Le Regroupement pour un festival de cinéma à Montréal and L’Équipe Spectra are pleased to confirm the appointment of international-film luminary Moritz de Hadeln as head delegate, programming of the New Montreal FilmFest. Ms. Erika de Hadeln , who has extensive international film festival experience, will hold the position of assistant director.

Mr. De Hadeln, whose appointment gives the Festival instant international credibility, will be backed by a solid Quebec-programming team and a prestigious international delegation. Event organizers also take this opportunity to announce that the Festival's inaugural edition will take place on St-Denis St. in the heart of the Latin Quarter October 12-23, 2005 . Montreal's major new international-film gathering goes by the name Le Festival international de films de Montréal and will be promoted outside Quebec and abroad as The New Montreal FilmFest .

A festival that will bring the worldwide film community together

Taking their place alongside the organizational team members already announced for this major event, which will bring together the worldwide film community, are other personalities whose expertise and contacts will contribute to the new festival's success. Joining the board of governors are Alberto Barbera, director of the Turin Film Museum and ex-director of the Venice Mostra, Jacques Bensimon, National Film Board commissioner, and actor Yves Jacques. New arrivals to the programming advisory committee are filmmakers Louis Bélanger, Charles Binamé and Jean-Claude Labrecque, along with the presidents of professional film-community associations. And joining the festival's board of directors are Guy Fournier of ACCT (L'Académie Canadienne du Cinéma et de la Télévision), Michel Côté of La Grande nuit du cinéma, Marc-G. Fortier of Montréal International, Isabelle Hudon of the Montreal Board of Trade, Michel Archambault of Chair in Tourism (SBA/UQAM) and Jean-François Gatti of the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal.

Le Regroupement pour un festival de cinéma à Montréal, which this past December won the competition for public-institution project proposals, already favoured a strategy of having a world-calibre artistic director like that of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra or Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, but one who would be called upon to lead a team. Le Festival international de films de Montréal thus secured the services of Moritz de Hadeln, a leading international-level artistic director, Alain Simard, a president and CEO who has amply demonstrated his ability to build an event of international stature, and a selection committee made up entirely of film personalities from Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. Complementing this roster of talent are renowned international delegates who will quickly be able to position the Montreal event among the world's great film festivals.

Moritz de Hadeln

Swiss-born Moritz de Hadeln has been a leading light on the international film scene for more than 45 years. In 1969, he founded Le Festival international du cinéma documentaire de Nyon (since renamed Visions du Réel), an event he directed and co-directed over a 25-year period. His passion for cinema and his vast refinement also led him to head a number of other prestigious festivals, including the Locarno International Film Festival (1972-1979), the Berlin International Film Festival (1979-2001) and the Venice International Film Festival (2002-2004). Mr. de Hadeln's special touch infused all these major festivals with renewed energy, enhancing their respective international reputations. Founder of the European Film Market, author of many works and recipient of numerous awards and honours across Europe, Mr. de Hadeln has served on various international committees and juries, notably in Montreal.

A solid selection committee

Under the direction of Moritz de Hadeln, a selection committee will be mandated to choose the films that are to comprise the festival's official film selection. This committee, founded on a European collegial approach, will consist of seven members of the film community who all have relevant world-level cinematographic experience. Following a number of meetings held here in Montreal in January, Mr. de Hadeln and Mr. Simard have selected five eminent personalities to sit on this committee: filmmaker Léa Pool, who during the past 20 years has directed more than 15 films, some chosen by Mr. de Hadeln for the Berlin Festival, Jean Lefebvre, a rules and regulations advisor to the festival with 27 years' experience promoting Canadian films for presentation at festivals worldwide, Robert Meunier, the head of "veille cinématographique" (compiling for the festival an annual list of all films available worldwide), founder of film clubs, repertory-cinema programmer and specialty distributor of films d’auteur, film consultant André Pâquet, Canada's undisputed leading authority on Latin American cinema and author of numerous articles, books, brochures and other publications devoted to Canadian and foreign films, and Danny Lennon, in charge of short films selection, skilled promoter of numerous festivals worldwide, including events in Moscow and Barcelona, and director of the Prends ça court evenings at Le Monument-National (11 of this year's 15 Oscar-nominee short films have been screened at Prends ça court). Two other persons to be named later will round out the selection committee.

International delegation with excellent credentials

Through his many contacts, Moritz de Hadeln has already brought on board a number of our international delegates who will fan out worldwide in search of the most relevant works to present to the selection committee. These delegates are: Chistel Buschman, screenwriter and director (German and Austrian cinema), Norman Wang (China and Southeast Asia), film historian, researcher and critic Hans-Joachim Schiegel (Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia), Oscar Larussi (Bari) and film journalist and critic Sylvio Danese (Milan), both of whom will scout Italian cinema, and Al Newman (Hollywood). Talks are underway to fill the remaining positions on this international delegation, notably with respect to France, Spain and New York.

Since its inception, the Montreal event has therefore been assured of strong credibility thanks to its distinguished delegates, all of whom have long enjoyed an excellent reputation on the international scene.

A user-friendly site

Le Festival international de films de Montréal has chosen St-Denis St. in the Latin Quarter as the site of its inaugural edition. During the period of the festival, Théâtre St-Denis will thus revert to its original vocation for the screening of Les Grandes premières and the presentation of the official competition. Organizers plan to use various halls of La Cinémathèque québécoise, Le Cinéma Quartier Latin and La Grande Bibliothèque for showings of the film festival’s selections and special events.

As announced in December, this fall Le Festival international de films de Montréal will take place alongside Le Festival du nouveau cinéma. Montreal will thus benefit from the simultaneous staging of two festivals offering complementary programming for the enjoyment of film buffs and the general public.

The first edition of LeFestival international de films de Montréal //The New Montreal FilmFestwill be held October 12-23, 2005. Alain Simard, Luc Châtelain and Myriam Achard will join Moritz and Erika de Hadeln at the Berlin International Film Festival this Sunday for a press conference announcing the new Montreal event to an international audience.