Festival du Nouveau Cinema – October 8-19, various venues

The 43rd Festival du Nouveau Cinema

With a broader-than-ever selection of incredible films from both renowned directors and emerging talents, the 2014 program leaves no doubt as to the vitality of cinematic creation in every form and for every audience.

This year’s lineup of 380 films (152 features and 228 shorts from 55 countries) includes 40 world premieres, 51 North American premieres and 41 Canadian premieres.

The Festival kicks off on Wednesday, October 8 with Philippe Falardeau’s The Good Lie (United States). The director, who opened the FNC in 2006 with Congorama and closed it in 2011 with Monsieur Lazhar, will attend this year’s opening. Farlardeau’s first U.S. film follows four Sudanese war orphans, dubbed “Lost Boys” in the world press, through their struggles to build a new life in America. Reese Witherspoon, Corey Stoll and Sudanese actors Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal and Kuoth Wiel star in this stirring tale of survival and triumph. Preceding The Good Lie is Matthew Rankin’s short Mynarski Death Plummet, a visually surreal, phantasmagorical work tracking the final moments in the life of Winnipeg-born World War II hero Andrew Mynarski.

Closing the Festival on October 18 is the feature documentary The Salt of the Earth (Le sel de la terre) co-directed by longtime FNC favourite Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. The film highlights the life and work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who documented some of the leading sociopolitical events of recent history and later went in search of uncharted territory, capturing spectacular landscapes and wild flora and fauna. The film won the Certain Regard Special Prize and an Ecumenical Jury commendation at this year’s Cannes Festival.

For tickets and information, including a list of all films, visit: www.nouveaucinema.ca  514-790-1111 or 1-866-908-9090