Wiseman, Poitras among curators for 15th RIDM

August 17, 2012 by Kelly Anderson

The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) has lined up 15 guest programmers for its 15th anniversary, including documentary directors Frederick Wiseman, Kim Longinotto and Laura Poitras; musician Lou Reed; and actor Gael García Bernal.

The festival’s team has invited 15 high-profile figures in the film world to share their favorite documentary, which will be presented in a special section of this year’s RIDM programming.

The other guest programmers are: Philippe Falardeau, Barbet Schroeder, Agnès Varda, Patricio Guzman, Jia Zhang-ke, Alanis Obomsawin, Gilles Jacob, Naomi Kawase, Philip Glass and Samira Makhmalbaf.

Jacob, president of the Cannes Festival, selected Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera for the way the film “reinvents everything technique allows – or denies – yielding a breathtaking interplay of themes.”

Quebec-based director Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar) chose the Belgian film Une délégation de très haut niveau from Philippe Dutilleul, calling the film “as hilarious as it is frightening.” His chosen documentary follows a Belgian parliamentary delegation on a surreal tour of North Korea.

Mexican actor García Bernal, who has a background of documentary production and distribution in Mexico, chose Michael Glawogger’s Megacities, the first part of a trilogy. The remainder of the guest programmers’ selections will be officially announced on September 17.

RIDM runs from November 7 to 18.

Tags: Agnes Varda, Alanis Obomsawin, Barbet Schroeder, Frederick Wiseman, Gael Garcia Bernal, Gilles Jacob, Jia Zhang-ke, Kim Longinotto, Laura Poitras, Lou Reed, Montreal International Documentary Festival, Naomi Kawase, Patricio Guzmán, Philip Glass, Philippe Falardeau, RIDM, Samira Makhmalbaf