FNC 2021 lineup: The Power of the Dog, Freakscene – The Story of Dinosaur Jr., Red Rocket, Night Raiders

Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma is celebrating its 50th-anniversary in a big way.

The long-running festival has just revealed the complete lineup for this year’s hybrid edition, running from October 6-17 in theaters and October 6 – 31 online. Highlights of this year’s stacked lineup include screenings of Jane Campions’ lauded The Power of the Dog, the Dinosaur Jr. documentary Freakscene, Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, Danis Goulet’s Night Raiders, a new restoration of Andrzej Żuławski’s cult-hit Possession, an anniversary screening of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, and many, many more.

Scroll below for the complete lineup. FNC 2021 tickets are available now via the festival’s official site.

Opening and closing films

Opening night is presented by BNP-Paribas

BOOTLEGGER by Caroline Monnet will kick off the 50th edition in grand style on October 6 at Cinéma Impérial. Presented in collaboration with the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival, BOOTLEGGER is the first feature from Algonquin multidisciplinary artist Caroline Monnet. Shot in French and Anishinabemowin, the film stars Devery Jacobs, Pascale Bussières, Samian, Jacques Newashish, Dominique Pétin, Joséphine Bacon, C.S. Gilbert Crazy Horse and Brigitte Poupart. Tanya Tagaq and Jean Martin composed the original soundtrack. The Festival has a privileged relationship with the artist, whose architectural projection Mooniyang was presented at UQÀM’s Pavillon Président-Kennedy during the FNC’s 48th edition. BOOTLEGGER is produced by Microclimat Films and distributed in Canada by MK2 Mile End. The film will hit Quebec theatres on October 8.

To highlight its jubilee, the FNC invited filmmaker Luc Bourdon, its former executive director, to create a short film based on 50 years of Festival archives. The resulting work, CINQUANTE TEMPS, will be screened during opening night. A tribute to the Festival’s history and the filmmakers who have appeared on its lineups, the film evokes the spirit of the FNC from the 1970s to today by drawing on Jacques Dufresne’s photo book LES NOUVEAUX CINÉMAS, Bourdon’s own video archives as well as the archives compiled by the Festival over the last decade.

On closing night, October 17, festivalgoers will be treated to the animated documentary feature ARCHIPEL by Félix Dufour-Laperrière. Screened in its world premiere at the Rotterdam Festival, then at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival earlier this year, where it received the Contrechamps Jury Mention, the new opus by Dufour-Laperrière (Ville Neuve) follows a man and woman as they navigate the waters of Quebec. Produced by Embuscade Films and distributed in Canada by La Distributrice de films, ARCHIPEL hits theatres across Quebec on October 29.

As it happens, the FNC will screen two films by Dufour-Laperrière this year. His previous animated feature, VILLE NEUVE, is part of the online selection.

A rare master class and a Louve d’honneur for Jane Campion

After its world premiere at the Venice Festival, where it won the Silver Lion for best director, Jane Campion’s THE POWER OF THE DOG will get its Montreal premiere on October 7, thanks to a collaboration with its Quebec-based producer Roger Frappier (Max Films) and support from Netflix. This updated western adapted from Thomas Savage’s novel of the same name stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons.

For the occasion, the New Zealand director, the first woman to receive the Palme d’or at Cannes for The Piano in 1993, will give a rare master class on October 7. While she’s here, the FNC will take the opportunity to award her the Louve d’honneur for lifetime achievement.

THE POWER OF THE DOG is a production of See-Saw Films, Bad Girl Creek and Max Films in association with Brightstar, The New Zealand Film Commission, Cross City Films and BBC Film. The film is produced by Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier. It will be released in Canadian theatres on November 19, then become available on Netflix worldwide starting December 1, 2021.

