MWFF 2018: Closing Night Photo Highlights

Montreal World Film Festival 2018 Award Winners

Montreal World Film Festival 2018
September 3, 2018

Red Carpet Closing Night

Award Ceremony

  
Click on Images to Enlarge Them.

For more information on the festival visit the Montreal World Film Festival's website.

MWFF 2018 Opening Night

Montreal World Film Festival 2018 / 42st Edition
Opening Night Photo Highlights 

August 23, 2018

The Montreal World Film Festival 2018 held its red carpet and opening night ceremony at the Cinema Imperial. 

Photo Highlights: The Red Carpet MMFA 2018 Opening Night. 

Serge Losique on the Cinema Imperial's stage at the Opening Ceremony

 Visit the Montreal World Film Festival's website for more information.

All photos in this article © Nadia Slejskova

Click on Images to Enlarge Them.

For more information on the festival visit the Montreal World Film Festival's website.

MWFF 2017 Opening Night

Montreal World Film Festival 2017 / 41st Edition
Opening Night Photo Highlights 

August 24, 2017

This year, there was no red carpet ceremony before the Cinema Imperial on the Opening Night. As the festival's president Serge Losique pointed out during his opening speech, there was only a green carpet inside the cinema's lobby. He added, the festival was going green, saving on all types of expenses. It is actually a miracle the festival is taking place this year, only thanks to Serge Losique's  - the founder of the festival - great efforts, stamina, and perseverance, regardless of the grave financial difficulties the festival has been facing. 

Here are a few photo captures from the MWFF 2017 Opening Night. 

Serge Losique entering the Cinema Imperial

Serge Losique on the Cinema Imperial's stage at the Opening Ceremony

Check the film schedule here.

Visit the Montreal World Film Festival's website for more information.

Article's dedicated web address.

MWFF 2016: Photo Highlights

Montreal World Film Festival 2016
Photo Highlights

The Montreal World Film Festival 2016 held all its red carpet as well as the closing ceremony at the Cinema Imperial. Three great movie starts who attended the festival this year. They were the famous French star Isabelle Afjani, the Americal actor Willem Dafoe, and a very popular and also considered to be one of the most beautiful Chinese actresses, who is also a model and a singer Chrystal Liu Yifei.

Isabelle Adjani played a lead role in the MWFF 2016 film Calole Matthieu. Before the screening, she presented the film on-stage, to the audience on the Cinema Imperial's.

Isabelle Afjani with the MWFF President Serge Losique.
Red Carpet before Closing Ceremony, MWFF 2016, September 5, 2016.

Willem Defoe starred in the lead role of the film MY HINDU FRIEND, directed by Hector Babenco (Brazil). He won the Best Actor Prize at the MWFF 2016 for his performance in that film. Unfortunately, he was not present at the festival's Awards Ceremony to collect his prize in person.

Willem Dafoe with the MWFF President Serge Losique.
Red Carpet Before Closing ceremony,MWFF 2016, September 5, 2016.

Chinese actress Chrystal Liu Yifei starred in the film YE KONG QUE / THE NIGHT PEACOCK by director Dai Sijie that was presented at the MWFF 2016 and that won SPECIAL CHINESE FILM FESTIVAL 1st Prize of $60,000. 

Chrystal Liu Yifei with the MWFF President Serge Losique.
Red Carpet and before Closing Ceremony, MWFF 2016, September 5, 2016.

The President of the Montreal World Film Festival Serge Losique announced at the Closing Ceremony that the next edition of the 41st MWFF festival will be held on August 24 - September 4, 2017.

MWFF 2015 Opening Night

Montreal World Film Festival 2015
Opening Night Photo Highlights 
August 27, 2015

This year, the  red carpet and the opening ceremonies took place at the Cinema Imperial. There was no long red carpet walk, only the side walk in front of the cinema entrance was red carpeted.

