The 2020 edition of the Festival du nouveau cinéma, the 49th edition in the event's history, took place from October 7 to 31, 2020 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[1] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, it was staged almost entirely online, with the exception of a few outdoor screenings at Ciné-parc FNC x YUL, a temporary drive-in theatre in the employee parking lot of Montréal–Trudeau International Airport.[2]
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The festival had planned to include some in-person screenings, but was forced to cancel these when the government of Quebec imposed a 28-day lockdown on September 29, just days before the festival was set to begin.[3] As the drive-in and online components were already planned, the festival was able to quickly pivot its strategy,[2] although the online-only model forced them to pull some of the films that had been scheduled for in-person screenings.[1]
The festival opened with a free public screening of Underground (Souterrain) by Sophie Dupuis at FNC x YUL, and closed with the film My Salinger Year by Philippe Falardeau on October 16.[4] Some films were available on the online platform for only a limited time, while others remained available for viewing until October 31.[5]
Award winners were announced on October 17.[6]
The international competition jury comprised Pascale Bussières, Louise Lecavalier and Félix Dufour-Laperrière, while the national competition jury consisted of Evelyne de la Chenelière, Timothée Donay and Ewa Puszczynska.[7]
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Award |
Film |
Filmmaker |
National Competition, Grand Prize |
Judy Versus Capitalism |
Mike Hoolboom |
National Competition, Prix de la diffusion Québécor |
Without Havana (Sin la Habana) |
Kaveh Nabatian |
International Competition, Grand Prize |
Atlantis (Атлантида) |
Valentyn Vasyanovych |
International Competition, Prix de l’innovation Daniel Langlois |
Ecstasy (Êxtase) |
Moara Passoni |
International Competition, Best Acting Performance |
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection |
Mary Twala Mhlongo |
FIPRESCI International Critics Prize |
Last and First Men |
Jóhann Jóhannsson |
New Alchemists Prize |
Khamsin |
Grégoire Orio, Grégoire Couvert |
P'tits Loups |
À la mode |
Jean Lecointre |
FNC Explore Panorama Prize |
O |
Qiu Yang |
FNC Explore Horizon Prize |
The Book of Distance |
Randall Okita |
National Competition, Short Film |
Foam (Écume) |
Omar Elhamy |
National Competition, Short Film Honorable Mention |
Benjamin, Benny, Ben |
Paul Shkordoff |
National Competition, Short Film Public Prize |
Shooting Star (Comme une comète) |
Ariane Louis-Seize |
International Competition, Short Film |
Filipiñana |
Rafael Manuel |
International Competition, Short Film Honorable Mention |
Red Aninsri, or, Tiptoeing on The Still Trembling Berlin Wall |
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke |
New Alchemists, Animated Short Film |
Serial Parallels |
Max Hattler |
New Alchemists, National Dada Prize |
Barcelona Burning (Barcelona de foc) |
Theodore Ushev |
New Alchemists, International Dada Prize |
How to Disappear |
Total Refusal |
RPCÉ Grand Prize |
Danica's Mom |
Kennedy Kao |
Pitch Premières Œuvres |
Les Enfants du large |
Virginia Tangvald |
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International Competition
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
Abandonment | Desterro | Maria Clara Escobar | Brazil, Portugal, Argentina |
Atlantis | Атлантида | Valentyn Vasyanovych | Ukraine |
Bad Roads | Pohani dorohy | Natalya Vorozhbyt | Ukraine |
The Cloud in Her Room | Ta fang jian li de yun | Zheng Lu Xinyuan | China, Hong Kong |
Ecstasy | Êxtase | Moara Passoni | Brazil |
Kill It and Leave This Town | Zabij to i wyjedź z tego miasta | Mariusz Wilczyński | Poland |
Servants | Služobníci | Ivan Ostrochovský | Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Ireland |
The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs | Laila aur satt geet | Pushpendra Singh | India |
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection | Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese | Lesotho, South Africa, Italy |
Topside | Celine Held, Logan George | United States |
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National Competition
