Particularly well-represented this year at the Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, French productions put in an excellent performance, picking up five awards including the festival's top prize, given to the debut film by Léa Mysius, and three prizes in the Virtual Reality category.
With 50 feature films, 22 shorts, and 10 Virtual Reality works showcased this year, French cinema made a lively contribution to the 46th Montreal Festival of New Cinema. Including dramas, documentaries, animations, experimental and immersive works, all genres were offered to Canadian audiences. The filmmakers Sarah Arnold, Alain Gomis, Léa Mysius, F.J. Ossang, and Raoul Peck, along with the producers Antoine Cayrol, Arnaud Colinart, and Oriane Hurard, were in attendance—with support from Unifrance—to present their films in Montreal.
The festival's awards list reflects the eclectic nature of this year's selection. The Golden Wolf Award, the festival's top prize, was given to Ava, the debut feature by Léa Mysius. But France was also honored with three other awards in the FNC eXPlore Competition and the Critics' Prize.
The FNC eXPlore section, devoted to new cinematic media, is now in its second year. This year it launched a Virtual Reality Market sidebar, bringing together a large number of professionals from this sector. UniFrance took advantage of this event to reaffirm our interest in immersive productions by hosting a Breakfast Networking Event in association with Uni-XR, which included the presentation of our first award honoring a French VR work. This award was given to Alteration by Jérôme Blanquet (photo). In addition to a cash prize of €1000, the winning film gains automatic selection at upcoming editions of partner events, such as the international film festivals in Geneva (Switzerland), Guanajuato (Mexico), and the Paris Virtual event (France).
Award-winning French films
- Golden Wolf for Best Feature Film in the International Competition: Ava by Léa Mysius
- AQCC Prize (from the Quebec Film Critics' Association): The Wild Boys by Bertrand Mandico
- FNC eXPlore Award for an Immersive Work: Nothing Happens by Michelle Kranot, Uri Kranot
- FNC eXPlore Audience Award: PLANET ∞ by Momoko Seto
- FNC eXPlore Prize for Best French Production: Alteration by Jérôme Blanquet
You can check out the complete awards list here.
