On one hand, Serge Losique is happy that his World Film Festival will, despite reports of its imminent demise, be around to blow out 30 candles starting Aug. 24. But the controversial founder and president of the Montreal fest is also concerned about how digital technologies are impacting the way films are being consumed.

"Film festivals - all film festivals - are going to face massive challenges in the next five years," the traditionally media-shy Losique tells Playback. "When I started, there were perhaps 20 festivals. Now every city seems to have a film festival. Even Philadelphia has one. In two years time, people will be able to watch any film they want at home, thanks to the Internet, just like they can read any book at home."

Losique, whose age is listed as 74 or 75, says changes brought on by new technologies have been sweeping, noting that these shifts had an effect on his programming process this past spring. Losique was seeking out films from China, and found one particular feature invigorating, fresh and innovative. The filmmakers assured him that the film, which he would rather not name, would have its world premiere at the WFF.

"A month after we got back, we found it for sale on the Internet," he recalls. "We dropped the film immediately."

It was what Losique now calls a minor annoyance, but something that doesn't bode well for the future of film festivals in general.

"Distributors will begin to disappear in a few years," he says, although not sounding altogether sad about the prospect, especially given local distributors' recent non-support of his festival. "Producers will no longer need them. They will be able to self-distribute on the Internet. Why wait to have your film pirated, when you can just go online and sell it right away? This will make getting exclusive premiere films for festivals much, much harder."

At a press conference in Montreal Aug. 8, the embattled Losique was all smiles as he unveiled the WFF's 30th anniversary lineup of more than 400 films from over 70 countries. But talking about the past was not something that Losique, legendary for his thorny relations with the press corps, was eager to discuss.

Needless to say, it's been a particularly rough ride lately for the WFF. Last year, Losique saw his annual $1 million in funding from Telefilm Canada and SODEC taken away on the heels of accusations of mismanagement. Many onlookers predicted the 29th annual WFF would be a no-show, but Losique's event went ahead. Then there was a scandal involving Karla, the U.S. indie film about the Bernardo-Homolka murders, which Losique initially championed but then dumped in the wake of threats from corporate sponsors.

But the fest made it to the finish line. Then, a rival startup fest hatched to supplant his event dropped dead after an excruciating debut. The New Montreal FilmFest received rock-bottom reviews, and finally crashed and burned amid a flurry of finger-pointing in Quebec's film milieu and among government bureaucrats. While Losique didn't gloat publicly, one could certainly imagine the flamboyant WFF ringmaster cracking open a few bottles of champagne over these developments.