Like every year, the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) echoes the extraordinary vitality of global and local cinematographic creation. From La Grande Nuit Mad Max to the new documentary by Richard Desjardins, including the new feature films by Bertrand Bonello and Catherine Breillat, the choice is vast and varied.
The FNC has unveiled the complete program for its 52nd edition, which will take place from October 4 to 15. No less than 105 feature films from 57 countries will be presented in different locations across the metropolis, including the Cinéma Impérial, the Cinéma du Musée, the Cinémathèque québécoise and the Cinéma Moderne.
It will kick off on October 4 with La passion de Dodin Bouffant. Best director at the last Cannes Film Festival, this historical drama with a gastronomic backdrop is by Trần Anh Hùng. It marks the on-screen reunion of Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel. As for the closing film, The Animal Kingdom, by Thomas Cailley, it stars Romain Duris and Paul Kircher as a father-son duo.
As for documentaries, we are waiting for that of Richard Desjardins, Chip Chip. In this film, the director leaves for Europe in the footsteps of Frédéric Chopin. This screening will be accompanied by a performance by pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin and a meeting with the filmmaker.
Another special event is Mad Max Big Night on October 7. The FNC invites fans of the cult post-apocalyptic franchise Mad Max to (re)discover George Miller’s four classics during a unique night with the bonus screening of the latest opus, Mad Max: Fury Road, “in black version and chrome.”
French director Bertrand Bonello will be in Montreal to premiere his feature film La Bête and the Festival will take the opportunity to offer a complete retrospective of his feature and short films. Another retrospective series will highlight the works of Ariane Louis-Seize, who has just won the prize for best director for her first feature film Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicide in the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice.
Director Catherine Breillat will also be at the FNC with her 14th feature film, Last Summer. She will be accompanied by her main actress, Léa Drucker, and will also give a master class.
Finally, the FNC is organizing an Evening of Cinema for Peace, with the presentation of Ken Loach’s latest film, The Old Oak, in which he takes “the pulse of a community in the north of England divided between rejection and solidarity during of the arrival of Syrian refugees”, summarizes the FNC press release.
At the closing of the 52nd edition of the FNC, on October 15, several prizes will be awarded to recognize the works presented in the different sections of the festival.