by MATTHEW HAYS

Just to add a modicum of additional confusion to Montreal's film festival season, the Festival international de films de Montréal, as it is known in French, was slapped with a lawsuit immediately after declaring what their name would be. Serge Losique, the founder and artistic director of the World Film Festival, pointed out that he had already legally registered the word "international" in regards to a Montreal film fest. So, the folks at Spectra behind the upstart festival (which now gets the coveted government funds that the World Fest used to benefit from) decided that a direct translation of their French name would work in English.

The solution? In English, their event is called The New Montreal FilmFest. This further muddies the waters, however, given that the Festival du nouveau cinéma, which will have its 34th edition in October, has been referred to by anglos as the New Film Fest for years.

Confusing nomenclature aside, the New Montreal FilmFest has now unveiled its offerings for its inaugural year. Given their rocky start, I would have to say the screening list looks impressive, and there are a good number of films on a broad range of topics that viewers will be intrigued to check out.

On the local front, the NMFF will fête two Quebec film luminaries. Michel Brault will be presented with the first Iris Hommage award for his extensive body of work. Les ordres, arguably his greatest film, will be screened at the night held in his honour. As well, the late Robin Spry, a trailblazing film director and producer, will be honoured posthumously for his contributions to Canadian cinema.

David Cronenberg's much talked about A History of Violence - a hit at Cannes - will have its Montreal premiere at the NMFF. A taut and tension-filled thriller, Cronenberg's latest is every bit as good as you've heard. Critics who commit spoilers should promptly be egged. As well, Charles Binamé will screen Hunt for Justice: The Louise Arbour Story, William D. MacGillivray will present Silent Messengers and former Montrealer Albert Nerenberg will show his latest, Escape to Canada. Local actor extraordinaire Luc Picard will present his directorial debut, L'Audition, perhaps not surprisingly about a man who desperately wants to become an actor.

Foreign affairs

On the international front, the NMFF will screen selections from over 40 countries around the world. Famous German auteur Doris Dörrie - still best remembered for her hilarious 1985 hit Men - will present her latest, Der Fischer und seine Frau (The Fisherman and His Wife), a contemporary spin on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. From Russia comes Polumgla, Artem Antonov's feature about the relationship between German POWs during WWII and the nearby townsfolk in Northern Russia.

Cédric Klapisch returns with a sequel to his smash international hit L'Auberge Espagnol, Les poupées russes. Xavier (Roman Duris) is back and, now an aspiring writer, reunites with many of his buddies from the first film. NMFF programmers have sensibly chosen to open their festival with this film - reportedly as much of a crowd pleaser as the original was. In the Italian entry Quo Vadis, Baby?, filmmaker Gabriele Salvatores tells the story of a private investigator who begins to suspect that her younger sister's suicide was, in fact, a murder. Skeletons tumble out of the family closet as she digs beyond the first reason given for her sibling's untimely death.

Im Tai-hyung's Little Brother, a family melodrama from South Korea, will also premiere at NMFF. The entire film is told from the perspective of a nine-year-old troublemaker. In another film that features a children's perspective, Cédric Kahn presents L'Avion, about a boy whose father gives him a small toy airplane as a gift and then disappears. The boy finds that he can actually fly in the plane, and embarks on a journey to find his missing father and thank him for the gift.

In the Greek feature Ikaro's Dream, Costa Natsis has his protagonist long to become a musician, despite the admonishment of his mother, who thinks a career in the arts is a bad plan. Shisso (Dead Run) is the Japanese entry by Sabu (his eighth feature to date), about the tortured and chaotic relationship between two brothers who struggle to survive in a drought-stricken part of Japan.

The inaugural edition of the Festival international de films de montreal or the New Montreal Filmfest will run Sunday, Sept. 18-Sunday, Sept. 25. Info: 525-7732 or www.montrealfilmfest.com

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