International Competition: Louve d’Or presented by Québecor

The International Competition, the Festival’s flagship category, shines the spotlight on emerging filmmakers who breathe new life into the worldwide cinematic landscape. The ten first and second features—bold, inventive, stimulating and never-before-seen—in the running for the Louve d’Or are: DISTRICT TERMINAL, Bardia Yadegari and Ehsan Mirhosseini (Iran, Germany); GREAT FREEDOM, Sebastian Meise (Austria, Germany); IN THE MIRROR, Laila Pakalnina, (Latvia, Lithuania); THE CROSSING, Florence Miailhe (France, Germany, Czech Republic); MIGUEL’S WAR, Eliane Raheb (Lebanon, Germany, Spain); MOON, 66 QUESTIONS, Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece, France); PASSION, Maja Borg (Sweden); TASTE, Lê Bảo (Vietnam, Singapore, France, Thailand, Germany, Taiwan); THE PINK CLOUD, Iuli Gerbase (Brazil); and WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?, Alexandre Koberidze (Georgia, Germany).

National Competition

The FNC has always been committed to showcasing local creative works. An essential part of the program, the National Competition brings together the Québécois and Canadian new cinema auteurs of today and tomorrow. These are films that reflect who we are, giving pride of place to diversity and tonal transitions. For its jubilee, the Festival lives up to its reputation. With the nine selected works, the Competition travels with Quebec and Canadian filmmakers from BC to Manitoba and Nova Scotia to offer the best of our national cinema. Audiences will get a chance to discover the off-the-wall, dystopian LE BRUIT DES MOTEURS by Philippe Grégoire (Quebec), shot in Napierville; another foray into an imaginary world with NIGHT RAIDERS by Danis Goulet (Ontario), an Indigenous, post-apocalyptic sci-fi where young kids are torn from their parents, who form a vigilante group; Albéric Aurtenèche‘s (Quebec) dream-like LA CONTEMPLATION DU MYSTÈRE, with Emmanuel Schwartz, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse and Gilles Renaud; Sarah Fortin’s claustrophobic, Schefferville-set NOUVEAU-QUÉBEC (Quebec) as well as the highly personal DAMASCUS DREAM (Quebec), a documentary by Emile Serri about his Syrian roots. The lineup also includes DARKROOM by Lukas Maier (British Columbia); STE. ANNE by Rhayne Vermette (Manitoba); THE WHITE FORTRESS by Igor Drljaca (Ontario) and WILDHOOD by Bretten Hannam (Nova Scotia).

The Essentials

Once again this year, Montreal Festival audiences will get a sneak peek at films by the big names in world cinema, including Paolo Sorrentino with LA MAIN DE DIEU, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Festival; Joachim Trier with THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, which won the best actress award at the last Cannes Festival; the two latest features by the prolific South Korean director Hong Sangsoo with INTRODUCTION and IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE; Radu Jude with BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN, the Romanian filmmaker’s latest masterpiece and winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival last February. Also on the lineup are LES OLYMPIADES by Jacques Audiard (France), screened in official competition at the Cannes Festival; AHED’S KNEE by Nadav Lapid (Israel, France, Germany), winner of the Cannes Jury Prize; DAYS, Tsai Ming-Liang (Taiwan); EARWIG, Lucile Hadzihalilovic (France, UK); MEMORIA, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Colombia, Thailand, UK, Mexico, France, Germany, Qatar), winner of the Cannes Jury Prize; RED ROCKET, Sean Baker (US); REFLECTION, Valentyn Vasyanovych (Ukraine); TRALALA, Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu (France); and WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi (Japan).

Temps Ø

Twenty-two startling, one-of-a-kind films shake up the Temps Ø category. They include Gaspar Noé’s last three films, VORTEX, LUX ÆTERNA, and IRRÉVERSIBLE – INVERSION INTÉGRALE; the last two works by French director Bertrand Mandico, DEAD FLASH and the much awaited AFTER BLUE (PARADIS SALE); the documentary FREAKSCENE – THE STORY OF DINOSAUR JR by Philipp Reichenheim about grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr.; the warped, futuristic EXTRANEOUS MATTER – COMPLETE EDITION by Japanese director Kenichi Ugana. Other features on the lineup are: BARBAQUE by Fabrice Eboué (France); BOUND by Jean-Armand Bougrelle (Japan); DEBOUT LES FEMMES ! by François Ruffin and Gilles Perret (France); HIRUKO THE GOBLIN (restored version) by Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan); LA DERNIÈRE TENTATION DES BELGES by Jan Bucquoy (Belgium); MUSIC HOLE by David Mutzenmacher and Gaetan Liekens (Belgium); ORANGES SANGUINES by Jean-Christophe Meurisse (France); POULET FRITES by Yves Hinant and Jean Libon (France, Belgium); SALOUM by Jean Luc Herbulot (Senegal); THE AMUSEMENT PARK by George A. Romero (US) and ZERIA by Harry Cleven (Belgium). The program also includes a number of short films screening right before the feature: FOU DE BASSAN by Yann Gonzalez (France); NORTH SHINJUKU 2055 by Daisuke Miyazaki (Japan); and TAXIDERMISEZ-MOI by Marie Losier (France) and the disturbing ASMODEUS by Éric Falardeau.

