Montreal fighting "shambles" image.

After 28 years, the Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) has hit a fork in the road and as the U.S. baseball philosopher Yogi Berra would say--it has to take it.

On one hand the Festival has to demonstrate to Telefilm Canada and Quebec's film-funding organization, Sodec--its co-financial backers--that it is becoming a sound, well-organized proposition. On the other hand, it has to attract bigger stars and movie premieres such as those one can find at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto festivals.

Failing on the first task could mean loss of government funding, which would trigger loss of corporate sponsorship and, thus, the possible demise of one of Canada's four major film festivals.

On the star power aspect, coming to the rescue is a new set of rules from the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), which scrapped the ban on films competing in more than one international festival. Based in Paris, France, the 71-year-old organization comprises 29 members including ANICA (Italy), PACT (U.K.) and MPAA (USA).

Curiously, to the involuntary rescue, is the same FIAPF with which MWFF collided when it set its 2003 dates without consulting the Association, leading to the overlapping of Montreal's dates with those of both the Venice and the Toronto Film festivals. But FIAPF could still have the last word by ranking MWFF as a "category-three" event, while Toronto gets "category-one" status on par with Cannes, Venice and Berlin. Naturally, MWFF withdrew its FIAPF accreditation stating that they no longer wished to be accredited by "an association that has no real authority...."

This year, symbolism, a very strong characteristic of Montreal's media, also played an ominous part: The MWFF's official poster of a high-heeled woman's shoe indicated to many observers that the Festival is being stepped on.

Naturally, what Canada's daily The Globe and Mail described as a Festival in "shambles," matured over the years, with complaints about the MWFF's "lackluster" program and the "prickly" managerial style of Serge Losique, the festival's founder and director. Plus, outsider filmmakers accused MWFF of being too local, while local film professionals complained about the management's attitude.

Even though some reports indicate that MWFF'S director was born in former Yugoslavia 73 years ago, according to a June 18, 2003 article in The Globe and Mail, Losique is "so secretive that to this day no-one seems to know his real name, his age or if he was born in Serbia, Algeria, Morocco or France."

Calls for Losique's resignations were first heard in 1999, and last year could have marked Losique's lowest point when the Festival failed to get an "A-list" film category and, reportedly, had yet to pay out $50,000 in prize money to the directors of two films honored at the 2002 edition.

After last July's original report (commissioned by the governments' film agencies, written by consultant firm Secor and titled "Analysis of Canada's Major Film Festivals"), which was damning to MWFF (and which Losique refused to cooperate with), Telefilm Canada, the Federal film agency, and Sodec have now developed a new set of guidelines for Losique to follow in order for MWFF to qualify for federal and provincial funding.

Reportedly, the MWFF, a private not-for-profit organization, operates with a budget of C$3.5 million a year, 50 percent of which comes from private funds, 28 percent from federal and provincial funds and 22 percent from local subsidies.

Few observers, however, believe that MWFF could disappear; first, because of Losique and Montreal's influence over national politics, and, secondly, because of the large box office revenues that Quebec generates from Canadian films.

Losique could also be betting on the changes at the government film organizations: Telefilm Canada's executive director Richard Stursberg went to CBC-TV and Sodec head Pierre Lafleur's mandate is ending in November 2004.

Plus, to help rescue him, Losique called the 67-year-old PR veteran David Novek out from retirement. Novek worked on both MWFF at its inception and the Toronto Film Festival, and advised Losique to stay away from the media, have a more open management style, avoid antagonizing government film organizations and reshape attendee figures that, in the past, were "artificially inflated." Reportedly, 680,000 people attended last year, including 450,000 who came for its free outdoor film screenings.

But the "hot-headed" Losique has another cat to skin: Namely the more aggressive Toronto Film Festival which started September 6, 2004--the last day of the 11-day Montreal Film Festival--and which started their press screenings the week of the MWFE thus keeping Toronto film critics away from Montreal. It has been pointed out, however, that it was Losique who changed MWFF's dates so that they overlapped with those of Toronto.

The Festival had two other components: The market, which was poorly attended, and the conferences on September 1, which dealt with "The DVD Factor," and "La Production Quebecoise."

The main star of the event, French actress Isabelle Adjani, received MWFF's Grand Prix Special des Ameriques for an ongoing body of work that spans almost four decades.

Held at the Hyatt hotel in the Desjardins Complex shopping mall in downtown Montreal, the MWFF screened 439 films from 72 countries, of which 136 were Canadian. There were 68 North American premieres, including the world premiere of Citizen Black, by Debbie Melnyk, about fallen media baron Conrad Black.

At the end of the Festival, both Telefilm Canada and Sodec issued a call for a proposal of a new film festival in Montreal. Defiantly, Serge Losique announced next year's dates: August 25-September 5.