Foreign Language Films

Five Classics by French Director Claude Sautet to Premiere in NYC

Rialto Pictures will release five films, for the first time on DCP, by legendary French director Claude Sautet at New York’s Lincoln Plaza Cinemas the week of June 12-18, 2015.

Claude Sautet (1924-2000), who began his filmmaking career in the early 1950s assisting such directors as Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) and Jacques Becker (Touchez Pas Au Grisbi), first tasted success with the crime thriller Classe Tous Risques (1960), but was unfairly overlooked as the New Wave directors dominated French cinema.

After spending much of the 1960s as a screenwriter – and earning a reputation as a master “script doctor” – Sautet re-emerged as a director to watch. His collaborations with Austrian-born actress Romy Schneider, leading men Michel Piccoli and Yves Montand, screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie, and cinematographer Jean Boffety, yielded romantic, yet haunting, films that embodied the privileges and struggles of the French bourgeoisie following the political upheavals of the 1960s.The series features three of his collaborations with Schneider – Les Choses De La Vie (1970), the policier Max et Les Ferrailleurs (1971), and César and Rosalie (1972) – along with the rarely-seen Vincent, François, Paul and The Others (1974), starring Yves Montand, Michel Piccoli, and Gérard Depardieu, and Sautet’s final film, Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud (1995). All five films will have their U.S. premieres in new DCP format and are not available on Blu-ray or DVD.

LES CHOSES DE LA VIE (1970)

Runtime: 85 minutes
Cast: Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, Léa Massari

Winner, Prix Louis Delluc
Nominated, Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or

Pierre’s (Michel Piccoli) life flashes before his eyes following a car accident, focusing on his decision to leave his wife (Léa Massari) for a younger woman, Hélène (Romy Schneider).

MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS (1971)

Runtime: 112 minutes
Cast: Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, François Périer, Bernard Fresson

Max (Michel Piccoli) has only one thing on his mind: putting away criminals. When yet another bunch of professional criminals get away, Max unexpectedly runs into an old army buddy, Abel (Bernard Fresson), who has turned to a life of petty crime with a small band of hoodlums, the “ferrailleurs,” or junkmen, of the title. He hatches a plan to trick the group of amateurs into committing a major crime, using Abel’s girlfriend Lily (Romy Schneider) as unwitting bait.

CÉSAR AND ROSALIE (1972)

Runtime: 111 minutes
Cast: Romy Schneider, Yves Montand, Sami Frey

After her divorce, Rosalie (Romy Schneider) splits her time between her family and the wealthy César (Yves Montand). When David (Sami Frey), an old flame of Rosalie’s, appears, the two men battle each other for her affections.

VINCENT, FRANÇOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS (1974)

Runtime: 114 minutes
Cast: Yves Montand, Michel Piccoli, Serge Reggiani, Gérard Depardieu

Three friends, Vincent (Yves Montand), François (Michel Piccoli), and Paul (Serge Reggiani), confront problems in work, love, and money. Sautet presents an all-too-true snapshot of mid-life crises in middle-class France.

NELLY AND MONSIEUR ARNAUD (1995)

Runtime: 107 minutes
Cast: Emmanuelle Béart, Michel Serrault, Jean-Hugues Anglade

Winner, Prix Louis Delluc
Winner, César Award for Best Actor (Michel Serrault) and Best Director (Claude Sautet)

Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart) is behind on her rent and saddled with an unemployed and uninterested husband. When she meets Monsieur Arnaud (Michel Serrault), an older and wealthier man, Nelly sees a chance to escape from poverty and loneliness. Arnaud enlists her help with transcribing his memoirs and, as their unconventional relationship blossoms, barely-contained emotions threaten to break free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsWZaftED7A

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Vice and FilmBuff To Release Berlin Film Fest Hit “PRINCE”

FilmBuff in partnership with VICE Media will release in the U.S., PRINCE (PRINS), the feature debut from acclaimed Dutch music video director Sam de Jong. PRINCE first debuted at the 2015 Berlinale, where it received an honorary mention for the coveted Crystal Bear for Best First Feature. Produced by 100% Halal, PRINCE will be available in North America in theaters and all major VOD platforms starting August 14th, 2015.

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Sarah Polley’s STORIES WE TELL Among 4th All-Time Top Ten List of Canadian Films