The New Alchemists

Exploring the art of cinema in all its expressive possibilities, the feature films in this section are by artists from different disciplines (cinema, theatre, photography, the visual arts, etc.) and range from fiction to documentary to hybrid forms. The lineup includes two moving, personal films, LETTERS TO A YOUNG TRAVELLER by Quebec’s Federico Hidalgo, screening in its world premiere, and VIRGIN BLUE by Niu Xiaoyu. Seven other features, among them an international premiere and three North American premieres, will also screen in this category: COME HERE by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand); EL NIÑO DEL PLOMO by Daniel Dávila (Chile); ESQUÍ by Manque La Banca (Argentina, Brazil); STE. ANNE by Rhayne Vermette (Canada); THE EDGE OF DAYBREAK by Taiki Sakpisit (Thailand); THE PENULTIMATE by Jonas Kærup Hjort (Denmark); and TZAREVNA SCALING by Uldus Bakhtiozina (Russia).

International Panorama

This section highlights politically engaged voices and intimate, delicately handled journeys. Audiences are invited to experience deep human connection through the 15 eclectic international features selected, including UNCLENCHING THE FISTS by Kira Kovalenko, winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes, the hypersensitive BLISS by Henrika Kull, and the human-scaled adventure MR. BACHMANN AND HIS CLASS by Maria Speth.  Also on the lineup of this competitive section are: 1970 by Tomasz Wolski (Poland); CELTS by Milica Tomović (Serbia); COMPARTMENT N°6 by Juho Kuosmanen (Finland, Germany, Estonia, Russia), winner of the Cannes Jury Prize; FAYA DAYI by Jessica Beshir (US, Ethiopia, Qatar); GAGARINE by Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh (France); HIT THE ROAD by Panah Panahi (Iran); INDES GALANTES by Philippe Béziat (France); LA JEUNE FILLE ET L’ARAIGNÉE by Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher (Switzerland); LA MIF by Fred Baillif (Switzerland); THE VELVET QUEEN by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier (France); VENUS BY WATER by Lin Wang (China); and WOOD AND WATER by Jonas Bak (Germany, France).

Special events

A series of event screenings will be on the menu for our anniversary edition. Montrealers will have a chance to discover (if they haven’t already) two great, newly restored classics of contemporary cinema: POSSESSION by Andrzej Zulawski, featuring one of Isabelle Adjani’s most memorable performances, and David Lynch’s cult film MULHOLLAND DRIVE, 20 years old this year. Our own cinema also gets a chance to shine. Through Telefilm Canada’s initiative “Canadian Cinema – Reignited,” the FNC will present in-theatre screenings of the features THE LEFT-HAND SIDE OF THE FRIDGE by Philippe Falardeau (2000) and WEST OF PLUTO by Henry Bernadet and Myriam Verreault (2008), both in digitized, 4K restorations. Through its partnership with Éléphant: mémoire du cinéma québécois, the Festival will screen a new, restored version of Mireille Dansereau’s feminist ode LA VIE RÊVÉE on October 8. Also on the lineup is a screening of the feature DRUNKEN BIRDS by Ivan Grbovic, long an FNC regular. And to complement the opening film, the selection also offers a prime showcase for Indigenous cinema with a screening of the restored version of ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER by Zacharias Kunuk, the first feature directed by an Inuit filmmaker, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.