Paris at the movies

from 2 to 22 February 2007

'More than any other art, cinema has succeeded in glorifying Paris as both a movie set and a character, by painting a living portrait of the city, film after film. This is an idealized portrait, of course, and more often than not pure fantasy, but its power of suggestion has managed to rub off on reality: as they roam the streets, tourists visiting the city or even Parisians rediscovering their home turf are constantly reminded of images and scenes in films they have seen. From the Louis Feuillade to Jean-Luc Godard, from Marcel Carné’s classics to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie, from Arletty’s slang to Leslie Caron’s legs, it is this feeling that our programme aims to capture.'

N. T. Binh, author of Paris au cinéma: la vie rêvée de la capitale de Méliès à Amélie Poulain (Parigramme, Paris, 2003), and curator of the exhibition 'Paris on film' (Paris City Hall, March – June 2006)

Ciné lumière's three-week programme of Paris-set film comprises films from different eras and genres, and includes several screenings of silent films with live accompaniment, and  special evenings devoted to the films of Agnès Varda, Eric Rohmer and Jean Renoir, and to themes of the 'banlieue' and Paris under the Occupation.

Events

1 Feb > book launch: Talking of Love on the Edge of a Precipice a book by Boris Cyrulnik
2 Feb > Cine-Concert: Feuillade’s Les Vampires with Live Performance by Château Flight
3 Feb > film preview: Paris je t'aime

Cinema programme

For more information