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) today announced the results of its fourth Canada’s All-Time Top Ten List, an international poll of industry and academics‎ on the most memorable Canadian films. This is the fourth edition of TIFF’s All-Time Top Ten List; previous lists were released in 1984, 1993 and 2004. “In our 40th year we are celebrating our national cinema by revisiting the list of top Canadian films, with help from our esteemed colleagues in the industry and academia,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO, TIFF. “It is encouraging to see new filmmakers and films establishing themselves on the list alongside the classics.” “With more than a decade since our last survey, much has changed in Canadian cinema, and in the results of the survey,” said Steve Gravestock, Senior Programmer, TIFF. “Atanarjuat has dethroned the long-standing No. 1 film, Mon once Antoine, and we welcome filmmakers including Guy Maddin, Jean-Claude Lauzon, Sarah Polley and Jean-Marc Vallée to the list for the first time. It’s an exciting group of films indicative of our rich cinematic tradition.” Canada’s All-Time Top Ten List of Canadian films: 1. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Zacharias Kunuk (2001) 2. Mon oncle Antoine, Claude Jutra (1971) 3. The Sweet Hereafter, Atom Egoyan (1997) 4. Jésus de Montréal, Denys Arcand (1989) 5. Léolo, Jean-Claude Lauzon (1992) 6. Goin’ Down the Road, Don Shebib (1970) 7. Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg (1988) 8. C.R.A.Z.Y., Jean-Marc Vallée (2005) 9. My Winnipeg, Guy Maddin (2007) 10. Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley (2012) (pictured above)/Les Ordres, Michel Brault (1974) “The Directors Guild of Canada takes pride in shining the spotlight on our national cinema at every opportunity,” said Tim Southam, National President, DGC. “The filmmakers featured here have contributed much to our country’s cultural voice and history. It is inspiring to be able to experience them again with a new generation of viewers.”
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French documentary about Art during the Holocaust, BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER Sets US Release Date

BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER, a documentary film by Christophe Cognet, will be released in the US by Cinema Guild. BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER, an official selection at the Jerusalem Film Festival and other international film festivals, will open at Lincoln Plaza in New York City on April 24. A national release will follow. In 1945, when the Allies liberated the concentration camps, they discovered thousands of secretly created artworks. These drawings, hidden from the Nazis, offer an unparalleled understanding of life in the camps. Featuring interviews with surviving artists, curators, as well as recently uncovered evidence, this fascinating documentary considers the ability of art to capture, reflect and survive under unimaginable conditions. BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER explores a wide range of perspectives, from an artist who grapples with finding beauty in paintings of corpses to Treblinka survivor Samuel Willenberg who believes that the artworks can be nothing but inherently devoid of beauty. In addition to works intended as art, the film contemplates the role of alternative relics such as portraits of Romani victims killed by infamous Nazi physician Josef Mengele and paintings that were recreated years later because originals were lost or destroyed. The film looks at paintings, drawings, wash drawings, and sculptures held in collections in France, Germany, Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Belgium and Switzerland. While drifting among these fragments of clandestine images and the vestiges of the camps, BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER undertakes a sensitive quest amid faces, bodies and landscapes to explore the notion of art—and its preservation—as an atavistic necessity. http://vimeo.com/116290914
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Italian Mafia film BLACK SOULS Sets April 2015 Release Date in US

The Italian Mafia film BLACK SOULS (ANIME NERE) which wowed audiences at the 2014 Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, opens in NYC on April 10, and Los Angeles on April 23, with a nationwide release to follow. BLACK SOULS (“Anime Nere”) is described as a gripping morality tale of violence begetting violence in rural Calabria, that takes us on a journey into the dark and sinister world of the real-life mafia (‘Ndrangheta) in Southern Italy. Based upon the actual events described in Gioacchino Criaco’s novel of the same name, Black Souls vividly brings to life the inevitable tragic consequences when never-ending revenge and vendetta is passed down from generation to generation. The film focuses in on the Carbone family that consists of three brothers, Luigi (Marco Leonardi) & Rocco (Peppino Mazzotta) who are engaged in the family business of international drug trade, and Luciano (Fabrizio Ferracane) who has remained behind herding goats in their ancestral town of Africo in the remote Aspromonte mountains on the Ionic coast. Luciano’s 20-year old son Leo (Giuseppe Fumo) has little respect for his father’s simple ways and instead idealizes his two Mafioso uncles and their urban lifestyle. When Leo shoots up a local bar owned by a rival family, his reckless actions reignites a longstanding blood feud and sets off a tragic chain of events that violently grinds toward an inevitable bloody showdown for all involved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1LlGKQ92aU
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Russian film CHAGALL-MALEVICH US Release Date Set for June 2015

The Russian film CHAGALL-MALEVICH, directed by Alexander Mitta, will open at Cinema Village in New York on June 12 and at Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills and at Town Center 5 in Encino, CA on June 19. The artistic and political revolution of early 19th century Russia is mythologized in CHAGALL-MALEVICH, a magical period drama about the uneasy relationship between two artistic geniuses. Inspired by the memoirs of Marc Chagall and those of his contemporaries, the film blends fact and folklore to evoke the return of the iconic Jewish artist (portrayed by Leonid Bichevin “Cargo 200”) to his childhood home of Vitebsk. Having left behind immense success in Paris, Chagall returns to the Russian empire in 1917 in hope to marry the love of his life Bella Rosenfeld (Kristina Schneidermann); he produces copious paintings and establishes the Academy of Modern Art. A rivalry develops with abstract painter Kazimir Malevich (Anatoliy Belyy), invited to teach at the art school. As Bella rekindles a childhood friendship with military Red Commissar Naum (Semyon Shkalikov), Chagall competes for the affections of his muse and future wife. As the October Revolution sweeps across Russia, historical events intrude on personal struggles and upend the quiet provincial life in Vitebsk. Brimming with surrealistic imagery from the paintings of Chagall and Malevich (over 140 paintings were used in the film), this sumptuous melodrama marks veteran Russian filmmaker Alexander Mitta’s return after a decade-long hiatus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enaho11_x8Q
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24 DAYS, Based on True events of Kidnapping of a Jewish Man in Paris, Sets US Release Date

