The Festival du nouveau cinéma or FNC (English: ''Festival of New Cinema'') is an annual independent film festival held in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, featuring independent films from around the world. Over 160,000 people attend each year. One of the oldest film festivals in Canada, it is an Academy Award-qualifying festival for short films.
Although the festival screens a variety of films by both new and established filmmakers, including many of the same high-profile films screening at other film festivals in the same year, its core programs are the national and international competitions, which present a variety of awards for both feature and short films by emerging Canadian and international directors.
The festival is currently led by interim executive director Michel Pradier, following the departure of Nicolas Girard Deltruc from the position in early 2024.T'Cha Dunlevy "Festival du nouveau cinéma turns page after firing director" ''
Montreal Gazette
''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It is the only English-language daily newspape ...
'', October 6, 2024.
History
Founded in 1971 as the ''Festival international du cinéma en 16mm de Montréal'', the festival welcomes Québécois, Canadian, and international filmmakers, and encourages exchanges between industry professionals and the general public. It was a small underground film festival until the 1990s, when it began to gain prominence as an alternative to the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Fantasia International Film Festival serving as the city's other major annual film event, although the two festivals have undertaken various efforts to collaborate, rather than treating each other as competition, due to their distinct programming mandates. The press have, however, sometimes continued to lament the fact that the Festival du nouveau cinéma does not have the same level of international prominence that Montreal World had in its heyday or that the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
still enjoys, asserting that some of the city's smaller specialist film festivals, including Cinemania for Canadian and international francophone films and the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma for Quebec films, still draw away from some of the potential of FNC and Fantasia to expand their profiles.Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot "On fait quoi avec les quatre successeurs du FFM ?" '' La Presse'', October 10, 2022.
Over its history, it has introduced audiences to filmmakers such as François Girard,
Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...
,
Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, OAL (; ; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He has received seven Canadian Screen Awards as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and two ...
,
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, film editor and installation artist. He is known for his fascination with lost Silent film, Silent-era films and for incorporating their aestheti ...
Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician.
He has been a major proponent of independent film, independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as ''Stranger Than Paradise'' ...
,
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami ( ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including s ...
,
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
,
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...
Jane Campion
Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''The Piano'' (1993) and ''The Power of the Dog (film), The Power of the Dog'' (2021), for ...
,
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by Melodrama (film genre), melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular c ...
,
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure o ...
,
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a British film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Mannerist painting in particular. Common traits in his films a ...
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...
.
Sections
* Compétition internationale highlighting the unique perspectives of the filmmakers who will shape tomorrow's cinema
* Compétition nationale, homegrown Canadian cinema
* Temps Ø, the wild bunch or bold cinematic rebels and adventurous films
* Incontournables, the greatest names in cinema
* Les Nouveaux alchimistes, a selection of films pushing the limits, breaking the rules and exploring the boundless creative potential that the medium offers
* Panorama international, international feature films
* Histoire(s) du cinéma, look-backs on the works that have left their mark
* Présentations spéciales, an eclectic section presenting unusual works
* FNC Explore, immersive, interactive and virtual reality programmes that are free and open for all
* FNC Forum, an industry network incubator
* P'tits loups, new cinema for children young and old
* Les Rencontres pancanadiennes du cinéma étudiant or RPCE, a national competition of short student films. This program traditionally also includes a selection of short films from a different international partner film school each year; these were formerly segregated into a separate non-competitive "RCPÉ Partner" stream, with the 2024 festival marking the first time that the official program dropped this distinction, and instead integrated films from a partner school in
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
into the same stream as the Canadian student films.
Prizes
* Louve d'or
* Daniel Langlois Innovation Award
* Prix d'interprétation
*
Fipresci
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...
Prize
* Focus Grand Prize
* Loup argenté - short film
* Grand Prix Focus Short Film
* Temps Ø People's Choice Award
* Nouveaux alchimistes Prize
* Experimentation Award
* Dada Award
* P'tits loups Award
*
Fierté Montréal
Fierté Montréal, also called Montreal Pride, is an annual LGBT pride festival in Montreal, Quebec. The event was founded in 2007 at the initiative of Montreal’s LGBTQ+ communities after the city's prior Pride festival, Divers/Cité, reposi ...
Award for best
LGBTQ
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...
-themed film
Important moments
The festival was founded in 1971 by Claude Chamberlan and Dimitri Eipidès. The festival went through several name changes.
*1971: ''Festival international du cinéma en 16mm de Montréal'' (Montreal International 16mm Film Festival).
*1980: Renamed ''Festival international du nouveau cinéma de Montréal'' (Montreal International Festival of New Cinema)
*1984: Renamed ''Festival international du nouveau cinéma et de la vidéo de Montréal'' (Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and Video)
*1995: Renamed Nouveau festival international, cinéma, vidéo et nouvelles technologies de Montréal (New Montreal International Festival of Cinema, Video and New Technologies);
*1997: Renamed ''Festival international du nouveau cinéma et des nouveaux médias de Montréal'' or ''FCMM'' (Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media) as a result of the merger with the ''Festival international du court métrage de Montréal'' (Montreal International Short Film Festival).
*2001: The Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary by offering an extraordinary selection and a commemorative book summarizing the festival's 30-year history.
*2004: Adopted the current name ''Festival du nouveau cinéma'' (Festival of New Cinema).
FNC and FIFM
In 2004
Daniel Langlois
Daniel Langlois (6 April 1957 – 2023) was a Canadian businessman who was the president and founder of the Daniel Langlois Foundation, Ex-Centris, and Media Principia Inc.
He was founder and inaugural president of Softimage Inc., which i ...
Telefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada is a Canadian Crown corporation that supports Canada's audiovisual industry. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm Canada provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in Vancouver, British Colu ...
after a dispute between these Canadian government sponsors and the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Festival International de Films de Montréal (FIFM; New Montreal FilmFest) to coincide with the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media (FCMM). According to press reports pertaining to the controversy between the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.New Montreal FilmFest
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
, Langlois planned to merge the two festivals, but failed to do so when the FCMM refused any such merger. The dates for the inaugural
New Montreal FilmFest
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
were ultimately changed to avoid conflicting with the dates of the FCMM.
In 2005, both the FNC and the New Montreal FilmFest came under new management. In early 2006, the New Montreal FilmFest folded after the failure of its inaugural festival. Both the FNC and the Montreal World Film Festival would continue to exist after the demise of the New Montreal FilmFest.
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October.
The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...
*
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...