Montreal WFF

[David Lewis]

The first press releases for Montreal's WWF have just come out.
Here are three excepts from the "Tributes" section.

KANETO SHINDO

  Born in Hiroshima in 1912, the son of a farmer, Shindo entered the
cinema in 1934 as
  an assistant art director, graduating to art director by the late
'30s. In the mid-40s he
  began the second phase of his career, as a screenwriter. collaborating
regularly on the
  films of Kimibasuro Yoshimura, but also working for Mizoguchi,
Ichikawa and other
  leading Japanese directors. In 1950 he established his own company, in
partnership
  with Yoshimura and actress Nobuko Otowa, who became Shindo's regular
star. The
  following year he made his directorial debut with THE STORY OF A
BELOVED
  WIFE, a semi-autobiographical chronicle of his late wife. After
several further essays in
  the genre, Shindo became more adventurous in the '60s with films like
THE ISLAND
  and, especially, ONIBABA, which with its eerie atmosphere, graphic
violence and sex,
  became an international cult favourite. The Montreal World Film
Festival is showing
  four of his films : HADAKA NO SHIMA (The Island), ONIBABA, CHIKUZAN
  HITORI TABI (The Life of Chikuzan) and SANMON YAKUSHA (By Player)
  which will be world-premiered.

GONG LI

  Born in Shenyang in 1965, she grew up in Jinan, the daughter of an
economics
  professor. A music lover from early childhood, Gong dreamed of a
singing career, but
  when she failed to gain entrance to China's top music school in 1985,
she opted for the
  Central Drama Academy in Beijing, from which she graduated in 1989.
While still a
  student, she was cast as the female lead in RED SORGHUM (1987), the
debut feature
  by Zhang Yimou. The film launched two careers. Along with the film
itself, Gong's
  performance as the meek bride who becomes a powerful woman when she
takes over
  her husband's winery after his death, won international acclaim. Gong
quickly went on
  to become one of China's (and the international cinema's) leading
young actresses of the
  '80s and '90s.


  And, along the way, her work has garnered critical acclaim and awards
around the
  world. She served as a member of the jury at the Cannes Festival in
1997 and presided
  over the jury at this year's Berlin Festival. She has lent her name to
campaigns for
  children's and environmental protection and in this capacity was named
an ambassador
  by UNESCO. She has also served as a consultant on various matters to
the Chinese
  government. She will be in Montreal for the presentation in Official
Competition of
  PIAO LIANG MA MA (Breaking The Silence) by Sun Zhou in which she plays
a
  leading role.

OM PURI

  Born in the small Indian town of Sanour in 1950, Om Puri graduated in
1973 from the
  National School of Drama in Delhi and in 1976 from the Film and
Television Institute of
  India in Pune. For the first 10-12 years Puri's film roles were nearly
exclusively in art
  cinema. As an Indian actor who often works in England, Om Puri draws
from both
  Western and Eastern traditions. He was exposed to international cinema
- Bergman,
  Wajda, Fellini, Kurosawa, De Sica - early on through



  film school and local archives. And in drama school he did
Shakespeare, Chekhov,
  Brecht, Strindberg and Tennessee Williams. When the call came to play
in international
  films (Richard Attenborough's GANDHI, in 1982 was the first of them;
Puri played the
  small role of Nahari) he was ready. In the '90s he played an
80-year-old mystic
  opposite Jack Nicholson in WOLF (1993), an ominous chief of railway
workers
  opposite Michael Douglas in THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (1996) and an
  intelligence officer in Sturla Gunnarsson's highly underrated
Canada-U.K. production,
  SUCH A LONG JOURNEY (1998). (That wasn't Puri's first role in a
Canadian film;
  earlier he played in Deepa Mehta's SAM & ME, 1990 and in Richard
Harvey's THE
  BURNING SEASON, 1992.) But it was MY SON THE FANATIC and EAST IS
  EAST that truly proclaimed Puri's talent to Western audiences, a
talent that Montreal
  World Film Festival audiences will get to enjoy once again in Gopi
Desai's
  (Canada-India co-production) MY LITTLE DEVIL.

--
David Lionel Lewis      david.lionel.lewis at sympatico.ca