24 DAYS, winner of the Lia Award at the 2014 Jerusalem Film Festival and winner of the Audience Award at the 2014 Boston Jewish Film Festival, will open at the Quad Cinema in New York and at the Laemmle Music Hall in Los Angeles, as well as other cities on April 24th. The film will also be available through iTunes on the same day. Directed and produced by Alexandre Arcady, and based on a memoir written by the victim’s mother, the film chronicles the agonizing 24 days during which Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish cell-phone salesman, was held captive in Paris by a group of African and North African immigrants later known as the “Gang of Barbarians,” while his desperate family was subjected to blackmail. The events of Ilan Halimi’s kidnapping and murder sent shock waves through France and brought into focus the dangerous wave of anti-Semitism that is sweeping through France, a country that is home to Europe’s largest Jewish community. Friday January 20, 2006, 23-year old Ilan Halimi, targeted solely because he was Jewish, was kidnapped and taken to an apartment in the Bagneux neighborhood of Paris. There, he was held captive and tortured for three weeks before being dumped in a woodlot by his captors. Found motionless and naked by the railroad tracks at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, he wouldn’t survive his ordeal. In this film, Ruth Halimi, Ilan’s mother, revisits those 24 nightmarish days. 24 days in which she and her ex-husband Didier received nearly 700 calls, ransom demands that never ceased to change, insults, threats, photos of their tortured son… 24 days of anguish for a family waiting in silence and fear, hoping the Police could save their son. But Police Headquarters didn’t know who was responsible for his kidnapping. No one recognized in time the anti-Semitic hatred of his abductors, or that Ilan would lose his life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg4xo2pYRdI&feature=youtu.be
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Tsai Ming-liang’s Cult Classic REBELS OF THE NEON GOD to finally Get US Release

Tsai Ming-liang’s cult classic REBELS OF THE NEON GOD finally gets US Theatrical release; the film will open at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Quad Cinema in New York on April 10 and at the Nuart in Los Angeles on June 12. A national release will follow. Coinciding with the release of REBELS OF THE NEON GOD is a major eighteen-film retrospective of Tsai Ming-liang, featuring many rare 35mm prints, that will take place at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY from April 10–26, 2015. Tsai Ming-liang emerged on the world cinema scene in 1992 with his groundbreaking first feature, REBELS OF THE NEON GOD. His debut already includes a handful of elements familiar to fans of subsequent work: a deceptively spare style often branded “minimalist”; actor Lee Kang-sheng as the silent and sullen Hsiao-kang; copious amounts of water, whether pouring from the sky or bubbling up from a clogged drain; and enough urban anomie to ensure that even the subtle humor in evidence is tinged with pathos. The loosely structured plot involves Hsiao-kang, a despondent cram school student, who becomes obsessed with young petty thief Ah-tze, after Ah-tze smashes the rearview mirror of a taxi driven by Hsiao-kang’s father. Hsiao-kang stalks Ah-tze and his buddy Ah-ping as they hang out in the film’s iconic arcade (featuring a telling poster of James Dean on the wall) and other locales around Taipei, and ultimately takes his revenge. REBELS OF THE NEON GOD is a remarkably impressive first film that hints at the promise of its director: a talent confirmed by Tsai’s equally stunning second feature, VIVE L’AMOUR (Golden Lion, Venice), and continuing to his most recent film, STRAY DOGS, which ranked high on many “best of” lists last year. Though showing such diverse influences as the French New Wave, Wong Kar-wai’s early films—and, yes, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE—Tsai’s film is most remarkable for introducing his startlingly unique vision to world cinema. https://vimeo.com/121043079
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MARIE’S STORY, True Story of Marie Heurtin, Born Deaf and Blind, to Open in US

MARIE’S STORY, the award-winning historical biopic by Jean-Pierre Améris, will open in New York City on May 1 at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and in Los Angeles on May 29th at the Laemmle Royal, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center 5 in Encino. A national release will follow. MARIE’S STORY is based on true events of 14-year-old Marie Heurtin, born deaf and blind and thought to be unreachable, and her remarkable transformation as one dedicated nun (César Award-winner Isabelle Carré) commits to finding a way to communicate with her. At the turn of the 19th century, the daughter of a humble artisan and his wife is born deaf and blind and unable to communicate with the world around her. Desperate to find a connection to young Marie and avoid sending her to an asylum, the Heurtins send her to the Larnay Institute in central France, where an order of Catholic nuns manage a school for deaf girls. There, the idealistic Sister Marguerite sees in Marie a unique potential, and despite her Mother Superior’s skepticism, vows to bring the wild young thing out of the darkness into which she was born. MARIE’S STORY recounts the courageous journey of a young nun and the lives she would change forever, confronting failures and discouragement with joyous faith and love. Headlined by a commendable debut performance from newcomer Ariana Rivoire, herself born deaf, MARIE’S STORY highlights the best of the human spirit and its potential for greatness despite incredible barriers. Years before Helen Keller emerged as an icon for the deafblind community, Sister Marguerite, portrayed with grace and patience by Carré, found in Marie Heurtin a young woman with emotions and aspirations, and gave her a voice with which to express both. Born in 1885 and brought to the Larnay Institute as a young girl, Marie Heurtin arrived disheveled and incommunicative. She knew how to bang her tin fork and plate together in order to ask for food, but not much else. Sister Marguerite, herself suffering health issues she kept hidden from her charges, worked tirelessly to make a connection for Marie between the object in her hands and the sign for it. Once she learned the word for “knife,” Marie quickly caught on to all concept of language and expression; with Sister Marguerite’s help, she even learned abstract constructs like old and young, life and death. Marie would live the rest of her days at the Institute, which is still in existence today, where she learned to sew and read Braille and eventually became a tutor and inspiration to other students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HG-bDNEumw
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2015 Berlin Film Fest Winner TAXI to be Released in the US

Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, winner of the Golden Bear and the Fipresci International Critic’s Prize at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival is headed to the US. Kino Lorber will release the film in theaters in the Fall.

In the film, a yellow cab is driving through the vibrant and colorful streets of Tehran. Very diverse passengers enter the taxi, each candidly expressing their views while being interviewed by the driver who is no one else but the director Jafar Panahi himself. His camera placed on the dashboard of his mobile film studio captures the spirit of Iranian society through this comedic and dramatic drive…

Panahi is an award-winning filmmaker, with his debut film The White Balloon winning the Caméra d’Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, The Mirror won the Golden Leopard at the 1997 Locarno International Film Festival, The Circle won the Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, and the Offside earned him the Silver Bear for best director at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival.

Panahi was sentenced to a six-year jail sentence in 2010 and a 20-year ban on directing any movies, writing screenplays, giving any form of interview with Iranian or foreign media, or from leaving the country except for medical treatment or going to Hajj pilgrimage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl0UJLTtWjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l83idpxvl-I

via: variety
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Award Winning MAY ALLAH BLESS FRANCE! To Be Released in US

Celebrated rapper and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik directorial debut, May Allah Bless France!, a candid account of his early life and artistic awakening that earned him the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, will be released in the U.S. in the Fall by Strand Releasing. May Allah Bless France! will screen at the upcoming 2015 Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema series, taking place March 6 – 15. Born Régis Fayette-Mikano to Congolese immigrants, Abd Al Malik grew up in Strasbourg’s housing projects, participating in petty crimes that cost the lives of his friends. He found release in writing and performance, converting to Sufism at age 24 and penning the memoir that informed this adaptation. Marc Zinga ably inhabits the role of young Régis, movingly limning his journey to redemption. Shot in black and white, the film visually and thematically recalls Mathieu Kassovitz’s seminal urban crime drama La Haine. Nominated for two César Awards including Best Debut Feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCDoTuxw_Ec
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Rendez-Vous with French Cinema to Showcase French Films in NYC

3 Hearts / 3 Coeurs

The 20th Anniversary of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance films’ annual showcase of the best in contemporary French film, will run March 6-15, 2015, in New York City.

The Opening Night selection features the return of master filmmaker Benoît Jacquot and the U.S. premiere of 3 Hearts, a touching and tense drama about destiny, connections, and passion surrounding a classic love triangle between Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Nymphomaniac, Melancholia), and Chiara Mastroianni (Persepolis). Director Quentin Dupieux (Rubber) will close the festival with his latest film, Reality, a comedy shot in Los Angeles that stars the hilarious French veteran Alain Chabat with Eric Wareheim and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), and features Philip Glass’s Music with Changing Parts. The film weaves together the journeys of an 8-year-old girl who finds a mysterious VHS tape, a failed filmmaker shooting his first horror movie, and a culinary TV host who loses his self-confidence because of an imaginary skin disease.

The 20th Anniversary edition of the festival will also introduce audiences to new voices, including the debut feature from Stéphane Demoustier, 40-Love, starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi; Young Tiger marks the inaugural feature of Cyprien Vial, having written and directed four short subjects (including Cannes prizewinner In Range); actress Lucie Borleteau makes her feature directing debut with Fidelio, Alice’s Odyssey, with Greek actress Ariane Labed (Attenberg, Before Midnight), who won Best Actress at Locarno, starring opposite Melvil Poupoud (Time to Leave, Broken English) and Anders Danielsen Lie (Oslo, August 31st); celebrated rapper and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik makes his directorial debut with May Allah Bless France!, a candid account of his early life and artistic awakening, shot in black and white, that earned him the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and two Cesar nominations; and SK1, director Frédéric Tellier’s suspenseful feature debut starring frequent Dardennes collaborator Olivier Gourmet, Christa Théret (star of Rendez-Vous 2013’s Renoir), Raphaël Personnaz (star of Rendez-Vous 2014’s The French Minister), and four-time César winner Nathalie Baye.

