The Dardenne brothers' Palmed'Or winner L'Enfant, Lars vonTrier's Manderlay, AlainCavalier's Le Filmeur and UneNuit (Yek Shab), the directorial debut of Iranian actress NikiKarimi, have all been confirmed as official screenings at Montreal's Festivaldu Nouveau Cinema (FNC), Oct 13 to 23.

The four Cannes titles theformer two in Official Competition, the latter two in Un Certain Regard wereannounced as a pre-emptive strike in Montreal's looming festival war.

FNC programming directorClaude Chamberlain did not mention the premiere status of any of the titles visa vis the FNC; however, Chamberlain confirmed the films are all Quebecpremieres, a requirement of the FNC. This means that neither of its two largerrivals, the Montreal World Film Festival and the New Montreal Filmfest, havethe films; hence they will likely be heading to North American premieres atToronto.

"If I get a world premiereor a Quebec premiere is not important so long as the film is here," Chamberlaintold ScreenDaily. "My main concern is to bring the best films to the festival,the discoveries and the work of the masters." He said the festival, whichcelebrates its 34th edition this year, screened the debuts of theDardennes and Von Trier.

L'Enfant, which will be distributed in Quebec through TVAFilms, tells the story of petty thief Bruno who sells his own child for cashand then must buy the baby back. Manderlay, the second part of von Trier's American trilogy about slavery andexploitation, stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe. LeFilmeur is Cavalier's thirdautobiographical film, condensing ten years into 100 minutes; it won the Prixde l'intimite in Un Certain Regard this year. Une Nuit has drawn comparisons with the work of Karimi'srenowned compatriot Abbas Kiarostami.