by SARAH ROWLAND

Last year, the surprise hit at the World Film Festival was Christos Sourligas's debut feature Elephant Shoes, a romantic comedy that breaks down every stage of a long-term relationship by using a 12-hour date as a model. From coast to coast, critics gushed over the simplistic ingenuity of the $10,000 Montreal-made sleeper. So if recent history is any indication, the little-known Canadian screenings deserve closer inspection at this year's event.

Other than The Hamster Cage, there are several Canuck features that could be breakout movies, including Steve Sanguedolce's Dead Time, a film that promises plenty of drugs, violence and other nasty habits. Combining documentary, narrative and experimental methods, the Toronto-based filmmaker weaves a tale about two sisters taking different paths after surviving sexual abuse.

In the Canadian-heritage section, Sergio Navarretta's Looking for Angelina retells the true story of an Italian immigrant housekeeper who rocked Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in 1911 when she was sentenced to death for murdering her wife-beating prick of a husband. Women's studies majors for generations to come can look forward to this one being part of their curriculum.

Neil, the film formerly known as Grey Light, will probably appeal to those who don't necessarily need a lot of special effects to get freaked out by the prospect of living in a technically advanced, morally impoverished society. Starring Greg Bryk (whom you'll see briefly in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence) Neil is about a young man who's been brainwashed into thinking he's severely agoraphobic, when in fact he is a highly sophisticated, national-defense experiment. As the working title suggested, Boris Mojsovski's first feature is grey. But it's also very intelligent - along the lines of The Limb Salesman, another sobering Cancon sci-fi that features the hot pink-dreaded actress Ingrid Veninger. Coincidence? Probably not. She has producing credits on both films.

Poetry in Motion Pictures

Of the 48 docs scheduled to screen at the 29th edition of WFF, there are a number of noteworthy Great White North entries, including This Beggar's Description. This deeply intimate portrait of schizophrenia follows the life and times of Montreal poet Phil Tétrault. His brother Pierre Tétrault directed the film in an attempt to retrace the darker days of Phil's personal hell when he would go AWOL for months at time and then reappear on the St-Denis raving and ranting. The devastating effects of his disease are best summed up by his daughter Amanda. The author/photographer of Phil & Me emotionally recalls what it was like as a teenager running into her homeless dad on the streets and pretending she didn't know him in front of her friends. But this documentary isn't all tears and regrets. Getting published and attending regular poetry readings have helped stabilize Phil, whose fan base includes Leonard Cohen.

In one particularly humorous scene, Cohen, a V8 in his hand, and Phil, with an ever present bottle of scotch in his, are sitting on a park bench trying to figure out how long they've known each other. Try as they might, the two wordsmiths can't figure out what 52 minus 18 equals. Leonard, if you're reading this, it's 34.

Speaking of that beautiful loser, he gets his own homage with Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen. Directors Don Owen and Donald Brittain piece together footage of Cohen during a stopover in Montreal during his 1964 book tour.

We also get some not-so-uplifting non-fiction features, such as I Forgive You, My Killer, in which director Vince Arvidson heads to Northern Uganda to ask the question, "Can a child be a terrorist?" Meanwhile, Catherine Mullins' doc looks at the staggering stats of Zambia children orphaned by AIDS in Their Brothers' Keepers.

In Me and the Mosque, Saskatchewan Muslim and mother of four Zarqa Nawaz looks at the trend of mosques denying women the right to pray alongside men. Some temples have gone so far as to stick women behind freshly erected opaque walls to separate the sexes. Nawaz takes an optimistic approach, occasionally using cutesy cartoons to guide us along on her tour of North American mosques. But there's nothing lighthearted about the death stare her brother shoots her way when he warns her that it's not in her best interest to shed an unflattering light on her religion.

As well as docs, there is an abundance of Canadian shorts that will screen at the 2005 WFF, including Shira Avni's John and Michael. This brown-hued, dreamlike animation proves there's someone out there for everyone; it's a love story about two men with Down's syndrome.

For more info go to www.ffm-montreal.org

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