Actors from the Japanese film Midnight Baby are posing on the Red Carpet


 The photographers take over the Red Carpet area


Serge Losique posing with actresses inside Cinema Imperial

Serge Losique, Dany Laferrière-MWFF 2015 Jury's President, and the Jury 

Majid Majidi, Director of the Opening Night's film Muhammad and the film's crew

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos by Nadia Slejskova.

© 2015 Nadia Slejskova

MWFF 2013: Ivan Son of Amir

IVAN SON OF AMIR
ИВАН СЫН АМИРА

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director : Maksim Panfilov

Screenwriter : Maksim Panfilov, Andrei Osipov

Cinematographer : Oleg Lukichev

Cast : Karolina Grushka, Bobur Yuldashev, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Andrey Merzlikin, Lola Eltaeva, Nargis Abdullaeva, Aziza Begmatova, Anastasia Smoktunovskaya, Samira Khuseynova

Film production and Sales : Film Company: Vera, Mosfilmovvskaya str. 1, Moscow (Russia), tel. and fax: +7 499 1439222, ivera2007@mail.ru

OFFICIAL FILM SYNOPSIS

"A Russian woman from Sevastopol flees with her two children during the Second World War. Amir, an Uzbek with two wives, gives her shelter in a remote village. The Uzbek has not gone to the front to fight, because he, as he explains, he does not like to kill people. Nevertheless, Amir believes that he is "defending the motherland" by looking after and feeding his own family along with the Russian, now his third wife, her two children and little Ivan, his new son from the Russian woman. When the war ends, the woman's husband, a lieutenant of the Black Sea fleet, who was assumed to be dead, shows up looking for his wife and children. He finds them and returns with them to Sevastopol -- his wife, the children and little Ivan. But he has difficulty accepting that his wife was third wife of a Muslim man who wouldn't fight in the war and the product of their union, Ivan, who is named after him, is now playing host to Amir's visiting family."

Ivan Son of Amir was the only Russian film shown  at the Montreal World Film Festival this year. The image to the left shows the Director of the film Mr. Maksim Panfilov (on the right) with two interpreters at the Press Conference that took place at the Hyatt Hotel in Montreal on August 28, 2013.

Two images below are also of the director Maksim Panfilov. On the left, he is listening to a question during the press conference. On the right, posing next to the official poster of his film right after the same press conference.

The film had merited an enthusiastic applause at the end of all three official screenings at the festival. Mr. Panfilov's film presents a very human situation, where a mistaken information is provided to the film's main character, which consequently leads her to faced a dilemma of making some life-changing choices to assure the survival of her two children and herself during the World War II. The original motive for this film was given to the director by his mother when she narrated to him a true story that happened to a Russian woman when she was evacuated from a war-torn Russia to Uzbekistan.

The film's heroin, interpreted superbly with great skill and sensitivity by Karolina Grushka, portrays emotions and conflicts experienced in a very unusual and difficult situation. This is especially true when her husband, previously declared dead in action, finds her in Uzbekistan after the war. Meanwhile, she has become a third wife of a Muslim Uzbek man, to whom she has born a son, small Ivan, called by his Uzbek father to honour the heroin's presumably fallen husband whose name was Ivan.

Although I could tell you more as what took place next, I would actually prefer you saw the film in person, in order to appreciate the ensuing drama, the characters' search to resolve the situation, and the inter-human relationships that triumph even in a complex diverse cultural situation, where purely human values common to all of us, regardless of our nationalities, triumph at the end. 

The film features a superb cinematography with compelling, poetic, and skilfully constructed imagery. The music and sound effects are innate to the story line and help to bring it to the sharp focus. The other principle actors Bobur Yuldashev, Dmitry Dyuzhev also deliver a commendable performance, along with all the supporting actors and even extras.

