Breaking out around the time where NYFF is on its last legs, Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinéma (October 12 to 23) kicks in with about four times the size in volume, and obviously more of an eclectic range. This year is the festival's big 40 - and for the occasion they've commissioned some of the names who've been a part of the festival to each contribute a short film in the context of what is being called the "Cartes Blanches" series. Denis Côté, Deco Dawson, Sophie Deraspe, Rodrigue Jean, Zacharias Kunuk, Marie Losier, Catherine Martin, Bruce McDonald, Théodore Ushev and Denis Villeneuve will each submit a four minute short.
Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire visionary directors of our time? As part of our monthly IONCINEPHILE profile, we ask the filmmaker the incredibly arduous task of identifying their top ten list of all time favorite films. This June we profile Ralph Ziman who will see his third film, Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema receive a limited release in New York, Los Angeles and Houston on June 11th. Here's his Top 10 as of June 2010.
Prior to announcing the make-up of their film schedule (stay tuned for mid-week announcements), the Sundance folks announced the selection of artists and scientists whose work will be presented in the New Frontier section.
Call this a post-Oscars afterthought, but I think the inaugural 2005 blacklist for un-produced screenplays is working out to be a fairly good predictor/barometer in discriminating the output of quality films and misfires.