The 41st Montreal World Film Festival (FFM) is now over. This year was a slim pick for the Japanese cinema aficionado since there was only two Japanese movies (two others were co-productions with non-Japanese directors). Besides that, the festival went smoothly for me. However, the only question remaining above our heads is: will there be a festival next year? Of course Serge Losique wants to be reassuring and said that the FFM was here to stay. He even announced the dates for the next two years: August 23rd to September 3rd 2018 and August 22nd to September 2nd 2019 !!
One of the event that I would have liked to attend (but couldn’t by lack of time) was the press conference and Master Class held at L’Astral by Chinese Martial Art Filmmaker Xu Haofeng (The Hidden Sword) on Monday August 28th. It seems that it was one of the rares (if not the only one) press conference held at the FFM this year. I really miss those… (and the film market and the press room!)
The closing film of the festival was a surprise to be announced after the awards, just a few hours before its free screening. It was meant as a gift for the movie fans.
A press release announced the awards for the 48th Student Film Festival: for the Canadian competition it went to Land by Samiramis Kia (York University, Toronto) and for the International competition it went to Elene by Seven Kayhan (Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey).
Another press release announced the awards for the festival itself: the Grand Prix of the Americas (Best Film) went to And Suddenly the Dawn by Silvio Caiozzi (Chile) and the Special Grand Prix of the Jury went to Dear Etranger by Yukiko Mishima (Japan). Check the press release for the other awards.
To summarize, I’ve seen and commented on two Japanese movies:
I also wrote a few informational posts about the festival:
- What about the FFM?
- FFM Schedule
- FFM: First Film World Competition
- FFM Update
- Japanese movies at the FFM 2017
Finally, here are the latest comments about the FFM in the media:
- « Tout est sous contrôle » – Serge Losique, président du FFM (Radio-Canada)
- The many lives of the Montreal World Film Festival (Montreal Times)
- FFM: André Bergeron, projectionniste pilier (La Presse)
- FFM: des habitués inquiets, des Américains comblés (La Presse)
- Des cinéastes assoiffés au FFM (Le Devoir)
- FFM: un Elvis d’Albanie (La Presse)
- FFM: Fanny Cottençon, présidente sans (tout) son jury (La Presse)
- Nuages et lumières sur la survivance des vaisseaux culturels (Le Devoir)
- Le FFM n’est plus ce qu’il était. Et après? (Le Devoir)
- FFM: choisir ce festival, malgré tout (La Presse)
- Bilan du FFM: dans sa propre réalité (La Presse)
- FFM: le Grand Prix des Amériques à Et tout à coup à l’aube (La Presse)
- Le FFM est là pour rester, assure Serge Losique (Le Devoir)
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