24/10/2014 - 12 titles are duking it out for the Golden Antigone 2014, while the gathering also includes a focus on “the Greek New Wave”, amongst a raft of other events

Backed up by a top-notch programme, today in Montpellier the Mediterranean Film Festival fires the starting pistol for its 36th edition and, until 1 November, will be offering a line-up that is packed to the rafters with films and rich in new discoveries. 

Among the 12 titles battling it out for the Golden Antigone are Fidelio, l'odyssée d'Alice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucie Borleteau
film profile] by French director Lucie Borleteau (winner of the Best Actress Award and the Europa Cinemas Label at Locarno – read the review and the interview), I milionari [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Italy’s Alessandro Piva (read the review), Marsella [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Spaniard Belén Macías (read the review), Standing Aside, Watching [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Greek director Yorgos Servetas (popular at Berlin – read the review) and These Are the Rules [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Croatian filmmaker Ognjen Svilicic (revealed at Venice).

Also in the running are Corn Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: George Ovashvili
film profile] by George Ovashvili (which won at Karlovy Vary – read the review and watch the interview), Turkish production Fish by Dervis Zaim, two Israeli-directed films (Atlit by Shirel Amitay and Next to Her by Asaf Korman), French co-production Certified Halal by Algeria’s Mahmoud Zemmouri, Belgian co-production Adios Carmen by Moroccan filmmaker Mohamed Amin Benamraoui and Bastardo by Tunisian director Najib Belkadhi. 

The Montpellier festival will also be presenting a focus on The New Wave of Greek Cinema, boasting 14 features, six short films, 18 animated movies and a round table that will see the participation of such industry figures as filmmakers Panos H Koutras and Thanos Anastopoulos, as well as producer Konstantinos Kontovrakis. According to Géraldine Laporte, who is in charge of programming together with festival director Jean-François Bourgeot, “Since Dogtooth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile] in 2009, a new, very interesting generation of Greek filmmakers has been emerging. They are aged between 30 and 45, exhibit a passionate creativity and examine society from a different angle. There had already been a similar phenomenon to this in the early 1970s, at the time of the Regime of the Colonels, and we can see that today’s renaissance is happening in the context of a profound economic crisis. In a certain way, art thrives when it is being constrained.”

Among other sections, the menu also includes a wide array of 14 features (including Portuguese title The First Summer [+see also:
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film profile] by Adriano Mendes, Inferno [+see also:
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film profile] by Slovenia’s Vinko Möderndorfer, The Sentimentalists by Greek director Nicholas Triandafyllidis, and the Spanish movies Falling Star [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luis Miñarro ­
film profile] by Lluís Miñarro and Family Tour [+see also:
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film profile] by Liliana Torres Expósito), a selection of premieres (Human Capital [+see also:
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interview: Paolo Virzì
film profile] by Paolo Virzì, L’Oranais by Lyes Salem, Le Dernier Coup de marteau [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Alix Delaporte, The New Girlfriend [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile] by François Ozon, The Misunderstood [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Asia Argento, La Famille Bélier by Éric Lartigau and Dancing Arabs [+see also:
trailer
interview: Eran Riklis
film profile] by Eran Riklis), a tip of the hat to actress Leïla Bekhti, tributes to Antonio Pietrangeli and Luis García Berlanga, a screenwriting day with Tonino Benacquista, and a number of documentary and short-film competitions.

(Translated from French)