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International Panorama
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
Apples | Mila | Christos Nikou | Greece |
Cocoon | Kokon | Leonie Krippendorf | Germany |
Drowsy City | Thanh Pho Ngu Gat | Dung Luong Dinh | Vietnam |
If It Were Love | Si c'était de l'amour | Patric Chiha | France |
Moving On | Nam-Mae-Wui Yeo-Reum-Bam | Yoon Dan-bi | South Korea |
Mum, Mum, Mum | Mamá, mamá, mamá | Sol Berruezo Pichon-Rivière | Argentina |
Oasis | Oaza | Ivan Ikić | Serbia |
Sisters with Transistors | Lisa Rovner | United States |
A Thief's Daughter | La hija de un ladrón | Belén Funes | Spain |
Wisdom Tooth | Ri Guang Zhi Xia | Liang Ming | China |
A Yellow Animal | Um animal amarelo | Felipe Bragança | Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique |
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The New Alchemists (Les Nouveaux alchimistes)
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
DAU. Natasha | Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Jekaterina Oertel | Russia, Germany, Ukraine, United Kingdom |
Khamsin | Grégoire Orio, Grégoire Couvert | France, Lebanon |
Last and First Men | Jóhann Jóhannsson | Iceland |
Maggie's Farm | James Benning | United States |
Night Has Come | Peter Van Goethem | Belgium |
Red Moon Tide | Lúa vermella | Lois Patiño | Spain |
To the Moon | Tadhg O'Sullivan | Ireland |
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The Essentials (Les Incontournables)
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Temps 0
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Special Presentations
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Cult Films at Ciné-Parc
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International Competition for Short Films
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
Battlefield | Jannis Lenz | Austria, Germany |
Digital Funeral: Beta Version | Sorayos Prapapan | Thailand |
L'Effort commercial | Sarah Arnold | France |
The End of Suffering (A Proposal) | To telos tou ponou (Mia protasi) | Jacqueline Lentzou | Greece |
Erpe-Mere | Noemi Osselaer | Belgium |
The Eyes of Summer | Gimhanaye Netra | Rajee Samarasinghe | Sri Lanka, United States |
Filipiñana | Rafael Manuel | Philippines, United Kingdom |
Fishbowl | Ngabo Emmanuel | Rwanda |
Heaven Reaches Down to Earth | Tebogo Malebogo | South Africa |
Lake on Fire | Sjö i brand | Jennifer Rainsford | Sweden |
Maalbeek | Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis | France |
Menarca | Lillah Halla | Brazil |
Motorway65 | Evi Kalogiropoulou | Greece |
Our Kingdom | O Nosso Reino | Luis Costa | Portugal |
Places | Miegamasis Rajonas | Vytautas Katkus | Lithuania |
Rain Hums a Lullaby to Pain | A chuva acalanta a dor | Leonardo Mouramateus | Portugal, Brazil |
Red Aninsri, or, Tiptoeing on The Still Trembling Berlin Wall | Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke | Thailand |
The Return of Tragedy | Bertrand Mandico | France |
Song of Clouds | Ankit Poudel | Nepal |
Sudden Light | Sophie Littman | United Kingdom |
Sun Dog | Dorian Jespers | Belgium, Russia |
Talk to Her | Iwa | South Korea |
This Means More | Nicolas Gourault | United Kingdom, France, Portugal |
Towards Evening | Axşama doğru | Teymur Hajiyev | Azerbaijan |
The Unseen River | Giòng Sông Không Nhìn Thấy | Phạm Ngọc Lân | Vietnam, Laos |
Which Is Witch? | Marie Losier | France |
White Goldfish | Jan Roosens, Raf Roosens | Belgium |
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National Competition for Short Films
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Province |
Acting Out | Jean-Sébastien Beaudoin Gagnon | Quebec |
Aniksha | Vincent Toi | Quebec |
As Spring Comes | Comme la neige au printemps | Marie-Ève Juste | Quebec |
August 22, This Year | Graham Foy | Ontario |
Benjamin, Benny, Ben | Paul Shkordoff | Ontario |
Every Day's Like This | Lev Lewis | Ontario |
Father Neptune | Erik Horn | British Columbia |
Fear in Motion | Jean-Christophe Yacono | Quebec |
Foam | Écumne | Omar Elhamy | Quebec |
Happy as Can Be | Chez les heureux de ce monde | Jean-François Sauvé | Quebec |
Here at Home | À la maison | Renaud Ouimet | Quebec |
Inuit Languages in the 21st Century | Ulivia Uviluk | Quebec |
Moon | Lune | Zoé Pelchat | Quebec |
Nadia | Malorie Urbanovitch | Quebec |
Parlour Palm | Rebeccah Love | Ontario |
