If you can’t make it to TIFF, Venice or Cannes, fear not: Montreal has the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. Though it’s traditionally had a somewhat experimental bent, FNC has recently become the city’s best venue for the festival circuit’s biggest films. Here are five flicks to catch this year.
Waltz With Bashir
If you liked Marjani Satrapi’s Persepolis, check out this Israeli film, an animated autobiographical feature by Ari Folman, a former Israeli soldier.
Il Divo
Even if you know nothing about the complicated, violent world of Italian politics and its entanglement with the Mafia, you’ll enjoy this audacious take on the subject, a fast-paced and bloody biopic of enigmatic eight-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.
Man on Wire
A fascinating documentary about Philippe Petit, the tightrope walker who sneaked into the World Trade Center in 1974 and strung a wire between the two towers, on which he proceeded to put on a show for New York City before being arrested.
JCVD
Jean-Claude Van Damme as you’ve never seen him before: this action-comedy stars the Muscles from Brussels as himself, in all his high-kicking – but vulnerable – glory in this surprisingly touching film.
RIP: Remix Manifesto
Local filmmaker Brett Gaylor’s long-awaited doc looks at the current legal firestorm over copyright, sampling, downloading and intellectual property law that’s already dramatically changing the entertainment industry as we know it.
For showtimes and locations, visit nouveaucinema.ca.
