From 21st to 29th May 2008 at the French Institute

Programme of the French Films and Events part of the Festival Mosaïques:

Wednesday 21st May:

6.30pm: Film: Shuga
Kazakhstan/France | 2007 | col | 85 mins | dir. Darejan Omirbaev, with Aïdos Sagatov, Aïnour Tourganbaeva | cert. 15 | UK Premiere
Love turns a woman’s life upside down in this contemporary adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. When Chouga learns that her brother has fallen into a deep depression due to his failing marriage, she returns to her hometown of Almaty to help him deal with his troubles. While there, Chouga meets Ablai, a handsome man several years her junior, and they begin an affair. Returning home to her husband, Chouga discovers she can’t go back to the life she once lived, and must face the dilemma Tolstoy’s heroine: should she stay or should she go?

Thursday 22nd May:

8.30pm: Titouan Lamazou
An evening with French artist, photographer and former solo navigator Titouan Lamazou. For his latest project, ‘Women of the World’, Lamazou made 15 three-month trips on five continents to record women’s stories in words and in images. The finished portraits (composed of sketches, paintings, landscape and portrait photographs arranged as large-scale collages) went on show last year at the Paris Musée de l’Homme and were collected in 50 four-minute profiles. A selection of these will be screened here alongside a documentary portrait of the artist, by way of introduction to the on-stage talk with the man itself.

Friday 23rd May:
 
8.30pm: Film: To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die (Pour Aller au Ciel Il faut Mourir)
Russia/France/Tajikistan/Germany/Switzerland | 2006 | col | 95 mins | dir. Djamshed Usmonov, with Khurshed Golibekov, Dinara Drukarova, Maruf Pulodzoda | cert. 15 | Preview Screening
Nineteen-year-old Kamal has been married to a beautiful girl his age for three months, but unable to consummate his marriage. Following his doctor’s advice to find an older woman who can cure him, he travels to the city and meets Vera, a lonely factory girl who brings him home. When her mafia-thug husband returns home earlier than expected, he decides to punish the teenager by taking him on a ‘night out’ which finally provides the jolt of masculinity Kamal’s been looking for, but in a dangerous and unexpected way... A vivid, surprising, coming-of-age tale perversely turned on its head.
Introduced by dir. Djmashed Usmonov

Saturday 24th May:

3.30pm: Slam session with Nevcherhirlian
Slam workshop led by Frédéric Nevcherhirlian, singer in the famous slam band Vibrion. Based around strong, dark contemporary poems with improvised or rock accompaniment, Nevcherhirlian’s slam is a real event. In French and English.
Free

6pm: Preview Screening: La Graine et le mulet (Couscous)
France | 2007 | col | 151 mins | dir. Abdellatif Kechiche, with Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Faridah Benkhetache, Abdelhamid Aktouche | cert. 15
Winner of the prestigious Louis Delluc prize and Best Picture and Best Director Césars, director Abdellatif Kechiche’s new film is an expansive ensemble comedy-drama set in the southern port of Sète, and centred on the North African dockside community. 61-year-old Slimane has been left demoralised after being laid off from his job of 35 years at the local shipyard. Deciding to pursue his long-cherished dream of opening a restaurant specialising in fish-and-couscous dishes (hence the grain and the mullet of the French title), he begins the considerable task of persuading those around him, including his family, that the venture has a future.
Followed by Q&A with dir. Abdellatif Kechiche

9.45pm - 1.00am: 10th Anniversary Mosaïques Party
With Dj Christine Indigo
Christine Indigo has actively DJed since coming to England from France in 1988. She has had numerous residencies including Fresh ‘n’ Funky (London),Temp (Madrid), Miles Ahaed ( Norway ), was part of the Soul Jazz Sound System for 5 years, worked and DJed for Strut Records as well as Uk Brazilian Label Far Out, and for the last 4 years she is head of commutations for the Jazz Cafe and one of their resident DJs. She regularly DJ with De La Soul, Horace Andy, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie, Janet Kay & Carrol Tompson, Public Enemy, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Terry Callier, The Skatalites and many more.

Sunday 25th May:

4.30pm: Film: L’Esquive
France | 2003 | col | 117 mins | dir. Abdellatif Kechiche, with Osman Alkharraz, Sara Forestier, Sabrina Ouazani, Nanou Benahmou, Hafet Ben-Ahmed, Aurélie Ganito, Carole Franck | cert. 12
Winner of four Césars in 2005, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Newcomer (Sara Forestier), Kechiche’s second feature was shot on location in the Parisian banlieue with a cast of non-professionals. 15-year-old Kimo is bored with life on his run-down estate, until he catches sight of a classmate, Lydia, rehearsing her lines for a school play, a production of Marivaux’s love story A Game of Love and Chance. Against all expectations (including his own), and risking the ridicule of his classmates, Kimo manages to get himself cast opposite Lydia in a bid to impress her.

7pm: Film: The Aquarium (Genenet Al Asmak)
Egypt, France, Germany | 2008 | col | 111 mins | dir. Yousry Nasrallah, with Hend Sabry, Amr Waked, Gamil Rateb, Bassem Samra, Ahmed El Fichawy, Dorra Zarouk | cert. 15 | UK Premiere
Veteran director Yousry Nasrallah’s latest film is an ambitious examination of repression – both sexual and political – in contemporary Cairo. Its two protagonists are observers rather than participants, taking a discreetly Olympian approach to other people’s problems: Laila is a late-night radio talk show host whose listeners talk about their most closely-guarded fantasies; Youssef is an anesthetist who enjoys listening to the things his patients mumble as they drift off into unconsciousness. By the end of the film, Laila and Youssef’s paths will finally cross in the visually suggestive aquarium gardens in Cairo.

Thursday 29th May:

8.30pm: Film: Andalucia
France | 2007 | col | 90 mins | dir. Alain Gomis, with Samir Guesmi, Delphine Zingg, Djolof Mbengue, Bass Dhem | cert. 12 | UK Premiere
French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis followed up his award-winning debut L’Afrance with this intimate study in identity loss, disenfranchisement and the search for inner peace centered on rootless 30-year-old Yacine, who abandons his family home on a run-down estate for life in a cramped trailer, a string of jobs that last for a day, and relationships that last a night.
Followed by Q&A with dir. Alain Gomis

Prices:
Single Film: £7, conc. £5; Double Bill: £9, conc. £7; La Graine et le mulet: £12, conc. £10
Concert: £7, conc. £5; La Graine et le mulet + concert: £15, conc. £12
Poetry slam: free
Party: free with a ticket to La Graine et le mulet; £5 party only

To Book tickets, call 020 7073 1350