The documentary Running with Arnold has been landing distribution deals left and right, and not just in the U.S., according to Variety. Distributors in other countries also seem to think that a documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger's political career will be a box-office and home-entertainment draw. I caught the movie during its world premiere at SXSW this year. I found it entertaining, but as I noted in my review, relying a little too heavily on cheap shots to make certain points. You might remember that at least one of those cheap shots caused some difficulties between director Dan Cox and Alec Baldwin, who asked to have his voiceover work removed from the film. Baldwin's narration appears to still be intact.

Netflix's distribution arm Red Envelope Entertainment has bought the U.S. distribution rights for Running with Arnold. The movie will be released in theaters starting on Jan. 18, 2008, with Lantern Lane Entertainment handling the theatrical distribution. No date is available yet on a DVD release. In addition, Latido has sold distribution rights for the documentary about the Governator to media outlets in Japan, Canada, and Denmark, as well as to a Scandinavian TV channel. Deals for distribution in Germany and the UK may be in the works, but there's no word on Austria, where actor/politician Schwarzenegger was born.

[via Matt Dentler's Blog]

True, the Montreal World Film Festival wasn't actually pronounced dead two years ago. But the vultures were definitely circling. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, both local government film financier SODEC and its federal counterpart, Telefilm Canada, withdrew funding in 2005 and prospects for the festival looked bleak. Happily, things have changed for the better. Founder Serge Losique now declares that the festival is in good health with "renewed financial commitment from all levels of government," according to a story in the Montreal Gazette. The upcoming 31st edition of the festival will screen 230 features and 210 shorts from 70 countries.

Twenty films are part of the official competition for the "Grand Prize of the Americas." Monika Bartyzal wrote about the contemporary drama Spinning into Butter a few days ago; it stars Sarah Jessica Parker and is one of two US films in the competition. Matt Bradshaw wrote about the other one, September Dawn, back in January. The US release date for this historical drama starring Jon Voight has now been set for August 24. Other titles competing for the Grand Prize include Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales and veteran French director Claude Miller's A Secret, which will also serve as the closing night presentation.

New directors have their own section: 21 will be presented in the "First Films World Competition." Ten horror films, including Rob Zombie's Halloween remake, will be screened in the new "Midnight Slam" program. Among the documentaries, Running With Arnold caught my eye because I remember that Cinematical's Jette Kernion had strong words about the film's fairness when she saw it at South by Southwest. But what's a festival without a little controversy? At least this one is alive and well. The Montreal World Film Festival runs from August 23 to September 3; much more information is available at the official site.

Another election, another politician wanted out of office ... and yet another documentary. This chain of events is so common now that the presence of partisan docs is as easy to ignore as all the real campaign ads on television. Even one such film, about Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, would have passed under the radar if not for gaining a bit of controversy over the weekend. The film, Running with Arnold, is against the re-election of "The Governator" and has reportedly gone over the line as far as taste goes in order to attack the actor's qualifications for office.

One person who isn't happy with the finished product is its narrator, Alec Baldwin. He could sue the film makers after having gotten no cooperation from them regarding his request to be removed from the project or a cease and desist letter that he issued to them. On The Huffington Post, he wrote about his disapproval of the film, particularly the unfair association of Schwarzenegger with Nazis. He also says that the film makers can not accommodate his wishes because of a distribution deadline (I can't seem to find a release date for the film to back up this deadline, but seeing as how election day is in one week, I'm guessing it will play somewhere starting this Friday).