Award winners are well represented throughout the lineup, including Hippocrates, the second feature from director Thomas Lilti, which received seven César nominations; the gritty Party Girl, which took home two awards at Cannes (including the Camera d’Or) and was a standout in Un Certain Regard; the debut feature from Thomas Cailley, Love at First Fight, a triple winner at last year’s Cannes, where it played in the Directors’ Fortnight and also just received nine César nominations; and Wild Life, directed by Cédric Kahn (Red Lights), which received a special jury prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS

Opening Night
3 Hearts / 3 Coeurs
Benoît Jacquot, France/Germany/Belgium, 2014, DCP, 106m
French with English subtitles
While traveling through a small provincial town, reserved and melancholic Parisian Marc (Benoît Poelvoorde, Man Bites Dog) meets by chance Sylvie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a mysterious and beautiful stranger. The two spend a magical night together and fall madly in love. Without exchanging names or information, they agree to meet by a fountain in Paris, à la An Affair to Remember—but as in that classic tearjerker, fate conspires against them. Thinking herself jilted, Sylvie returns to her past life, whereupon Marc meets and woos Sophie (Chiara Mastroianni)—blissfully unaware that she’s Sylvie’s sister. Benoît Jacquot, whose Farewell, My Queen was a highlight of Rendez-Vous 2012, directs this romantic and tragic roundelay, co-starring the luminous Catherine Deneuve (Mastroianni’s mother on-screen and off-). A Cohen Media Group release. U.S. Premiere

Closing Night
Reality / Réalité
Quentin Dupieux, France/Belgium, 2014, DCP, 102m
French and English with English subtitles
Quentin Dupieux, the architect of Rubber (which, in case you missed it, was about a sentient, murderous tire), lets his imagination take flight again, resulting in a multi-threaded Lynchian house of mirrors. The only “reality” on view here is a little girl by that name (Kyla Kenedy) who finds a VHS tape inside the carcass of a boar her father is planning to stuff. Meanwhile, the cameraman (Alain Chabat) of a show hosted by a man in a bear suit (Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite himself) needs to record the perfect scream for his pet project, a film about killer TVs. You won’t want to miss this unique and hilarious reverie—much more than the sum of its quirks—featuring Philip Glass’s Music with Changing Parts, a perfect sonic analog to Dupieux’s ineffable vision. An IFC Midnight release.

40-Love / Terre battue
Stéphane Demoustier, France/Belgium, 2014, DCP, 95m
French with English subtitles
When Jérôme (Olivier Gourmet), a fiftyish department-store sales manager, loses his job, and his wife Laura (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) leaves him for another man, all he has left are his pipe dreams and his son Ugo (first-time actor Charles Mérienne). Though only 11 years old, Ugo already shows great promise as a tennis pro, with a trainer eager to recruit him. Jerome cares for Ugo’s auspicious career only grudgingly until a startling development forces him to rethink his priorities. Playing another of his harried “ordinary men,” Gourmet brings trademark authenticity to a role that (like the film’s tennis-entendre English title) skirts both silliness and melancholy. Thanks to his efforts and the preternaturally confident young Mérienne, this first feature by Stéphane Demoustier clears the net on every serve.

Breathe / Respire
Mélanie Laurent, 2014, France, DCP, 91m
French with English subtitles
Internationally acclaimed actress Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) follows up her 2011 feature directorial debut, The Adopted, with a perceptive account of high-school angst and obsession. Shy 17-year-old Charlie (Joséphine Japy) becomes fast friends with Sarah (Lou de Laâge), a new arrival in their school. The outgoing Sarah coaxes Charlie out of her shell and becomes a fixture in her home, but when the two go on holiday together their relationship turns sour. Laurent trusts her gifted young stars with challenging long takes and they reward her faith in abundance. Featuring César winner Isabelle Carré (Beautiful Memories) as Charlie’s dysfunctional mother, Breathe echoes Blue Is the Warmest Color in broad strokes but paints its own striking portrait of youthful ardor and codependency. Nominated for two César Awards.

The Connection / La French
Cédric Jimenez, France, 2014, DCP, 135m
French with English subtitles
Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) plays radically against type in this gripping thriller from the files of the same criminal ring that inspired William Friedkin’s classic The French Connection. Dujardin is Pierre Michel, a Marseilles magistrate who dedicates himself to apprehending fearsome heroin czar Gaetano Zampa (Gilles Lellouche, Little White Lies). As in the policiers by Jean-Pierre Melville that it evokes, the principled antagonists of The Connection are two sides of a coin, more like one another than the rats in their respective organizations. Director Cédric Jimenez uses late-70s music and fashion to resurrect the disco-age backdrop against which their vendetta played out. Though highlighted by Dujardin’s Delon-esque turn, the all-star French cast includes Benoît Magimel (Isabelle Huppert’s pupil/pursuer in The Piano Teacher), and the luminous Céline Sallette (House of Pleasures) as Pierre Michel’s wife. Nominated for two César Awards. A Drafthouse Films release. U.S. Premiere

Eat Your Bones / Mange tes morts
Jean-Charles Hue, France, 2014, DCP, 94m
French with English subtitles
After his documentary/fiction hybrid debut The Lord’s Ride, which portrayed the gypsy communities of northern France, director Jean-Charles Hue reunited several of that film’s nonprofessional stars to tell the story of another Romani family. Eighteen-year-old Jason (Jason François), on the verge of baptism, finds his values tested when half-brother Fred (Frédéric Dorkel) returns from a 15-year prison stint anything but rehabilitated. The two, along with a third brother and a cousin, team up to steal a truckload of copper, but they prove to be inept criminals and unstable partners. For this dynamic and absorbing glimpse at an underrepresented culture, Hue received the 2014 Prix Jean Vigo, awarded annually to one director by the Cinema of France “for their spirit of independence and extraordinary style.” U.S. Premiere