Point and Line to Plane | Sofia Bohdanowicz | Ontario |
The Pond, at Night | L'Étang, la nuit | Olivia Boudreau | Quebec |
Shooting Star | Comme une comète | Ariane Louis-Seize | Quebec |
Spring Tide | Jean Parsons | British Columbia |
Storm Child | L'Enfant-tempête | Ines Guennaoui | Quebec |
Sunken Cave and a Migrating Bird | Qiuli Wu | British Columbia |
Vaivén | Nisha Platzer | British Columbia |
Zen Basketball | Mike Hoolboom | Ontario |
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The New Alchemists, Short Films
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
Aletsch Negative | Laurence Bonvin | Switzerland |
Alltöting | Andreas Hykade | Germany, Canada, Portugal |
Barcelona Burning | Barcelona de Foc | Theodore Ushev | Canada, Spain |
Blue Lips | Lèvres bleues | Philippe Hamelin | Canada |
Coldshot | Evan Collis | Canada |
Disappearing Silence | Le Silence a disparu | Sarah Seené | Canada |
Dissolution Prologue (Extended Version) | Siegfried Fruhauf | Austria |
Drink Some Darkness | Trevor Mowchun | Canada |
Earthbound | Terrestres | Normand Rajotte | Canada |
Forwards, Backwards | Mitchell Stafiej | Canada |
Glimmer | Dan Browne | Canada |
Grand-maman piano | Guillaume Vallée | Canada |
Here and There | Aquí y allá | Melisa Liebenthal | Argentina, France |
How to Disappear | Total Refusal | Austria |
Imperial Irrigation | Lukas Marxt | Austria, Germany |
Inflorescence | Nicolaas Schmidt | Germany |
Instructions for Robots | Mike Hoolboom | Canada |
The long wail of a passing train slips into the heart of the ghosts and everything explodes in silence | Le long cri du train qui passe se glisse au coeur des spectres et tout explose en silence | Anne-Marie Bouchard | Canada |
Marcel Broodthaers in Conversation with Hideaki Anno and Akhenaten | Marcel Broodthaers en conversation avec Hideaki Anno et Akhenaton | Julie Tremble | Canada |
May 35 | Tina Takemoto | United States |
Meine Liebe | Clara Jost | Portugal |
Mood Hall | Takumi Kawai, Hiroki Okamura | Japan |
Mr. Carreaux | Marie-Hélène Turcotte | Canada |
Notes, Imprints (On Love): Part 1 | Alexandra Cuesta | United States, Ecuador |
One | Anouk De Clercq | Belgium, Norway |
The Peepul Tree | Sonja Feldmeier | Switzerland |
Push This Button If You Begin to Panic | Gabriel Böhmer | United Kingdom |
Recoding Entropia | François Vautier | France |
The Roses of Damascus | Les Roses de Damas | Gabriel Gonzalez Guirola, Yasmina Touzani | France |
The Selkie | Monade Li | France |
Serial Parallels | Max Hattler | Hong Kong, Germany |
Sfumato | Robert Seidel | Germany, United States |
Something to Remember | Något att minnas | Niki Lindroth von Bahr | Sweden |
There Must Be Some Kind of Way Out of Here | Rainer Kohlberger | Austria, Germany |
Thorax | Siegfried Fruhauf | Austria |
Untitled Sequence of Gaps | Vika Kirchenbauer | Germany |
The Walk | La Marche | Yoakim Bélanger | Canada |
When We Are Nothing Left | Milja Viita | Canada, Finland |
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RPCÉ Canadian Student Short Film Competition
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Province |
33' Lot | Sarah Genge | British Columbia |
L'Abat | Olivier Côté | Quebec |
Adelante | Romy Boutin St-Pierre | Quebec |
Cave In | Mathilde Chamussy, Gabrielle Chicoine, Marie-Ève Drolet | Quebec |
The Cold | Le Froid | Natalia Duguay | Quebec |
Danica's Mom | Kennedy Kao | Ontario |
Eve and Fatima | Ève et Fatima | Julie Redon | Quebec |
Familiar | Cécilia Alain | Quebec |
Hope | Kwizera | Romeo Axcel Uwemera | Quebec |
I Must Be Going | Jack Pocaluyko | Ontario |
Kijâtai | Kijâtai-Alexandra Veillette-Cheezo | Quebec |
Léphémer | Anne Delarue | Quebec |
The Mediator | Le Médiateur | Philippe Besner | Quebec |
Mitochondrial | Laura Kamugisha | Quebec |
Monstre d'eau douce | Maxym Bronsard | Quebec |
Promise Me | Alison Duke | Ontario |
Sleeping with the Fishes | Jordan Beck Crouse | Nova Scotia |
Take Me | Prends-moi | Chloé Sirois, Samuel Boucher, Ali Dupont-Proulx | Quebec |
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RPCÉ Partner: National University of Colombia
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Province |
Manacillo | Nicolás Garcés | Colombia |
No lo encuentro | Mariana Jiménez |
Umbral | Juan Francisco Rodriguez |
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P'tits loups
Short film program of animation for children.
