Cinema Under the Stars screens classics at Montreal

Classic films outdooor screenings at Montreal Festival from August 26 to September 5, 2005, showing at the Esplanade of the Place des Arts on Ste-Catherine Street.

Thousands of film lovers and festival-goers each year enjoy watching films projected nightly on the giant outdoor screen. These films, box office hits, classics of the seventh art and films that have graced the Festival's screens in the past, are shown beginning at 8:30 p.m.

For the duration of the Festival, every day at 2, 4 and 6 p.m., Radio-Canada invites the public to see hit Quebec feature films in its Radio-Canada tent on the terrace of the Place des Arts on Ste-Catherine street

HÉROS Friday, August 26 - 20h30
Ying xiong. Hong-Kong, China 2002 / Color / 93 min / Chinese, STF
Dir.: Zhang Yimou. Cast: Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zh/ Eng / Ziyi.
A series of Rashomon-like flashback accounts shape the story of how one man defeated three assassins who sought to murder the most powerful warlord in pre-unified China. One after another, Nameless eliminates the emperor's most feared enemies, Broken Sword, Long Sky and Flying Snow. But the King still doubts him...

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT Friday, August 26 - 22h15
Les Aventures de Priscilla, folle du désert. Australia 1994 / Color / 103 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Stephan Elliott. Cast: Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Bill Hunter.
Cheerfully outrageous comedy about two drag queens and a transsexual who journey to a remote desert gig in the Australian outback on a converted school bus named Priscilla. A cult favourite.

THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL Saturday August 27 - 20h30
L'Histoire du chameau qui pleure. Germany - Mongolia 2003 / Color / 87 min / STF
Dir.: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni.
For a family of herders who happily eke out their living in the Mongolian Gobi desert, crisis comes in the shape of a newborn camel rejected by its mother after an agonizing birth. They undertake to rear the calf by hand, but the longer he's denied his mother's milk, the more likely it is the little camel will die.

SALAAM BOMBAY! Saturday August 27 - 22h15
Royaume-Uni - India - France 1988 / Color / 114 min / Hindi, STF
Dir.: Mira Nair. Cast: Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Nana Patekar.
The story of Krishna, Manju, Chillum and the other children on the streets of Bombay. Sometimes they can get a temporary job selling tea, but mostly they have to beg for money and keep out of the way of the police. A fierce and enthralling movie about how the streets there can serve as some kind of home, however rough, for the millions of children who live there.

KENNY Sunday August 28 - 20h30
The Kid Brother. Canada 1988 / Color / 100 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Claude Gagnon. Cast: Kenny Easterday, Caitlin Clarke, Liane Alexandra Curtis.
The disruptions caused in the life of 13-year-old Kenny - born with underdeveloped legs, which were then removed to replace other missing bones at 6 months old - when a French film company comes to do a film about his life and family. Winner of the Grand Prize of the Americas at the Montreal World Film Festival, the only Canadian film ever to win the honour.

PELLE LE CONQUÉRANT Sunday August 28 - 22h15
Pelle erobreren. Danemark / Sweden 1987 / Color / 103 min / Danish, Swedish, STF
Dir.: Bille August. Cast: Max Von Sydow, Pelle Hvenegaard, Erik Paaske, Kristina Tornqvists.
A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm at the close of the 19th century. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who find employment at a large farm. They are treated as the lowest form of life, but refuse to give up their dream of finding a better life than the life they left in Sweden. Palme d'or winner at Cannes.

PIERROT LE FOU Monday August 29 - 20h30
France 1965 / Color / 110 min / Fr.
Dir.: Jean-Luc Godard. Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani.
Jean-Luc Godard's playful and irreverent 1965 adventure comedy stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, who pretend, on and off, to be g/ Eng /sters, while the world around them generally pays no attention. Complex, confusing, but engrossing drama, which exudes an intriguing sense of spontaneity.

VERTIGO Monday August 29 - 22h30
Sueurs froides. États-Unis 1958 / Color / 128 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes.
A San Francisco police detective forced to retire because of a fear of heights, is hired by a friend to watch his wife who has reportedly become possessed by her ancestor's spirit. He follows her around the city, unwittingly becomes a figure in a complex plot, and is determined to discover the truth behind it all. Hitchcock at the top of his game.

CITIZEN KANE Thursday August 30 - 20h30
Etats-Unis 1941 / N&B / 119 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Orson Welles. Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Paul Stewart.
Orson Welles' first and best, a film that broke all the rules and invented some new ones, with fascinating story of Hearst-like publisher's rise to power. The cinematography (by Gregg Toland), music score (by Bernard Herrmann), and screenplay (by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz) are all first-rate. A stunning film in every way.

MAR ADENTRO Thursday August 30 - 22h30
La Mer intérieure. Spain 2004 / Color / 125 min / Spanish, STF
Dir.: Alejandro Amenábar. Cast: Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Dueñas.
Javier Bardem delivers a tour de force performance from the neck up as a quadriplegic desperate to die. Paralyzed in an accident and confined to a bed for 25 years, he's convinced that "a life in this condition has no dignity" and battles the courts for the right to kill himself. Winner of best foreign film Oscar.

