Baran (Iran) and Abandoned (Hungary) were the co-winners of the 25th Grand Prix des Amériques for best film in competition at the Montreal World Film Festival. For Iranian helmer Majid Majidi, the top prize was his third in a row in Montreal, after The Color of Paradise (1999) and The Children of Heaven (1997). In a rare concurrence of tastes, the ecumenical jury rewarded the same two films, giving a commendation to Baran and the top prize to Abandoned. more

An accomplished director of thrillers and crime stories for German television, 44-year old Oliver Hirschbiegel is making a huge splash on the festival circuit with his debut feature The Experiment (Das Experiment). Beyond winning the Best Director Prize at Montreal, it was a box office hit in Germany and swept the German "Oscar" competition with five awards and has recently been announced as Germany's contender for the Foreign-language Film Oscar next March. more

Set in Montreal, Tar Angel (L'Ange de Goudron), tells the story of an immigrant family from Algeria who discovers that the eldest son, Hafid, has been involved in a cyber-terrorist attack on the computers of Canada's federal immigration office. The father, Kasmi (Zinedine Soualem), who normally spends his days with the thankless job of tarring roofs, is devastated at the thought that this action could jeopardize the family's chances of obtaining citizenship.
more