fall with 38 pix in sked

MONTREAL -- The start of the Montreal Intl. Festival of New Cinema and New Media marks the event's move back to its traditional fall slot after four less-than-successful years as a summer event, and the seasonal shift has helped fest programmers pull together a higher-profile selection than the past couple of editions.

The entire lineup of the 27th Festival of New Cinema was unveiled by fest chairman Daniel Langlois and director Claude Chamberlan at a press conference in Montrealthis week.

The fest opens Oct. 15 with first-time Gallic helmer Erick Zonca's acclaimed psycho-drama "The Dreamlife of Angels" ("La Vie Revee des Anges") and winds down Oct. 24 with the local premiere of Montreal writer-director Francois Girard's musical epic "The Red Violin."

Fewer but stronger

In between the two pics, the fest will showcase 36 features from around the globe, down substantially from previous years in an attempt to up the quality of the films.

There are a number of North American preems at the Montreal event, including French director Bertrand Tavernier and his son Nils' pic "De L'Autre Cote du Periph"; Russian film "Confession" from Alexandre Sokourov; British indie veteran Stephen Dwoskin's "Pain Is ..."; Chinese pic "Made in Hong Kong"; Italian helmer Roberta Torre's "To Die For Tano"; and Yamina Benguigui's "Immigrant Memories -- The North African Inheritance."

"Everyone is happy that we moved from the summer," said fest director Chamberlan. "You're able to get more films in the fall."

Notables

The programming also includes a bunch of pics already well-traveled on the fest circuit, notably Toronto writer-director-actor Don McKellar's "Last Night," which has already won prizes at Cannes and Toronto; Todd Solondz's controversial black comedy "Happiness"; Lars Von Trier's "The Idiots"; Tsai Ming-Liang's "The Hole"; U.S. helmer Marc Levin's "Slam"; Quebec director Denis Villeneuve's "August 32nd on Earth"; Ken Loach's gritty "My Name is Joe"; Todd Haynes' glam-rock fantasy "Velvet Goldmine"; and the newly re-edited version of Orson Welles' film-noir classic "Touch of Evil".

The event also includes a section devoted to short and medium-length pics, with 109 films from 17 countries, and a new media program, which will put the spotlight on audiovisual installations, performances, and CD-ROM presentations.