MONTREAL — With his empire crumbling around him, embattled media tycoon Conrad Black commiserated with domestic diva Martha Stewart.

It didn't seem to help much, filmmakers Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine report in their new documentary Citizen Black, which has its premiere Saturday at the Montreal World Film Festival.

"He said that in these hard times, their Catholicism had served them well although he feels he's more of a practitioner than she was," Melnyk said Thursday of an e-mail message she received from Black describing the encounter.

He also said that unlike Stewart, who got five months in jail this year for lying about a stock sale, he's not going to prison.

"I thought it was funny because even when he's commiserating with Martha Stewart...he still had to say he's the better Catholic."

Citizen Black is the compelling portrait of the Montreal-born millionaire, tracking him from his youth through international wheeling and dealing to the recent collapse of his publishing empire.

Often laced with a healthy dose of humour, the film also chronicles Black's fascinating personal life and eccentricities, such as using words that send most people scrambling for their dictionaries.

His lavish lifestyle is front and centre as is his romance with wife Barbara Amiel, who the film says once decorated one of the couple's private jets to the tune of $3 million.

"We thought Conrad Black was the most flamboyant press baron Canada has ever had," said Melnyk in an interview. "He's kind of our own Charles Foster Kane. We thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something on a modern-day press baron."

His life is not unlike Citizen Kane, the famous film apparently based on the life of American press tycoon William Randolph Hearst, someone studied by Black as he made his own foray into newspapers.

Melnyk sees Black as a tragic figure, something he challenged in an e-mail to her with a terse "I do not believe that"' after he saw it reported.

"I do believe he is a tragic figure because this is a person who had so much to offer and is so knowledgeable and cultured and he could have done more than just make money," she said.

Black didn't want to co-operate with the filmmakers at first -- indeed, their interviews were mainly conducted when they ambushed him at book signings and other events.

When he did agree to a formal interview, it was the day before he was sacked as head of Hollinger International and it never happened.

But Black did strike up an e-mail correspondence with Melnyk as he answered her queries.

Don't confuse her with any of Black's buddies, however.

"I'm not hanging out with Conrad Black," she said with a laugh. "We're not friends. Whenever I e-mailed him, he would e-mail back his response."

The Toronto-based filmmakers are used to reluctant subjects.

Melnyk, who has worked for the CBC and NBC, gained acclaim for The Frank Truth, a look at the muckraking satirical magazine. Caine has worked for a variety of international news organizations and contributed to CBS' 60 Minutes.

Black, who stepped down as chief executive of U.S.-based Hollinger International in 2003, generally provokes a love-him-or-hate-him kind of response in people.

"When I started this documentary, I didn't have an agenda and I also didn't think one way or the other about Conrad Black," Melnyk said. "I wanted to make up my own mind as we made the documentary.

"Of course, my mind changed back and forth throughout the documentary and I'm still not quite sure what to think of Conrad Black."

Caine said Black is undoubtedly charismatic and intelligent.

"He wins you over with his charm, with his intellect, with his politeness. He's a very cordial man," Caine said. "But we always felt like we had to take a giant step back and look at what was not immediately in front of us."<

That included allegedly excessive management fees while he was at Hollinger and non-responsiveness to minority shareholders.

"He'd be a wonderful guy to have dinner with but you wouldn't necessarily want to invest in one of his companies," Caine said.

And he remains combative despite his troubles.

"As he keeps pointing out to us in e-mail, you can't count him out until the undertaker has told you he's gone."

Added Melynk: "`And when everyone finishes dancing on his grave, they'll find out it was empty', was the last thing he printed."

Melnyk said Black hasn't seen the film, which they plan to follow with a documentary on Michael Moore. The controversial director of Fahrenheit 9/11, which takes the Bush administration to task, has tentatively agreed to an interview.

"Kind of like Conrad Black," Melnyk observed. "Maybe Michael Moore and Conrad Black aren't that different."