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
À la mode | Jean Lecointre | France |
And Yet We're Not Super Heroes | On est pas prêts d'être des super héros | Lia Bertels | Belgium |
Archie | Ainslie Henderson | United Kingdom |
Athleticus 2: Luge | Nicolas Deveaux | France |
Athleticus 2: Une patinoire pour deux | Nicolas Deveaux | France |
Autumn Winds, Spring Winds and Two Doves | Le Vent d'automne, le vent de printemps et les deux coulombes | Sadegh Javadi Nikjeh | Iran, France |
Away | Au large | Mathilde Pepinster | Belgium |
Boriya | Sung Ah Min | France, South Korea |
Dorothy the Rambler | Dorothy la vagabonde | Emmanuelle Gorgiard | France |
The Horn Quartet: Up to the Mountain | Le Quatuor des cornes: Là-haut sur la montagne | Benjamin Botella, Arnaud Demuynck | France, Belgium |
The Kindergarten Show | Le Spectacle de maternelle | Loïc Bruyère | France |
The Last Day of Autumn | Le Dernier jour de l'automne | Marjolaine Perreten | Switzerland, France, Belgium |
Leaf | Listek | Aliona Baranova | Czech Republic |
A Lynx in the Town | Un Lynx dans la ville | Nina Bisiarina | France, Switzerland |
Mishou | Milen Vitanov | Germany, Bulgaria |
Non-Non Gets Shrunk | Non-Non rétrécit | Wassim Boutaleb Joutei | France |
Northern Lights | Au pays de l'aurore boréale | Caroline Attia | France, Switzerland |
Promenade sentimentale | Émilie Tronche | France |
Setting Suns | Soleils couchants | Aurélie Montèix | France |
Sweet Night | Nuit chérie | Lia Bertels | Belgium |
The Tiger and His Master | Le Tigre et son maître | Fabrice Luang-Vija | France, Belgium |
To the Dusty Sea | À la mer poussière | Héloïse Ferlay | France |
Umbrellas | Parapluies | José Prats, Alvaro Roblès | France, Spain |
Under the Ice | Sous la glace | Milan Baulard, Ismail Berrahma, Flore Dupont, Laurie Estampes, Quentin Nory, Hugo Potin | France |
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FNC Explore
Virtual reality projects.
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English title |
Original title |
Director(s) |
Production country |
1st Step: From Earth to the Moon | Jörg Courtial, Maria Courtial | Germany |
Agence | Pietro Gagliano | Canada |
Black Bag | Qing Shao | China |
The Book of Distance | Randall Okita | Canada |
Daughters of Chibok | Joel Benson | Nigeria |
Dreamin' Zone | Fabienne Giezendanner | France, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea |
The Hangman at Home 3D | Uri Kranot, Michelle Kranot | Denmark, France, Canada |
Hominidae | Brian Andrews | United States |
In the Land of the Flabby Schnook | Au pays du cancre mou | Francis Gélinas | Canada |
The Line | Ricardo Laganaro | Brazil |
Meet Mortaza | Josephine Derobe | France, Belgium |
Minimum Mass | Raqi Syed, Areito Echevarria | New Zealand, France, United States |
Mirror: The Signal | Pierre Zandrowicz | France, Belgium |
Missing Pictures: Bird of Prey | Clément Deneux | France, United Kingdom, Taiwan |
O | Qiu Yang | Taiwan |
An Ode to Moss | SU | Taiwan |
Passenger | Sobel Knowles, Van Sowerwine | Australia |
The Passengers | Les Passagers: elle et lui | Ziad Touma | Canada, France |
Recoding Entropia | François Vautier | France |
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Films planned but not screened
Due to the last-minute cancellation of in-person screenings, some films that had been scheduled by the festival that had been planned for in-person rather than online screenings were not included in the festival.[5]
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