A Rendez-vous with French Cinema

March 29th to April 1st

The Opening Gala on 29 March will feature Olivier Dahan’s biopic of iconic singer Edith Piaf’s dramatic life, LA VIE EN ROSE  (La Môme), featuring a remarkable performance by Marion Cotillard alongside Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Paul Rouve and Gérard Depardieu (released in May/June by Icon Film Distribution). After opening the Berlin Film Festival, the film is enjoying phenomenal critical and box office success in France.

For more information

Thursday 29th March

6.30pm

Opening Ceremony by invitation only, Screen 1 LA VIE EN ROSE La Môme

Friday 30th March

3.30pm	ECOUTE LE TEMPS, Screen 1 The screening will be followed by a Q&A
6.00pm	YOUNG EUROPEAN ACTORS, Screen 1 Presentation of young British and French actors TELL NO ONE, Screen 1 Ne le dis à personne The screening will be followed by a Q&A
9.30pm	DANS PARIS, Screen 1 The screening will be followed by a Q&A

Saturday 31st March

12.00pm	LA VIE EN ROSE, Screen 1 La Môme
3.15pm	NOT HERE TO BE LOVED, Screen 1 Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé The screening will be followed by a Q&A
4.00pm	SHORT FILMS PROGRAMME, Screen 2
5.45pm	PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES, Screen 1 Coeurs The screening will be followed by a Q&A
8.30pm	A FEW DAYS IN SEPTEMBER, Screen 1 Quelques jours en septembre The screening will be followed by a Q&A

Sunday 1st April

12.00pm	TRANSYLVANIA, Screen 1 The screening will be followed by a Q&A
3.00pm	LEGACY, Screen 1 L’Héritage The screening will be followed by a Q&A
3.30pm	FLANDERS, Screen 2 Flandres The screening will be followed by a masterclass with the director
5.30pm	THE SINGER, Screen 1 Quand j’étais chanteur The screening will be followed by a Q&A
8.15pm	MY BEST FRIEND, Screen 1 Mon meilleur ami The screening will be followed by a Q&A

LA VIE EN ROSE  La Môme

From Director Olivier Dahan comes the long awaited biopic of the legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf. Starring Marion Cotillard (A Good Year, A Very Long Engagement) in the lead role, this impressive film reveals the extraordinary life of one of the world’s greatest performers.

Directed by: Olivier Dahan
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Paul Rouve, Gérard Depardieu

ECOUTE LE TEMPS

Charlotte is a sound engineer whose mother is murdered one day in her house in the countryside. While listening to a recording just made in the house where the murder took place, Charlotte discovers a strange phenomenon - sounds from the past blend in with sounds from the present.

Directed by: Alanté Kavaité
Starring: Emilie Dequenne, Ludmila Mikael, Mathieu Demy

TELL NO ONE Ne le dis à personne

After his critically-acclaimed directorial debut Mon Idole (Whatever You Say), French actor Guillaume Canet now brings us TELL NO ONE, based on American writer Harlan Coben’s bestselling thriller.  Canet has rounded up a stellar cast, which includes Marie-Josée Croze, Kristen Scott-Thomas, Nathalie Baye, André Dussolier, Jean Rochefort, Marina Hands and Canet himself in a $20 million budget thriller featuring relentless suspense and breathtaking action.

TELL NO ONE picked up four of the most prestigious awards at this year’s Césars: Best Director (Guillaume Canet), Best Actor (François Cluzet), Best Original Music (Mathieu Chedid) and best editing (Hervé de Luze).

Directed by: Guillaume Canet
Starring: François Cluzet, Kristin Scott Thomas, André Dussollier, Marie- Josée Croze

DANS PARIS

Guillaume (Romain Duris) moves back in with his father in Paris following a failed love affair.  He soon refuses to leave his younger brother's (Louis Garrel) bedroom. His brother and his father try to comfort Guillaume in their own initimable ways....  

A freewheeling tribute to the glory days of the Nouvelle Vague.