SALMONBERRIES Wednesday August 31 - 20h30
Germany 1991 / Color / 100 min / Eng /.
Dir.: Percy Adlon. Cast: k.d. l/ Eng /, Rosel Zech, Chuck Connors.
A woman who grew up in a small town in Alaska goes to the public library to try and find out who her parents were. She eventually befriends the librarian, an East German immigrant who lost her husband while escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. Together they turn toward freedom, confront past demons, and let their hidden desire for each other flourish. Top film at the Montreal World Film Festival.

THE SERPENT'S EGG Wednesday August 31 - 22h30
L'Oeuf du serpent. USA - Germany 1977 / Color / 120 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Ingmar Bergman. Cast: Liv Ullmann, David Carradine, Gert Froebe.
Desperate to make ends meet, Abel, an out-of-work circus acrobat living in poverty-stricken post World War I Berlin, takes a job in the clinic of an old acquaintance, where he discovers the horrific truth behind the work of a str/ Eng /e professor and unlocks the chilling mystery that drove his brother to kill himself.

LUNA PAPA Thursday September 1st - 20h30
Tadjikistan 1999 / Color / 115 min / Russian, STF
Dir.: Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov. Cast: Chulpan Khamatova, Moritz Bleibtreu, Merab Ninidze.
The perils of a beautiful but impoverished 17-year-old girl, Mamlakat as she searches for the father of her unborn child. Accompanying her on her journey are her hotheaded father, her brain-damaged brother, a sky-diving bull and a talking fetus, who provides a running commentary on the action. A beguiling excursion into fantastical realism.

LA NUIT DE SAN LORENZO Thursday September 1st - 22h30
La Notte di San Lorenzo. Italia 1982 / Color / 107 min / Italian, STF
Dir.: Paolo & Vittorio Taviani. Cast: Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli.
A woman's memories of her adventures as a 6-year-old in a Tuscan village and its environs during the summer of 1944, when the American troops were rumoured only days away, and the Germans who had held the area under occupation were preparing to clear out . A lyrical life-affirming story of war's absurdities - and hope, survival.

MA VIE DE CHIEN Friday September 2 - 20h30
Mitt liv som hund. Sweden 1985 / Color / 100 min / Swedish, STF
Dir.: Lasse Hallström. Cast: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén.
Warm-hearted look at the tumultuous life of an irrepressibly mischievous 12-year-old boy who's shipped off to live with relatives in a rural village in 1950s Sweden. At once funny and poignant, this is ultimately an honest depiction of the often confusing nature of childhood.

LE SECRET DES POIGNARDS VOLANTS Friday September 2 - 22h30
Shi mian mai fu. China 2004 / Color / 119 min / Chinese, STF
Dir.: Zh/ Eng / Yimou. Cast: Zh/ Eng / Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau.
Mei, a blind revolutionary, is tricked by two policemen into leading them to the headquarters of a band of secret assassins in 9th century China. An epic love tri/ Eng /le ensues as duty and passion become locked in mortal combat. Splendid scenery, breathtaking martial arts.

Chorus -LES CHORISTES Saturday September 3 - 20h30
France 2004 / Color / 97 min / Fr. STA
Dir.: Christophe Baratier. Cast: Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Kad Merad.
in 1949, an unemployed music teacher hired as the supervisor of a correctional school uses music to both tame his unruly students and defeat the brutal methods of the headmaster. Last year's biggest hit in French cinema.

MILLION DOLLAR BABY Saturday September 3 - 22h15
La Fille à un million de dollars. USA 2004 / Color / 132 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Clint Eastwood. Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman.
Melancholy tale of an aging trainer and the girl pugilist he takes under his wing packs a stunning emotional punch. Hilary Swank weighs in with a fiercely committed performance that is matched by the grizzled one-two of Clint Eastwood as her trainer and Morgan Freeman as a retired "cut man" ready for one last shot at glory. Four Oscars including best film.

MA VIE EN CINÉMASCOPE Sunday September 4 - 20h30
Canada 2004 / Color / 90 min / Fr. STA
Dir.: Denise Filiatrault. Cast: Pascale Bussières, Michel Barrette, Serge Postigo.
Biopic of Alys Robi, Quebec's first international star, during her stratospheric rise to fame and subsequent mental breakdown during the 1940's. How a precocious little country girl conquered the world with her Latin-inspired vocal stylings but couldn't conquer her inner demons.

BARAKA Sunday September 4 - 22h15
USA 1992 / Color / 96 min
Dir.: Ron Fricke.
Strikingly visual documentary that recounts the story of the evolution of Earth and Mankind, and the manner in which man relates to his environment. Shot on location in 24 countries. No dialogue, only sounds and images; but what magnificent sounds and images!

LE PIANISTE Monday September 5 - 20h30
The Pianist. France - Germany - UK - Poland 2002 / Color / 150 min / Eng /. STF
Dir.: Roman Polanski. Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox.
A brilliant pianist, a Polish Jew, witnesses the restrictions Nazis place on Jews in the Polish capital, from restricted access to the building of the Warsaw ghetto. As his family is rounded up to be shipped off to the Nazi labor camps, he escapes deportation and eludes capture by living in the ruins of the city. Multiple Oscar winner.