BREATHE, described as a taut coming-of-age tale of the depths and escalating passions in female friendships, and starring talented newcomers Joséphine Japy and Lou De Laâge as two young girls whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark and dangerous turn, will open at the IFC Center in New York on September 11th, and at the Laemmle Royal in LA on September 18th. A national release will follow.
BREATHE is the second feature by actress-turned-director Mélanie Laurent ( Inglorious Basterds, Beginnings ), and her assured adaptation of the French young-adult novel of the same name.
Charlie (Joséphine Japy) is seventeen and bored. Her estranged parents are too caught up in their own drama to pay much attention to her. School holds no surprises either and Charlie grows tired of her staid friends. Enter Sarah (Lou De Laâge), a hip new transfer student who brings with her an alluring air of boldness and danger. The two girls form an instant connection. Sarah brings the excitement Charlie so desperately seeks, and Charlie is a stable influence on the wild child. Through shared secrets, love interests and holiday getaways, their relationship deepens to levels of unspoken intimacy, which eventually leads to jealousy and unrealistic expectations, and the teens soon find themselves on a trajectory toward a jarring outcome.
Already well-known as an actress in her native France, Mélanie Laurent ’s international breakthrough was her portrayal of Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Breathe (2015)
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French Coming of Age Film BREATHE Gets US Release Date
BREATHE, described as a taut coming-of-age tale of the depths and escalating passions in female friendships, and starring talented newcomers Joséphine Japy and Lou De Laâge as two young girls whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark and dangerous turn, will open at the IFC Center in New York on September 11th, and at the Laemmle Royal in LA on September 18th. A national release will follow.
BREATHE is the second feature by actress-turned-director Mélanie Laurent ( Inglorious Basterds, Beginnings ), and her assured adaptation of the French young-adult novel of the same name.
Charlie (Joséphine Japy) is seventeen and bored. Her estranged parents are too caught up in their own drama to pay much attention to her. School holds no surprises either and Charlie grows tired of her staid friends. Enter Sarah (Lou De Laâge), a hip new transfer student who brings with her an alluring air of boldness and danger. The two girls form an instant connection. Sarah brings the excitement Charlie so desperately seeks, and Charlie is a stable influence on the wild child. Through shared secrets, love interests and holiday getaways, their relationship deepens to levels of unspoken intimacy, which eventually leads to jealousy and unrealistic expectations, and the teens soon find themselves on a trajectory toward a jarring outcome.
Already well-known as an actress in her native France, Mélanie Laurent ’s international breakthrough was her portrayal of Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, for which she shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast with her co-stars. Her numerous credits include Beginners in which she played Ewan McGregor’s girlfriend, the Golden Globe-nominated film The Concert, and Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Ms. Laurent will next be seen in the Angelina Jolie-directed film By the Sea, co-starring Ms. Jolie and Brad Pitt, as well as in French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s Eternité. Her next directorial effort is Demain, a documentary about the environment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXncAEif-zY
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LEARNING TO DRIVE Wins Top Award at 2015 Provincetown International Film Festival
LEARNING TO DRIVE directed by Isabel Coixet won the HBO Audience Award / Best Narrative Feature, and PACKED IN A TRUNK: THE LOST ART OF EDITH LAKE WILKINSON directed by Michelle Boyaner won the HBO Audience Award / Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF).
In LEARNING TO DRIVE, starring Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kinsley, a recently divorced book editor, on a path to self-sufficiency, and her driving instructor, a soft-spoken taxi driver from India on the verge of an arranged marriage, connect over their mutual anxieties.
In 1924 artist Edith Lake Wilkinson was committed to an asylum and never heard from again.PACKED IN A TRUNK: THE LOST ART OF EDITH LAKE WILKINSON follows Edith’s great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, on her journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith’s buried life.
