The Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) team has put together a rich and varied program that this year brings together both big names in international cinema and young filmmakers to be discovered. The 52nd edition of the event, which will take place in Montreal from October 4th to 15th, will feature more than a hundred feature films from 57 countries.
In an interview with the Journal, FNC programming director Zoé Protat praised the “extraordinary” quality of the 2023 vintage of the country’s oldest film festival, presented this Tuesday.
“I think we’re really in full swing this year,” she emphasized. In our program we find a good balance between films that have stood out at major international festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin, etc.) and personal favorites of several members of the programming team.
“It is also a very diverse program that reflects our image, with very strong themes such as identity and decolonization, which really represent today’s society and what drives today’s artists.”
Among the most anticipated titles at this year’s festival is the Quebec premiere of “Anatomy of a Fall,” a legal drama by French director Justine Triet that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last May.
ENTRY FILMS
Also in the FNC “Essentials” category, festival-goers can discover Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” a biographical work loosely inspired by the life of Priscilla Presley, whose actress Cailee Spaeny recently won an award for her performance at the Venice Theater Film Festival. The new dramatic comedy “Towards a Bright Future” by renowned Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti will also be shown in this section.
To open the event, the FNC will present “The Passion of Dodin Bouffant” by director Trân Anh Hùng, winner of the directing award at the last Cannes Film Festival, on October 4th.
“It’s a film about gastronomy, but also a very beautiful love story that Benoit Magimel and Juliette Binoche stage brilliantly. “It’s very unifying for an opening evening,” emphasizes Zoé Protat.
It is the French film The Animal Kingdom, described as “an anti-speciesist and ecological fable”, which will close the 52nd edition of the festival on October 15th.
Quebec in the spotlight
Photo by Laurence Grandbois-Bernard, provided by Maison 4/3
As every year, the FNC gives Quebec cinema pride of place. Several local films were selected for the festival’s national competition, including the black comedy Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicide by Ariane Louis-Seize (recently won an award in Venice), Happy Days by Chloé Robichaud, Adam Changes Slowly by Joël Vaudreuil and Hurricane Fuck You Tabarnak by Ara Ball.
Finally, we would like to point out that several distinguished guests will be coming to Montreal for the festival. This is particularly true for French filmmakers Bertrand Bonello and Catherine Breillat, who will each receive an honorary Louve and will both offer master classes for festival goers.
Bertrand Bonello will also take the opportunity to present his 11th feature film, La Bête, which was recently screened at the Venice Film Festival. A retrospective of his work will also be on view during the festival.
Catherine Breillat will present her latest film “Last Summer” to Montreal audiences alongside leading actress Léa Drucker.
The 52nd edition of the Festival du nouveau cinéma will take place from October 4th to 15th. Further details about the program: nouveaucinema.ca