Notizie

OTTAWA -- The inaugural New Montreal FilmFest on Wednesday unveiled a 14-strong film competition without any U.S. contenders. Former Venice and Berlin festival boss Moritz de Hadeln, who is programming the first edition of the New Montreal FilmFest, said a dearth of U.S. movies after Venice and Toronto recently completed their own lineups meant he had little left to choose from. "There will be more (out-of-competition) films, including some from the United States, that will be announced in a week or so," de Hadeln said. "But there weren't a lot of U.S. films left over, and we don't want to play the ones that are in Toronto." The feature films vying for the festival's first-ever Iris award include Russian director Artem Antonov's Polumgia; Hormigas en la boca, Mariano Barroso's Spanish/Cuban co-production; German director Doris Dorrie's Der Fischer und seine Frau; and Peter Entell's Josh's Trees from Switzerland.

COLOGNE, Germany -- Doris Doerrie's The Fisherman and His Wife: Why Women Never Get Enough will open the 13th Hamburg International Film Festival on Sept. 22, organizers announced Tuesday. The relationship comedy is loosely based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a fisherman who catches a wish-granting fish only to find that, despite providing untold wealth and luxury, his demanding wife is never satisfied. In Doerrie's retelling, rising star Christian Ulmen (Berlin Blues) plays Otto, a fish doctor who travels to Japan to buy rare Koi carp for wealthy fish collectors. There he falls in love with fashion designer Ida, played by Downfall star Alexandra Maria Lara. Later in Germany, Ida's career takes off while Otto stays at home to raise their young child. But the more Otto gives up for his wife, the less she respects him. The Hamburg screening will serve as the European premiere of Fisherman, which debuted at the Montreal Film Festival. The festival runs Sept. 22-29.