On the verge of extinction, Montreal Film Fest roars back

Montreal, Aug 26 (UNI) Montreal Film Festival, that was on the brink of extinction, bounced back this year with a lot of verve and in the presence of global stars like John Voight and Sophie Marceau in the French-Canadian city here.

The fest was close to being shrunk because the government had withdrawn its annual subsidies on which the fest depended so much.

Those funds have reportedly been restored this year, also bringing back in their wake a few more sponsors. Thus, a remark on the opening day of the fest on August 23, that the founder-president of the Festival, 76-year-old Serge Losique may have heard most often was ''a return from the Dead''.

John Voight, the well-known American actor, will be honoured with a special 'Grand Prix of the Americas' for lifetime achievement in the world of Cinema.

Sixtyeight-year-old Voight burst on the scene in 1969, with a searing performance as a hustler in ''Midnight Cowboy''. The movie won the best-picture Oscar. It also earned him the first of his four Oscar nominations for ''Coming Home'' in 1978.

In the recent years, Voight has graduated to character roles, and his movies released in India include ''Mission: Impossible'' (1996), ''Ali'' (2001) and ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' (2001) in which he played the father of his real-life daughter, Angelina Jolie.

Running currently on the Indian screens is ''Transformers'', in which he plays the role of Defence Secretary.

At Montreal Festival, another of Voight's recent movies, ''September Dawn'' would have its world premiere.

Another actor to be honoured during the Montreal Festival is France's Sophie Marceau.

Marceau began her career in French films and Indian festival-audiences may remember her in ''Police'', where she had matched talent with the French iconic actor, Gerard Depardieu.

A dubbed version of her ''D'Artagnan's Daughter'' had also a limited release. Later, Marceau appeared in a few English movies, notably Mel Gibson's ''Braveheart'' (1995) and the Bond movie, ''The World Is Not Enough'' (1999). In the latter, she had played a rich heiress whom Pierce Brosnan (as James Bond) had been assigned to protect.

Marceau, 38, has over the years diversified her talents into cine-writing, and recently, direction. Her first directorial feature, ''Parlez-moi d'amour'' (Speak to me of Love), got her the best-director award at Montreal 2002.

She is now back at the Festival with her second feature, ''Trivial'', which has been written by her and she also stars in it.

UNI