Celebrating its 21st edition, the Montreal World Film Festival will be screening more than 400 films from August 22 to September 2, 1997.

MFF is accredited by the International Federation of Producers Associations as the only competitive class A film festival in North America .

 Festival co-directors Danièle Cauchard and Serge Losique announced the 21feature films, from thirteen different countries, that will be competing for the distinguished Grand Prix des Amériques Award.

 In the Out of Competition section, many of the 42 features were previously screened (some awarded) at the Cannes Festival such as Destiny by Chahine, The Eel by Imamura, Western by Poirier... However, the MFF, which draws an enormous support from numerous sponsors, is by no means a rehash of what has already been seen; a mere 56 features and 11 medium length films will be making their world premiers.

Nine films will be spotlighted in the Focus on Iranian Cinema and another 15 in the Latin American Cinema section (representing Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and Brazil). Other special sections include Cinema of Today : Reflections of our Times, Cinema of Tomorrow : New Trends and the Panorama Canada section with 19 of the 26 new productions showing as world premiers.

A special 50 minute program will feature the 14 award winning productions from Imagina held this past February in Monte Carlo and during the entire festival 12 well-acclaimed films will be shown at free outdoor screenings.

 In the framework of the Montreal World Film Festival will be the 28th Canadian Student Film and Video Festival and of course, no festival is complete without its market. The Montreal International Film, Television and Video Market underlines Montreal as a business center in the Canadian Film and Television Industry.