Already screening hundred of films from 80 countries around the world,
till September the 1st Montreal World Film Festival focuses on boosting cultural diversity, to foster cinema of all continents by stimulating the development of quality filmmaking, to promote filmmakers and innovative works, to discover and encourage new talents, and to promote meetings between world cinema professionals.
The only competitive Film Festival in North America recognized by the
FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations),
Montreal WFF annual program is built around its main sections. The high profile
World Competition includes world and international premieres with various prizes. The
First Films World Competition gives the opportunity to authors of selected first feature films to be recognized. The
Focus On World Cinema section (Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania) reflects the vocation of the Festival as “World Film Festival” while
Documentaries Of The World screens non-fiction films with the subjects and concerns of filmmakers from countries around the globe.
The festival also includes an Hors Concours (World Greats, Out Of Competition) category.
The program is completed with Tributes to cinematic creators, the Student Film Festival (Canadian and International sections) and the Cinema Under The Stars section where every year, films of well-known and first-time filmmakers are selected, with many of them having been discovered in Montreal.
Several recent Balkan films and co-productions are included in this year’s sections of Montreal WFF:
At the World Competition category Travelator by Dusan Milic (Serbia, 2014) and The Last Wish by Namik Ajazi (Albania/Italy, 2014).
The Focus on World Cinema category hosts most of the films from the Balkans:
The festival has of course, its own Market section. The Montreal International Film Market promotes high quality, director driven films with a focus on International cinema. The event is well attended by film buyers from around the world.
Montreal World Film Festival has a high and certain festival profile and the people in charge wish to maintain these standards. In his introduction, the festival’s President, Serge Losique refers to the transformation of the exhibition of films in movie theatres in recent years. “These days, the programming of commercial cinemas is dominated by blockbusters. Without the Montreal World Film Festival and its annual selection of some 400 films from 80 countries, the Montreal film landscape would be drastically reduced”.