Montreal film festival employees resign en masse

Days before the opening of Montreal's World Film Festival, most of its employees have resigned.

In a letter to the Journal de Montreal, the employees say "the financial uncertainty of the festival and the inability to firm up infrastructure reservations or to honour agreements" wereamong the issues that factored into their decision.

They addedthey can't support "incompetent leadership," specifically mentioning festivalpresident and founder Serge Losique.

Losique said only a few people quit.

"It was absolutely not the whole team [that left]," he said. "It's defamation. I've dealt with defamation my whole life. I can't comment on this," he said, adding that the festival will go on as scheduled.

• Is the Montreal World Film Festival doomed?

The 40th edition of the World FilmFestivalis slated to begin Thursday with a showing of Embrasse-moi comme tu m'aimes, directed by Andr Forcier. The film's distributor confirmed to Radio-Canada on Tuesday that the showing will go on as planned.

Last year, another group of employees hired to work at the festival said theyweren't paid on time.

Two of those employees went to the province's labour standards board to settle their cases.

For years, the Montreal World Film Festival billed itself as the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).

But since the decision by American producers to use the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)to launch their fall films, the World Film Festival has lost notoriety and the business side of the festival has suffered.

Montreal'sWorld Film Festival runs until Sept. 5.