MWFF 2015: Montreal Film Festival

Montreal World Film Festival
39th Edition

27 August - 7 Septemeber, 2015

This year, the Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) starts about a week later than in previous years. This offers an exceptional opportunity to all those who take late summer holidays not to miss this great film festival and to attend it, to watch many remarkable films from around the world. I was told by international directors who had films in competition at the MWFF in previous years, that MMFA is considered within the film industry to be an international festival that selects the films with the greatest consideration for the core human issues, while keeping a perspective on the most actual topics of the day. The selection of films will be so wide that it won't fail to address the different audience preferences, especially since films from 86 countries will be represented in this 2015 edition of the festival. All the previous festival editions were a great hit with the audience, many travelling to Montreal over large distances to participate in this unique annual event.

Also this year, Montreal World Film Festival (in French Festival des Films du Monde de Montréal) is honouring the 45^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and China. In order to showcase the Chinese burgeoning contemporary film production, the 2015 edition of the MWFF added a special section, Chinese Cinema, which includes a number of new Chinese feature films.

The festival will open with an Iranian epic film Muhammad, which is about the Islam's founding prophet. The story focuses on his early years, from birth to age 13. The film is 171 minute long, and it took five years to make it. Its budget was over $50 million. This is the most expansive film ever made in Iran. The director of the film Majid Majidi is a veteran of the MWFF. He won the MMFA Grand Prix des Amériques three times: for Children of Heaven (1997), The Color of Paradise (1999) and Baran (2001). The director will attend the FFM première with members of the film team.

This year the number of entries to the MWFF sections has overtaken those of previous years: over 2000 feature and short films (in equal proportion) were submitted and screened by the selection commitee.

A quote from Serge Losique, the MWFF's founder and director:

“The Festival is very proud to be able to host the premiere of this important work, a film of very high artistry aimed at a very wide audience... There have been many movies dealing with key figures of the world’s great religions, including Jesus, Moses and Buddha, but this is only the second epic screen treatment of Islam’s founder.”

The Montreal World Film Festival has just announced the line-up of its World Competition as well as First Feature Competition. 

  

World Competition

Grand Prize of the Americas

27 Feature films from 31 countries will compete in this category: 

2 Nights Till Morning by Mikko Kuparinen (Finland-Lithuania) 84 mins

A Havana Moment by Guillermo Ivàn Duenas (USA – Cuba - Mexico – Colombia) 95 mins

A Matter of Courage byRoberto Gervitz (Brazil – Uruguay) 90 mins

Chucks by Sabine Hiebler, Gerhard Ertl (Austria) 93 mins

Demimonde by Attila  Szàsz (Hungary) 88 mins

Gassoh by Tatsuo Kobayashi  (Japan) 87 mins

Getaway of Love by Tonino Zangardi (Italy) 90 mins

Grey and Black by Luís Filipe Rocha (Portugal – Brazil)

Happy 140 by Gracia Querejeta (Spain) 98 mins

John Hron by Jon Pettersson (Sweden) 127 mins

L’Accabadora by Enrico Pau (Italy – Ireland) 97 mins

Mad Love by Philippe Ramos (France) 96 mins

Memories of the Wind by Özcan Alper (Turkey - Germany - France – Georgia) 140 mins

My Enemies by Stéphane Géhami (Canada) 106 mins

On the Road to Berlin by Sergei Popov (Russia) 82 mins

Outliving Emily by Eric Weber (USA) 88 mins

Rider Jack by This Lüscher (Switzerland) 90 mins

Secret by Selim Evci (Turkey) 102 mins

Seven Days by Xing Jian (China) 73 mins

Summer Solstice by Michal Rogalski (Poland – Germany) 95 mins

Taboo by Khosro Masoumi (Iran) 108 mins

The Girl King by Mika Kaurismäki (Germany - Canada - Finland - Sweden) 102 mins
The Invisible Artery by Pere Vilà Barcelo (Spain) 119 mins

The Midnight Orchestra by Jérôme Cohen Olivar (Morocco) 114 mins

The Petrov File by Georgi Balabanov (Bulgaria – Germany) 90 mins

The Soul of a Spy by Vladimir Bortko (Russia) 110 mins

The Visitor by Mehmet Erylimaz (Turkey) 127 mins

   

First Feature Competition

Beijing Carmen by Wang Fan (China) 95 mins

Closer by Mostafa Ahmadi (Iran) 90 mins

Crushed by Megan Riakos (Australia) 111 mins

Das Deckelbad by Kuno Bont (Switzerland) 97 mins

Dear Deer by Takeo Kikuchi (Japan) 107 mins

Fire Birds by Amir Wolf (Israel) 105 mins

Kagurame byYassuo Okuaki (Japan) 112 mins

Legacy by Nemanja  Cipranic (Serbia – Montenegro) 90 mins

Live by Vlad Paunescu (Romania) 107 mins

Lost and found by Show Yanagisawa (Japan) 111 mins

Maresia by Marcos Guttmann (Brazil) 90 mins

Neboke by Norihito Iki (Japan) 115 mins

Our Everyday Life by Ines Tanovic(Bosnia-Hezegovine – Slovenia – Croatia)

Rainbow Without Colours by Tuyen Quang Nguyen (Vietnam) 93 mins

Rosa Chumbe by Jonatan Relayze Chiang (Peru) 75 mins

Orage by Fabrice Camoin (France) 80 mins

Stubborn Boy by Moritz Kramer (Germany) 82 mins

The Funeral by Qi Wang (China) 115 mins

The Plastic Cardboard Sonata by Enrico Falcone, Piero Persello (Italy) 80 mins

The Sum of Histories by Lukas Bossuyt (Belgium – Netherlands) 85 mins

The Thin Yellow Line by Celso Garcia (Mexique) 95 mins

Three Days in September by Darijan Pejovski (Macedonia – Kosovo) 90 mins

Under Heaven by Dalmira Tilepbergen (Khirgizistan) 88 mins

Vals by Anita Lakenberger (Austria) 120 mins

Members of both Juries were also made public today.

Visit the Montreal World Film Festival's website for more information, program and film scheduling.

Festival information courtesy of  MWFF.