If it's October it must be FNC time

I’m off – almost – to this year’s edition of the Festival of New Cinema (FNC) in Montreal. This festival goes back a lot longer than most film festivals – to 1971 to be exact. It’s more cutting edge than the Montreal World Film festival, which I attend every August. Ditto for the Toronto International Film Festival. (You can see my reviews from FNC’s 2009 edition posted in October of last year.)....This has been a much “smaller” festival if venues are a consideration. Screenings used to take place on almost hole-in-the-wall locations along Montreal’s great central street, Blvd Saint-Laurent also known as the Main. Over the years it has expanded and in 1999 a luxurious futuristic complex (complete with abstract box office windows) called Ex-Centris became its headquarters. This year I notice the festival has also migrated south and east to the main cinema used by the Montreal World Film Festival, Quartier Latin, a multiplex run by Cineplex Odeon. Cinema du Parc (a favourite repertory of mine) located further west on Park Avenue is no longer taking part....The festival is held in high regard as an auteur fest and has showcased (with the directors present) the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Wim Wenders, Jane Campion, Atom Egoyan and  Léa Pool......In 2003 I attended an extroardinary master class with Brit filmmaker Peter Greenaway......I’ll of course be reporting more from FNC next week. Meanwhile you can check out the festival’s site at http://www.nouveaucinema.ca/