The picture to the left shows the film's director Maksim Panfilov with the Montreal Film Festival's director Serge Losique at the Mayor of Montreal reception which took place under a tent, on the Montreal City Hall's terrace, on August 28, 2013. The photo below and to the left is of director Maksim Panfilov on the City Hall's terrace during the same reception. The photo to to the right shows Maksim Panfilov with his interpreter on the stage of the Montreal's Maisonneuve Theatre just before the screening of his film.

Film's trailer:

ТРЕЙЛЕР ФИЛЬМА "ИВАН СЫН АМИРА", РЕЖ. МАКСИМ ПАНФИЛОВ




This film has merited the Best Screenplay Prize that was awarded at the very end of the festival. Read more about it in my post of September 3, 2013:

Montreal World Film festival 2013: Best Screenplay - Ivan Son of Amir

Top Image courtesy MWFF 2013 and the Director of the film.
All other photos by Nadia Slejskova.
© Nadia Slejskova

MWFF 2013: Opening Night

Montreal World Film Festival: 37th Edition

22 August-2 September 2013


This year's Montreal World Film presents a remarkable array of films, 432 in all in various categories:

Around the world in 432 films

218 feature films (113 world and international premieres)

14 medium length films (13 world and international premieres)

200 short films (147 world and international premieres)

World Competition : 20 feature films and 11 short films

First Films World Competition : 20 feature films

Hors Concours / World Greats : 13 feature films

Korean Cinema of Today : 8 feature films, 1 medium length, 9 short films

Focus on World Cinema : 105 feature films, 1 medium length, 110 short films

Documentaries of the World : 26 feature films, 12 medium length, 3 shorts films

INIS Productions : 10 short films (4 fiction films and 6 documentaries)

Canadian Student Film Festival : 1 feature film and 42 short films

Best Student Films of the World : 15 short films

Hommage : 1 feature film

Our Cinema – Review of a Year of Hits : 13 feature films

Cinema Under the Stars Loto-Québec : 12 feature films

The Film Festival's opening night was held at the Theatre Maisonneuve at Place-des-Arts. Unfortunately, because of the rain the usual red carpet walk across St.Catherine street was cancelled. The guests passed instead from the Complex-des-Jardins to Place-des-Arts through an underground passage.

The photo to the left shows dignitaries lining up before the red carpet walk, with Serge Losique - the founder and the President of the Montreal World Film Festival - in the front and in the centre of the photo.







To the right is Serge Losique with Festival's participants including members of the jury during the red carpet walk. 




Below are the members of the jury on the stage at the Maisonneuve Theatre at Place-des-Arts. The first from the left is Jiri Menzel, the president of the Montreal World Film Festival's jury this year.

To find out more about the festival and to see the program, visit the festival's website.

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos in this article by Nadia Slejskova.

© 2013 Nadia Slejskova

MWFF poster at the top courtesy MWFF.

MWFF 2012: Opening Night

Montreal World Film Festival

The Montreal World festival has ended, and now only memories remain. Above is a photo of the entry to the Place-des-Arts just before the commencement of the festival's Opening Ceremonies. It seems it had been for the first time that an orchestra played during the Red Carpet walk.

Just above is the view of the Hyatt Regency hotel terrace where a cocktail party was held before the Closing Ceremony. The buffet of cold cuts and cheese was laid out inside the hotel, but one could step with a plate and a drink outside onto the terrace.

And this is a Red Carpet walk to the Closing Ceremony. I really could not tell whether there was anybody famous in that shot. To me it simply made a nice composition of people walking on the Red Carpet inside Place-des-Arts towards Maisonneuve Theatre, where the Closing ceremonies were to be held.


And the last but not the least are two photos of the founder and director of the Montreal World Film Festival Serge Losique. The picture on the left was taken at the cocktail party held before the Closing Ceremony. He was walking too fast... The one to the right shows Monsieur Losique on the stage at the Maisonneuve Theatre, Place-des-Arts. 

Visit the Montreal World Film Festival website.

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos in this article by Nadia Slejskova.

© 2012 Nadia Slejskova