Directed by: Christophe Honoré
Starring: Romain Duris, Louis Garrel, Guy Marchand, Joana Preiss

NOT HERE TO BE LOVED Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé

Jean-Claude is a world weary older man whose days are spent in the thankless job of a bailiff.  He took over the business from his father - a brusque, fault finding widower who tries the patience of the care workers in the rest home where his son dutifully visits him.  Enrolling on a tango course, Jean-Claude is approached by a beautiful younger woman...

A charming film which became a sleeper hit in France. 

Directed by: Stéphane Brizé
Starring: Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Georges Wilson

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES Coeurs

When not trying to find an apartment for his difficult clients, Thierry tries to charm his alluring but saintly co-worker, Charlotte.  She lends him a tape of her favourite religious TV programmme, but Thierry is in for a huge surprise....

Winner of the Silver Lion in Venice last year, this is a wonderful adaptation of an Alan Ayckbourn comedy of manners, the director has transposed the plot from London to Paris and from English into French culture. 

Directed by: Alain Resnais
Starring: Sabine Azéma, Lambert Wilson, André Dussollier, Isabelle Carré

A FEW DAYS IN SEPTEMBER Quelques jours en septembre

September the 1st, 2001. Elliot, an American C.I.A. agent holding top secret information on the immediate future of the world, disappears.

His sole aim is to meet his daughter Orlando that he abandoned ten years before. Irène, a French agent who used to work with him, and David, his adoptive son, will help him and lead the girl to her father.

Chased by William Pound, a psycho-poetry lover-killer, they will defy the dangers of international espionage from Paris to Venice… and finally get to Elliot on September the 11th.

Directed by: Santiago Amigorena
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Sara Forestier, Tom Riley, John Turturro, Nick Nolte

TRANSYLVANIA

Tony Gatlif moves beyond his adopted France to Transylvania in the heart of Romania, as he tells a story of an obsessive love and one woman’s search for her lover.

Directed by: Tony Gatlif
Starring: Asia Argento, Amira Casar, Birol Unel

LEGACY L’Heritage

After the success of 13 (Tzameti), award-winning director Gela Babluani teams up with his famous father for his next venture, LEGACY.  Also starring his brother Georges Bablyani, LEGACY tells the story of an old man and his grandson travelling to their enemy village, where the grandfather is to be sacrificed in order to put an end to the families’ rivalry.  Three young French people who meet them on the bus follow, in order to film the event…

Directed by: Gela Babluani, Temur Babluani
Starring: Sylvie Testud, Stanislas Merhar, Pascal Bongard, Georges Babluani

FLANDERS Flandres

The film tells the story of a group of young men, including local farmer Demester who go to fight in an unnamed war with brutal consequences. Juxtaposing rural images of their home village against the often savage and unrelenting landscape of war, the film charts familiar Dumont territory by offering a unique vision against a backdrop of an unconventional love story between Demester and his fragile sometime girlfriend Barbe.

Directed by: Bruno Dumont
Starring: Adélaïde Leroux, Samuel Boidin, Henri Cretel

THE SINGER Quand j’étais chanteur

Depardieu plays Alain, a small-time singer of the white-jacket-and-red-carnation school.  He's one of the dinosaurs that karaoke is making extinct.  Then he meets Marion (Cécile De France), an estate agent with her own emotional troubles.  What emerges is a wry tribute to the foot-soldiers of Gallic showbiz and a wonderfully disenchanted adult love story.

Directed by: Xavier Giannoli
Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Cécile de France, Mathieu Amalric, Christine Citti

MY BEST FRIEND Mon meilleur Ami

 

Catherine refuses to believe that her business partner, the unlikeable Francois (Daniel Auteuil, Caché), has a best friend, so she challenges him to set up an introduction. Scrambling to find someone to pose as his best pal, Francois enlists the services of a charming taxi driver (Boon) to play the part.

A charming and hilarious character study from the director of Ridicule, The Man On The Train and The Girl On The Bridge.

Directed by: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet