News

Well folks, after a rather long and brutal winter (at least for me here in Buffalo), we are finally heading into the wonderful warmth of summer, but with that blast of sunshine and steamy humidity comes the mid-year drought of major film fests. After the Sheffield Doc/Fest concludes on June 10th and AFI Docs wraps on June 21st, we likely won’t see any major influx in our charts until Locarno, Venice, Telluride and Tiff announce their line-ups in rapid succession. In the meantime, we can look forward to the intriguing onslaught of films making their debut in Sheffield, including Brian Hill’s intriguing examination of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, and Sean McAllister’s film for which he himself was jailed in the process of making, A Syrian Love Story, the only two films world premiering in the festival’s main competition.

Incendies, Barney’s Version, and the other winners of the 2011 Prix Jutra (Jutra Awards) have been announced. The 13th Annual Jutra Awards (Prix Jutra or La Soirée des Prix Jutra) are Canadian annual cinema awards “that recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in the province of Quebec. First introduced in 1999, the Jutra Award is named after Quebec film-maker Claude Jutra and awarded for performance, writing and technical categories such as best actor, actress, director, screenplay, et cetera. This year’s awards were handed out on March 13, 2011 at the Théâtre St-Denis in Montreal. The full listing of the 2011 Prix Jutra (Jutra Awards) winners is below.

Best Film

Incendies – Luc Déry, Kim McCraw

Best Director

Denis Villeneuve - Incendies

Best Actress

Lubna Azabal - Incendies

Best Actor

Claude Legault - 10 ½

Best Supporting Actress

Dorothée Berryman - Cabotins (Entertainers)

Best Supporting Actor

Jean Lapointe - À l’origine...

Yesterday, Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinéma (Fnc), which will take place from October 13 to 24, revealed its full line-up of films. Nineteen Canadian feature films and documentaries will be presented. However, don't expect to see all films that were screened at the latest Toronto or Vancouver International Film Festivals.

Opening film:

10 1/2

Director: Daniel Grou (Podz)

Starring: Claude Legault, Robert Naylor and Albert Kwan

International selection

Jo pour Jonathan

Director: Maxime Giroux

Starring: Jean-Sébastien Courchesne, Raphaël Lacaille, Jean-Alexandre Létourneau and Vanessa Pilon

Focus Québec/Canada

A Night for Dying Tigers

Director: Terry Miles

Starring: Jennifer Beals, Gil Bellows, Lauren Lee Smith, Tygh Runyan, Kathleen Robertson, John Pyper-Ferguson, Leah Gibson, Sarah Lind and Jessica Heafey

Affinity Point

Director: Deeh

Starring: Danielle Hubbard, Jason D. Pitre, Sophie Ricard and Yann Faussurier

2 fois une femme

Director: François Delisle

Starring: Evelyne Rompré, Marc Béland and Catherine de Léan

Falardeau (Documentary)

Director: German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia...