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Maidy Teitelbaum has one word to describe marking the quarter-century milestone with Cinemania’s 25th edition, Nov. 7 to 17.

“Unbelievable,” said the founder of Montreal’s festival of French films, all shown with English subtitles.

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“I don’t know where the time went. Every year, we just put on our boxing gloves and said, ‘Go out there and fight for the films, the guests and the venues.’ ”

It’s a rather specific concept, kind of brilliant in its simplicity: a festival that nods to Montreal’s and Quebec’s predominantly francophone reality, without excluding the anglophone minority.

Teitelbaum came up with the idea after attending a similar festival in Sarasota, Fla., of all places.

“They had French films with English subtitles,” she said. “Fabulous films.”

Teitelbaum notes that though she comes from an English-speaking family, French was all around her. She grew up in Outremont, and the family spent summers in Lac-Mégantic.