The complete list of awards and winners of the 2015 Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF)
– HBO Audience Award / Best Narrative Feature: LEARNING TO DRIVE directed by Isabel Coixet
– HBO Audience Award / Best Documentary Feature: PACKED IN A TRUNK: THE LOST ART OF EDITH LAKE WILKINSON directed by Michelle Boyaner
– The John Schlesinger Award, presented to a first time documentary and narrative feature filmmaker: BREATHE, directed by Mélanie Laurent (narrative) and OUTERMOST RADIO directed by Alan Chebot (documentary)
– HBO Short Documentary Award: THE FACE OF UKRAINE: CASTING OKSANA BAIUL directed by Kitty Green
– Jury Award / Best Narrative Short Film: MYRNA THE MONSTER directed by Ian Samuels
– Jury Award / Best Animated Short Film: SYMPHONY NO. 42 directed by Réka Bucsi
– Jury Award / Best New England Short Film: AWESOME_FCK directed by Isaak James
– Jury Award / Student Short Film: SHARE directed by Pippa Bianco
The Short Film Jury consisted of documentary filmmaker Jeff Dupre, producer Laura Heberton and Mark Elijah Rosenberg, founder and artistic director of Rooftop Films.
The festival also announced the dates for next year’s event as June 15-19, 2016.
Bobcat Goldthwait was presented with the 2015 Filmmaker on the Edge Award in conversation with PIFF resident artist John Waters at Town Hall on Saturday night. Jennifer Coolidge received the Faith Hubley Career Achievement Award in conversation with film critic and professor B. Ruby Rich.
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Atlanta Film Festival Announces Competition Feature Lineup
God Bless the Child The 39th annual Atlanta Film Festival taking place March 20-29, 2015, announced the competitive lineups in the narrative and documentary feature categories.
“This year’s feature competition includes a wide variety of innovative works that truly challenge our perception of traditional film forms,” said ATLFF Director of Programming Kristy Breneman.
Three of these films, all of which are narratives, were announced in December: “Breathe (Respire)” directed by Mélanie Laurent, “Next Year (L’annee Prochaine)” directed by Vania Leturcq and “The Sisterhood of Night” directed by Caryn Waechter. Seven of the competition films are directed by women.
ATLFF will host the world premieres of both “Rosehill” (directed by Brigitta Wagner) and “Somewhere in the Middle” (directed by Lanre Olabisi). “Rosehill” is Wagner’s feature debut and stars Josephine Decker and Kate Chamuris. “Somewhere in the Middle,” starring Cassandra Freeman, Charles Miller and Louisa Ward, marks a return to ATLFF for Olabisi. His last feature, “August the First,” played the 2007 Festival. Olabisi is among the winners of the 2009 ATLFF Screenplay Competition.
Two films, Peter Blackburn’s “Eight” and Marcelo Galvão’s “Farewell (A Despedida),” will have their North American premieres at ATLFF. “Next Year (L’annee Prochaine)” played at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, but will make its American debut in Atlanta.
Narrative Feature Competition:
Breathe (Respire)
directed by Mélanie Laurent
France, 2014, French, 91 minutesSeventeen-year-old Charlie is bright and beautiful, but not without insecurity. When new girl Sarah arrives, Charlie is captured by her charisma and the two strike up a deep friendship. For a time, it seems as though each is what the other has been waiting for. When Sarah tires of Charlie and begins making new friends, their relationship takes a turn for the worse.
Starring: Joséphine Japy, Lou de Laâge, Isabelle Carré, Claire Keim
#Narrative #InternationalEight
directed by Peter Blackburn
Australia, 2014, English, 82 minutesSarah Prentice had a life, once. She had a husband, and a daughter. She had holidays. Now she has a routine. She has eight. Bound in a repetitive cycle of OCD, trapped in her house by agoraphobia, the smallest of every day tasks are a monumental effort. As she battles to break her vices, will a knock on the door unhinge her progress?
Starring: Libby Munro, Jane Elizabeth Barry
#Narrative #International #NorthAmericanPremiereFarewell (A Despedida)
directed by Marcelo Galvão
Brazil, 2014, Portuguese, 90 minutesBased on true facts, “Farewell” tells the story of Admiral, a 92-year-old man, who decides that the time has come to say goodbye to all that is most important in his life and spends one last night with Fatima, his lover who is 55 years younger than him. His life has been showing clear signs that it is coming to an end, which makes the experience dense, deep and urgent.