Fidelio, Alice’s Odyssey / Fidelio, l’odyssée d’Alice
Lucie Borleteau, France, 2014, DCP, 97m
French, Romanian, Tagalog, Norwegian, and English with English subtitles
Actress Lucie Borleteau makes her feature directing debut with this insightful study of a woman situated in an almost exclusively male milieu. Sailor Alice (Ariane Labed) joins the freighter Fidelio as a replacement engineer, soon discovering that the captain, Gaël (Melvil Poupaud), is a man with whom she was once romantically involved. Though she leaves behind a fiancé on land (Anders Danielsen Lie, Oslo, August 31st), she finds her feelings for Gaël have not abated. Buttressed by a remarkable international cast, Fidelio, Alice’s Odyssey presents a rounded portrait of a passionate woman faced with difficult choices. Greek actress Labed won Best Actress at Locarno for her memorable performance. Nominated for two César Awards including Best Debut Feature.

Gaby Baby Doll
Sophie Letourneur, France, 2014, DCP, 88m
French with English subtitles
As the awkward, insecure bubbly Gaby, Lolita Chammah (Farewell, My Queen) suggests a Gallic Greta Gerwig in one of her not-quite-formed-adult roles. Upon arriving in the country, she’s promptly discarded by her boyfriend, and as solitude is not an option, the companionship-starved Gaby seeks out a replacement. She finds it in Nicolas (Benjamin Biolay), a seemingly hirsute vagabond whose shack she invites herself to share. Director Sophie Letourneur’s follow-up to 2012’s Les coquillettesis a tentative pastoral romance filled with endearing neuroses and an organically unpredictable plot, charming and moving in its investigation of why it is that some simply cannot bear to be alone. North American Premiere

Hippocrates / Hippocrate
Thomas Lilti, France, 2014, DCP, 102m
French with English subtitles
Following up his debut feature, 2007’s Les yeux bandés, Thomas Lilti takes us inside a Paris hospital—an environment he knows well, being a practicing doctor himself. Novice doctor Benjamin (Vincent Lacoste), interning in his father’s ward, makes a rookie mistake that costs a patient his life. The administration quickly covers up his wrongdoing, but the dead man’s wife begins asking questions and Benjamin’s overworked colleagues resent his nepotism. Reda Kateb (A Prophet, Zero Dark Thirty) provides the film’s moral center as Abdel, a skilled physician forced to work as an intern due to his immigrant status, struggling mightily and alone to place patient welfare ahead of staff impunity. Recalling both Arthur Hiller’sThe Hospital in its cynical view of the profession and Maïwenn’s Polisse in its tough depiction of state institutions, Lilti’s biting dramedy posits that “Hippocratic” and “hypocrite” share more than linguistic affinities. Nominated for seven César Awards including Best Film. A Distrib Films release. North American Premiere

In the Courtyard / Dans la cour
Pierre Salvadori, France, 2014, DCP, 97m
French with English subtitles
National treasure Catherine Deneuve sinks her teeth into the role of Mathilde, a former social worker inhabiting an upscale apartment with her husband Serge (Féodor Atkine). When slovenly musician Antoine (Gustave Kervern) applies by chance for a caretaker job in their building, Mathilde insists Serge hire him, despite his rough manners and lack of qualifications. An unlikely friendship develops between the depressed custodian and the elegant retiree, whose dependence on Antoine increases as her grasp on reality begins to slip. Best known for light comedies like Après Vous, director Pierre Salvadori handles the shifts in tone adroitly, abetted by nuanced turns from Kervern (himself a director) and the always masterful Deneuve in a César Award-nominated performance. A Cohen Media Group release. North American Premiere

In the Name of My Daughter / L’Homme qu’on aimait trop
André Téchiné, France, 2014, DCP, 116m
French with English subtitles
André Téchiné, whose previous film Unforgivable was a Rendez-Vous 2012 selection, returns with another penetrating psychological drama. In 1976 Nice, young divorcee Agnès Le Roux (Adèle Haenel) falls for shady lawyer Maurice Agnelet (Tell No One director Guillaume Canet), allowing him to manipulate her into handing the casino run by her mother, Renée (Catherine Deneuve), over to the mob. The subsequent disappearance of Agnès and Maurice’s emigration to Panama with her money convinces Renée that he has murdered her, and so she swears to see justice served. Téchiné’s atmospheric recounting of the real-life Affaire Le Roux features a regal turn from Deneuve and further evidence of Haenel’s immense versatility and remarkable talent. A Cohen Media Group release. North American Premiere

Love at First Fight / Les Combattants
Thomas Cailley, 2014, France, DCP, 98m
French with English subtitles
A triple winner at last year’s Cannes, where it played in the Directors’ Fortnight, Love at First Fight offers a warm and refreshing coming-of-age story. Easygoing and naïve Arnaud (Kévin Azaïs) plans to spend the summer helping his brother in the family carpentry business. But when he meets Madeleine (Adèle Haenel), a steely young woman determined on the harshest military service and preoccupied with visions of the apocalypse, he adoringly follows her to boot camp. Thomas Cailley’s first feature may feel unmistakably familiar, yet it offers two alluring and empathetic protagonists (portrayed by equally likable actors), well-wrought humor, and gorgeous cinematography by David Cailley (the director’s brother). Nominated for nine César Awards including Best Film. A Strand Releasing release.

