Festival du Nouveau Cinéma – October 7-31, 2020

49th Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (FNC)

LET’S CELEBRATE CINEMA ONLINE!

The Montreal Festival du nouveau cinéma will take place exceptionally and exclusively online, from October 7 to 31, while also being available to everyone across Canada. Faithful to its mandate, with a lineup that is both strong and daring, composed of nearly 200 works from all sections, including more than 50 feature films, and over 88 short films from 30 countries, the Festival will allow the public to discover anticipated flagship titles as well as new auteur filmmakers from the current cinema as well as virtual reality works.

Desterro

International Competition: Louve d’or
Aimed at introducing audiences to the emerging voices of worldwide cinema, the Festival’s flagship section highlights the unique perspectives of the artists who will shape tomorrow’s new cinema. The 10 films in the running for the Louve d’or include a number of titles that stood out on the international festival circuit this past year: ATLANTIS, Valentyn Vasyanovych (Ukraine); BAD ROADS, Natalya Vorozhbit (Ukraine); THE CLOUD IN HER ROOM, Zheng Lu Xinyuan (China, Hong Kong); DESTERRO, Maria Clara Escobar (Brazil, Portugal, Argentina); ÊXTASE, Moara Passoni (Brazil, United States); KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN, Marius Wilczynski (Poland); SERVANTS, Ivan Ostrochovsky (Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Ireland); THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS, Pushpendra Singh (India); THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (Lesotho, Italy, South Africa); and TOPSIDE, Logan George and Celine Held (United States).

National Competition:
Festival-goers will be able to discover the following premieres: THERE ARE NO FALSE UNDERTAKINGS, Olivier Godin (Quebec/Canada); SIN LA HABANA, Kaveh Nabatian (Quebec/Canada, Cuba); VIOLATION, Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer (Ontario/Canada) and JUDY VERSUS CAPITALISM, Mike Hoolboom (Ontario/Canada).

There is No Evil

Les Incontournables
Top international names usually compose this selection and 2020 will be no exception here! Here are the titles offered to the audience: CONFERENCE, Ivan Tverdovskiy(Russia, Estonia, U.K., Italy); THERE IS NO EVIL, Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, Germany, Czech Republic), Golden Bear winner at Berlin; UNDINE, Christian Petzold (Germany, France), which bagged Paula Beer the best actress award at Berlin; UPPERCASE PRINT, Radu Jude (Romania); and the documentary WIM WENDERS, DESPERADO, Campino and Eric Friedler (Germany).

Temps Ø
With the Temps Ø selection, the public will be able to discover several avant-garde feature films. The different titles include: the french anti-racist comedy TOUT SIMPLEMENT NOIR, by Jean-Pascal Zadiand John Wax. The film stars rapper JoeyStarr and Mathieu Kassovitz. Also in selection: the highly anticipated SIBERIA, Abel Ferrara (Italy, Germany, Mexico); THE BOOK OF VISION, Carlo S. Hintermann (Italy, U.K., Belgium); CAUGHT IN THE NET, Vít Klusák and Barbora Chalupova (Czech Republic, Slovakia); SHELL AND JOINT, Isamu Hirabayashi (Japan), THALASSO and THE KIDNAPPING OF MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ, Guillaume Nicloux (France); RED POST ON ESCHER STREET, Sion Sono (Japan); THE TREMOR, Balaji Vembu Chelli (India). Titles in this lineup will be up for the Audience Award.

Les Nouveaux Alchimistes
Made by artists from varied backgrounds, the films in this section stand out for their boldness and originality. Dedicated to formal exploration, new approaches and experimentation, this year’s lineup consists of eight boundary-pushing features: the monumental DAU. NATASHA, Ilya Khrzhanovsky and Jekaterina Oertel (Germany, Ukraine, U.K., Russia); KHAMSIN, Grégoire Orio and Grégoire Couvert (France, Lebanon); LAST AND FIRST MEN, Jóhann Jóhannsson (Iceland); LÚA VERMELLA, Lois Patiño (Spain); MAGGIE’S FARM, James Benning(United States); NIGHT HAS COME, Peter Van Goethem (Belgium); THE REPUBLICS, Huw Wahl (U.K.); and TO THE MOON, Tadhg O’Sullivan (Ireland).

Moving On

Panorama International
A section that showcases remarkable lives as it probes the current state of affairs. From Brazil to Vietnam, Argentina to Greece, the lineup includes socially engaged works that highlight uniquely subjective experiences and views that shake up the status quo. Available through video-on-demand, the 11 features in this year’s Panorama are: A YELLOW ANIMAL, Felipe Bragança (Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique); APPLES, Christos Nikou (Greece, Poland, Slovenia); COCOON, Leonie Krippendorff (Germany); DROWSY CITY, DungLuong Dinh (Vietnam); LA HIJA DE UN LADRÓN, Belén Funes (Spain); MAMÁ, MAMÁ, MAMÁ, Sol Berruezo Pichon-Rivière (Argentina); MOVING ON, Yoon Dan-Bi (South Korea); OASIS, Ivan Ikic (Serbia, Slovenia, Netherlands, France); SI C’ÉTAIT DE L’AMOUR, Patric Chiha (France); SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS, Lisa Rovner (U.K.); and WISDOM TOOTH, Liang Ming (China).

Special presentations and events
Initially scheduled to hit theaters and act as the closing title of the Festival, the latest feature by Philippe Falardeau, a prominent regular at the FNC, will symbolically close this special edition on October 17 with MY SALINGER YEAR which will be available online for 24 hours. Screened during the opening night of this year’s Berlinale, the film stars Sigourney Weaver, Margaret Qualley, Douglas Booth, Colm Feore and Théodore Pellerin.

In mid-90s New York, budding writer Joanna is hired at the literary agency that represents J. D. Salinger. When Margaret, her eccentric old-school boss, gives her the job of dealing with the huge bags of Salinger fan mail, Joanne struggles to choose between her dreams and her new career.

Falardeau, who has switched easily between French and English productions since he was nominated for the best foreign-language Oscar with MONSIEUR LAHZAR in 2012, chose to shoot his latest feature in Montreal, standing in for New York. The film will be released in Canada in the weeks following the end of the FNC.

Another highly anticipated title is SAINT-NARCISSE, directed by Bruce LaBruce, which was presented at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year. The enfant terrible of Canadian queer cinema promises to surprise moviegoers once again.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the October Crisis – Éléphant: mémoire du Cinéma québécois, the restored versions of two outstanding works retracing the events of October 1970: LES ORDRES by Michel Brault, on Friday October 16, and OCTOBRE by Pierre Falardeau, on Saturday October 10. The Rendez-vous #Cinémad’ici will be free and online.

Films for Peace –a Wapikoni special
For the 49th edition, the Festival will present a program of short films created during Wapikoni mobile’s international jaunts, in line with the organization’s unique approach to promoting Indigenous stories and narrative sovereignty through film. The films will be available through video-on-demand but to get the full experience, fans can attend the Wapikoni special – Films for Peace event on Thursday, October 15 at 7pm. To expand the experience, the screening will be followed by a discussion with international experts, livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.

FNC online offers a flexible experience that allows the festival-goer to rent a movie and then watch it at a chosen time between October 7 and October 31. Once a film has started, you will however have 30 hours to finish viewing it.

For the full list of films, online events, and to purchase tickets, visit: https://nouveaucinema.ca