Detained prints scare up more trouble for horror fest
By J.K. Radomski
MONTREAL — Many distributors who sent films to the Montreal International Festival of Fantasy, Horror, Science-Fiction and Thriller Films did not get them back when the event ended Oct. 13, marking the second year in a row that practices of the festival’s controversial organizer have sparked an uproar.
News of how the second edition of the event fared was unavailable when the event’s offices closed down and its director, Sylvain Krief, had his home phone number disconnected less than a week after the 13-day event ended.
“Things weren’t working out at the beginning, they always had excuses for everything,” said Suzie Bergeron, director of acquisitions and booking for Allegro Films Distribution in Montreal whose film, The Neighbor, was among those not returned by the festival. “Luckily I had some contacts at the theater where the film was being shown during the festival and they kept it for me. If they didn’t, it would now be lost, too.” Krief could not be reached for comment.
Other films still missing include Triax Entertainment Group’s Forever, Live Home Video’s Turn of the Screw, Turner Entertainment’s Frankenstein: The Real Story, Cinema International’s Day of the Pigs, Motion Picture Corporation of America’s The Killing Box and 30 more titles from the United States and abroad.
After conducting an investigation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the missing films are in the possession of Canada Despardelle, a Montreal transport broker.
“I’m stuck with all the films and I don’t know who to send them to,” said Canada Despardelle president Jean Ducharme. “I have some idea of who they belong to, but I don’t have the manpower to find out exactly where to send them to. But I’m more than willing to return the prints back to anyone who asks, provided the cost of shipping them back is covered. I’m a small company and I have already lost so much.”
Ducharme said that two checks he received from the festival as payment for receiving films and clearing them at customs were written on a closed bank account. He has filed suit in a Quebec court and has launched a $10,000 civil suit against Krief.
In addition, festival staff members say they had not been paid, a reprise of the complaints heard a year ago.
“It was obvious from the start that this festival was headed for another disaster,” said Jean Guerin, a Montreal writer who was a media co-ordinator for the festival’s first edition last year. “One just has to look back at everything that happened last year to see that this event wasn’t meant to be.”
Last year, the festival’s public relations firm, Ixion Communications, filed suit to recover payment for its services, and two international directors, New Zealand’s Peter Jackson and Japan’s Hiromi Aihara charged that they had not been reimbursed for travel expenses.
Krief refused to comment on the allegations at that time and chose to attack the media instead.
Pepsi Cola Montreal Ltd., the festival’s principal sponsor, was taken aback by the allegations made during a September press conference launching the second edition and almost broke its contract. After a week of discussions and meetings, the soft drink company decided to give Krief another chance and maintain its position as the event’s main sponsor, stating that many festivals make mistakes when they’re new.
“Looking back, the festival did help us get noticed, but it was our mistake to support it,” said Daniel Boulais, Pepsi’s Montreal marketing director. “Unless the festival changes hands, we won’t be back supporting it in the future because of the unprofessional way it was run and the mess it has created to date.”
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