Festival du Nouveau Cine?ma updates and innovates

Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cine?ma, which emphasizes new filmmaking technology and trends while prizing cinema d’auteur, is back for its 39th consecutive year. Running Oct. 13 to 24, the program features full-length and short films from Quebec, Canadian and international directors.

With some fun new features, the year’s key word, in executive director Nicolas Girard Deltruc’s opinion, is “innovation.” Additions include interactive art installations, a new subscription deal for Illico users and a first-ever 3D section, intended to be a permanent part of the fest. Part of the program is Focus Quebec/Canada, which will feature 16 full-length and 15 short films. Below are three picks from this section to check out.

La Fille de Montre?al

In La Fille de Montre?al, director Jeanne Cre?peau takes a nostalgic look at the Plateau neighborhood in Montreal through the eyes of Ariane Rondeau. Ariane is 46 years old and has been living in her apartment on de Bullion Street for 25 years.

She receives a devastating letter from her landlord informing her that she has six months to move because he is repossessing her apartment. Having no family or children, Ariane turns to her friends to help her pack and find a new place to live. For Ariane, the move symbolizes the end of her old life and the beginning of her new life. The history of Ariane’s relationship to both her friends and her neighborhood are beautifully captured in the depiction of memories triggered by certain objects in her apartment and places in her neighborhood.

As much as La Fille de Montre?al is an autobiography, it is also a documentary in the sense that particular shops, landmarks, and historical events are incorporated into the film. The cinematography is creative, adding character and consistency to the film. Many scenes were shot by leaving the camera in one place for a long time, while the surrounding activity was captured.

One repeating scene is the view from Ariane’s roof, shot at different times of day and in different seasons. These kinds of scenes illustrated how landscapes and people evolve over time. There were also many instances where the actors speak directly into the camera, which added a raw and intimate dimension to the film. Cre?peau manages to tell a sad story with charm and humor. For Montrealers and non-Montrealers alike, this film is a gem.

Screenings of La Fille de Montre?al in French will be at Ex-Centris and Paralle?le Oct. 14 at 9:15 p.m. and Oct. 19 at 2:45 p.m.

You Don’t Like The Truth: 4 Days in Guanta?namo

Award-winning and internationally recognized directors Patricio Henri?quez and Luc Co?te? team up in You Don’t Like The Truth, a haunting documentary about Omar Khadr, a Canadian-born Afghan boy who at 15 was arrested and has since been detained at Guanta?namo Bay for allegedly killing a U.S. special forces soldier.

The film uses security camera footage from Feb. 2003 when two Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents interrogated Khadr, now 23, over a four-day period. While initially thrilled to see Canadians, we see Khadr undergo terrible psychological torture and slowly regress after facing the realization that the CSIS agents would not help him.

The footage was shown alongside an excellent cast of interviewees, including lawyers, past prisoners, an ex-interrogator and a psychologist, giving important insight into what was taking place in the footage. Khadr’s mother and sister raise the emotional intensity of the film, while ex-interrogator Damien Corsetti sheds a disturbing light on the torture methods used in Bagram, a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Already known for making social documentaries, Henri?quez and Co?te? have made an important film which shows Omar’s story – a side which has until now been denied public exposure. Khadr’s innocence is debated, some theorizing that because he was so badly injured it would have been impossible for him to have killed the U.S. soldier, and that at the age of 15 he should be considered a child soldier. The film also suggests that CSIS, in a joint venture with U.S. intelligence agencies, wished to exploit Khadr to gain information about his father, who allegedly had ties to Al-Qaeda. This must-see film will surely cause some waves.

You Don’t Like The Truth: 4 Days in Guanta?namo will screen at Impe?rial Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.

Deux Fois Une Femme

Concordia graduate Franc?ois Delisle will challenge you with his latest film, Deux Fois Une Femme. While extremely powerful, the subject matter is heavy. Catherine is a battered wife who finally decides to take her son Leo and disappear. Without telling anyone or leaving any kind of paper trail, Catherine changes her name to Sophie and relocates to a small town on the Quebec-Ontario border to start a new life.

Things don’t improve right away, however, and the road ahead proves both long and dreary. Determined to regain her autonomy and independence, Catherine remains confident in her ability to build a new life. The actors give fierce performances throughout, causing the story to linger once it is finished.

Dialogue is rare and sporadic, but this adds to the complexity of emotions that the story evokes. These emotions are expertly conveyed in the actors’ use of body language. Catherine projects a delicate and fragile appearance, Leo stares with troubled, tear-filled eyes, and the husband displays affections which oscillate between violent and loving.

Two particularly graphic scenes are proceeded by monologues which are as heartbreaking as they are poetic.

Delisle draws a rich contrast between the barren suburb where Catherine lived in her old life, to the untouched country landscape in her new life. This film is definitely worth seeing, albeit not as a form of light entertainment.

Screenings of Deux Fois Une Femme will be held in the original French version at Le Quartier Latin Oct. 22 at 9:15 p.m. and at Ex-Centris and Paralle?le on Oct. 24 at 9:30 p.m.

For tickets and schedules, head to www.nouveaucinema.ca.

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