May Allah Bless France! / Qu’Allah bénisse la France!
Abd Al Malik, France, 2014, DCP, 95m
French with English subtitles
Celebrated rapper and spoken word artist Abd Al Malik makes his directorial debut with May Allah Bless France!, a candid account of his early life and artistic awakening that earned him the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Born Régis Fayette-Mikano to Congolese immigrants, he grew up in Strasbourg’s housing projects, participating in petty crimes that cost the lives of his friends. He found release in writing and performance, converting to Sufism at age 24 and penning the memoir that informed this adaptation. Marc Zinga ably inhabits the role of young Régis, movingly limning his journey to redemption. Shot in black and white, the film visually and thematically recalls Mathieu Kassovitz’s seminal urban crime drama La Haine. Nominated for two César Awards including Best Debut Feature.

Métamorphoses
Christophe Honoré, France, 2014, DCP, 102m
French with English subtitles
Perhaps the most ambitious undertaking in this year’s Rendez-Vous, Métamorphoses brings to the screen reimagined tales from Ovid’s magnum opus. The narrative poem, which interweaves mythology with a history of Roman civilization, is transplanted to present-day France, where Jupiter (Sébastien Hirel) absconds with schoolgirl Europa (newcomer Amira Akili). Nestled within their courtship are interludes with Narcissus, Orpheus, and Bacchus, and humans repeatedly changed into animals. Stylist Christophe Honoré (director of the musical melodrama Love Songs, a Rendez-Vous 2008 selection) renders scenes of breathtaking natural beauty and, as befits the gods’ dalliances with mortals, near-constant eroticism. A cinematic experience like no other. North American Premiere

My Friend Victoria / Mon amie Victoria
Jean-Paul Civeyrac, France, 2014, DCP, 95m
French with English subtitles
Based on the story “Victoria and the Staveneys” by Nobel laureate (and oft-filmed author) Doris Lessing, My Friend Victoriarelocates its black London heroine to contemporary Paris while retaining her essential, puppet-like passivity. As an 8-year-old orphan, Victoria (Keylia Achie Beguie) is taken into the home of a white bourgeois family for a single night, fueling her dreams of comfort and privilege for the rest of her life. As an adult (now beautifully played by Guslagie Malanda), she reconnects with the youngest son of her host family, bearing his child after a brief affair. All the while she drifts from job to job, independent yet lacking focus—except for that one night from her childhood and its revelations. Director Jean-Paul Civeyrac manages a treatise on race and class that’s subtle, moving, and refreshingly non-didactic, refusing to reduce the characters to symbols or dilute the richness of Lessing’s prose. North American Premiere

Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart / La Prochaine fois je viserai le coeur
Cédric Anger, France, 2014, DCP, 111m
French with English subtitles
Cédric Anger, once a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma, wrote and directed this chilling chronicle of notorious serial killer Alain Lamare (here renamed Franck Neuhart and played by Guillaume Canet). In a truly mordant twist, while Lamare was terrorizing France in the winter of 1978-79, he was also an outstanding gendarme tasked with apprehending the killer. His victims were all helpless young women, whom he stalked and shot while trying to start a love affair with his pretty cleaning lady (Ana Girardot). Anger follows in the footsteps of Friedkin and Fincher in divesting all glamour from crime, instead showing the dead ends that vex the crime fighters and the dark souls that plague the criminals. The evocative period soundtrack includes Johnny Thunders and The Velvet Underground. Nominated for two César Awards.

Party Girl
Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Claire Burger & Samuel Theis, France, 2014, DCP, 96m
French with English subtitles
Angélique (Angélique Litzenburger) is a sixtyish eccentric hostess living in a small room above a bar in Lorraine. For decades she’s worked for drinks and tips but she clearly loves this flamboyant unconventional way of life. One night, smitten customer Michel (Joseph Bour) proposes marriage. This could be a way out of her unsustainable lifestyle—but is she suited to domesticity? Moreover, is she prepared to reunite with her four children, all from past relationships, including a 16-year-old daughter who grew up in foster care? Inspired by the sudden wedding of actress Litzenburger, mother to co-director Theis, the gritty slice-of-life Party Girl took home two awards at Cannes (including the Camera d’Or), where it was a standout in Un Certain Regard. Nominated for two César Awards including Best Debut Feature. U.S. Premiere

Portrait of the Artist / Le dos rouge
Antoine Barraud, France, 2014, DCP, 127m
French with English subtitles
Renowned director Bertrand Bonello (House of Pleasures and Saint Laurent, as well as the subject of a retrospective at the Film Society this May) stars as “Bertrand,” a filmmaker approaching his next project with a peculiar obsession—monstrosity. Convinced it should be the central theme of his film, he fixates on the notion of monstrous imagery, visiting museums and even hiring a mysterious art historian (played simultaneously by Jeanne Balibar and Géraldine Pailhas) to help him find the painting that best embodies the idea (considering works by Francis Bacon, Caravaggio, and others). But to his shock, the mania consuming his mind begins to manifest itself in his body as a monstrous red stain takes shape on his back. A disquieting yet fascinating (and funny!) mixture of body horror and character study, co-starring Barbet Schroeder as a physician and Joana Preiss as Bertrand’s wife Barbe. North American Premiere

SK1 / L’Affaire SK1
Frédéric Tellier, France, 2014, DCP, 120m
French with English subtitles
The multi-year hunt, arrest, and trial of serial killer Guy Georges is the subject of director Frédéric Tellier’s suspenseful feature debut, based on Patricia Tourancheau’s harrowing work of nonfiction, Guy Georges: La Traque. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for the murder of seven women, Georges (Adama Niane) was described by psychiatrists as “a narcissistic psychopath” and nicknamed The Beast of the Bastille. With great sophistication, Tellier renders the police’s dogged (though often clumsy) pursuit of Georges in all of its shocking twists and menacing turns. Featuring frequent Dardennes collaborator Olivier Gourmet, Christa Théret (star of Rendez-Vous 2013’s Renoir), Raphaël Personnaz (star of Rendez-Vous 2014’s The French Minister), and four-time César winner Nathalie Baye. U.S. Premiere

Stubborn / Une histoire américaine
Armel Hostiou, France, 2015, DCP, 85m
French and English with English subtitles
Experimental filmmaker and video artist Armel Hostiou expands his 2013 short Kingston Avenue into his second feature film (after 2011’s Day), a story about the steps we’ll take and the lies we tell ourselves in the name of love. Artist Barbara (Kate Moran) tires of her (very) brief relationship with Vincent (Vincent Macaigne) and leaves him behind in Paris. But the resolute Vincent follows her to America, determined to win back her affections. Shot in New York in wintertime and featuring daytime soap veteran and star of HBO’s Looking Murray Bartlett as Barbara’s new love interest, Stubborn, like its hero, is unabashedly romantic, utterly captivating, and often uncomfortably hilarious. North American Premiere

Wild Life / Vie sauvage
Cédric Kahn, Belgium/France, 2014, DCP, 102m
French with English subtitles
Carole and Philippe (Céline Sallette and Mathieu Kassovitz), tired of propriety and consumerism, opt to renounce civilization and live off the land. Calling themselves Nora and Paco, they lead a nomadic life in their caravan, gradually adding children to the mix. But when Nora tires of their itinerant lifestyle and gains custody of their sons, Philippe refuses to allow his progeny to be raised according to the societal codes he abhors. What follows is the riveting true story (based on the case of Xavier Fortin) of a father’s reckless but all-consuming love, directed by Cédric Kahn, whose underrated thriller Red Lightsalso portrayed a husband driven to extremes. Kassovitz gives the performance of his career while Sallette is extraordinary as the desperate mother fighting to reunite with her sons. The film received a special jury prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. North American Premiere

Young Tiger / Bébé tigre
Cyprien Vial, France, 2014, DCP, 87m
French with English subtitles
Young Tiger marks the inaugural feature of Cyprien Vial, having written and directed four short subjects (including Cannes prizewinner In Range). Here he relates the experiences of eager and touching Punjabi teenager Many (Harmandeep Palminder), in France to pursue his education, torn between his desire to establish a life in his new country and the pressure to send money back home. Skipping school and forced to take illegal and dangerous jobs that pay him under the table, he finds himself on a slippery slope into criminal activity, while deceiving his girlfriend, Elisabeth (Elisabeth Lando), and his foster family. Basing his film on first- and secondhand experiences, Vial tells a story both particular to the Indian diaspora and universal to the plight of immigrants being pulled in all directions.

Shorts Program

The Smallest Apartment in Paris / Le Plus petit appartement de Paris
Hélèna Villovitch, France, 2014, DCP, 15m
French with English subtitles
Carla and François are forced to share a 16 square meter studio in this whimsical sketch addressing the housing crisis that all urban dwellers are sure to identify with. North American Premiere

Back Alley / Le Contre-allée
Cécile Ducrocq, France, 2014, DCP, 29m
French with English subtitles
A streetwalker since the age of 15, Suzanne finds her livelihood threatened by the arrival of African prostitutes on her turf in this heartbreaking winner of the Small Golden Rail prize at Cannes.

The Space / Espace
Eléonor Gilbert, France, 2014, DCP, 14m
French with English subtitles
A young girl wants to play soccer at recess but schoolyard sexism prevents it. So, with pencil and paper, she charts her grievances, urging her peers to take back the playground. U.S. Premiere

Extrasystole
Alice Douard, France, 2013, DCP, 35m
French with English subtitles
When student Raphaëlle, subject to cardiac contractions, meets enigmatic teacher Adèle, it’s not just her condition that makes her heart skip a beat.
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