Starring: Nelson Xavier, Juliana Paes, Amélia Bittencourt, Tereza Piffer
#Narrative #International #NorthAmericanPremiereFunny Bunny
directed by Alison Bagnall
USA, 2015, English, 86 minutesGene spends his days canvassing about childhood obesity. One day he canvasses Titty, an emotionally-arrested 19-year-old who has successfully sued his own father to win back a large inheritance and gotten himself disowned in the process. Gene discovers that Titty has an ongoing online relationship with the beautiful but reclusive Ginger, who is an animal activist. Gene convinces Titty to make a pilgrimage to meet Ginger where the two men form a close bond despite both of them being drawn to the enigmatic Ginger, who is in need of rescue.
Starring: Kentucker Audley, Olly Alexander, Joslyn Jensen, Josephine Decker
#NarrativeGod Bless the Child
directed by Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck
USA, 2015, English, 92 minutesFive siblings, left on their own, spend a summer’s day full of fantasy and chaos.
Starring: Harper Graham, Elias Graham, Arri Graham, Ezra Graham, Jonah Graham
#NarrativeKrisha
directed by Trey Edward Shults
USA, 2015, English, 82 minutesAfter years of absence, Krisha reunites with her family for a holiday gathering. She sees it as an opportunity to fix her past mistakes, cook the family turkey, and prove to her loved ones that she has changed for the better. Only, Krisha’s delirium takes her family on a dizzying holiday that no one will forget.
Starring: Krisha Fairchild, Robyn Fairchild, Bill Wise, Trey Edward Shults, Chris Doubek, Olivia Grace Applegate, Alex Dobrenko, Bryan Casserly, Chase Joliet, Atheena Frizzell, Augustine Frizzell, Rose Nelson, Victoria Fairchild, Billie Fairchild
#NarrativeMontedoro
directed by Antonello Faretta
Italy, 2015, Italian/English, 88 minutesA rich middle aged American woman unexpectedly discovers her true origin after her parents have died. Deeply moved, in the midst of an identity crisis, she decides to travel, hoping to find the natural mother she has never known. She therefore goes to a small and remote place in the south of Italy, Montedoro. She finds an apocalyptic scene when she gets there: the village, resting on a majestic hill, is completely abandoned and nobody seems to live there anymore.
Starring: Pia Marie Mann, Mario Duca, Luciana Paolicelli, Joe Capalbo, Anna Di Dio, Caterina Pontrandolfo, Domenico Brancale
#Narrative #International #WorldPremiereNext Year (L’année Prochaine)
directed by Vania Leturcq
France/Belgium, 2014, French, 105 minutesClotilde and Aude are eighteen and have always been best friends. Their relationship is strong and interdependent, as teenage friendships can be. They are finishing school and have to decide what to do the following year, after their baccalaureate. Clotilde decides to leave their small, provincial village and go to Paris, dragging Aude along with her. But the two friends will experience this departure differently, ultimately splitting up.
Starring: Constance Rousseau, Jenna Thiam, Julien Boisselier, Kévin Azaïs
#Narrative #International #USPremiereRosehill
directed by Brigitta Wagner
USA, 2015, English, 78 minutesOld friends Alice and Katriona haven’t seen each other since Alice got a job as a sex researcher in rural Indiana. When New York actress Katriona pays a sudden visit, Alice thinks her small-town boredom has come to an end. Little does she know that Katriona is harboring something. The two women set out on a local journey that leads them, unexpectedly, back to themselves. Rocks, women, motion, metamorphosis, and erotica. Part road trip, part meditation, part improvised fiction, part documentary, “Rosehill” is a film about crisis and eternal change, the darkness and resilience of the human spirit.
Starring: Josephine Decker, Kate Chamuris, Ken Farrell, John Machesky, Jacob Emery
#Narrative #WorldPremiereThe Sisterhood of Night
directed by Caryn Waechter
USA, 2014, English, 102 minutesThe story begins when Emily Parris exposes a secret society of teenage girls who have slipped out of the world of social media, into a mysterious world deep in the woods. Emily’s allegations of sexually deviant activities throw the town of Kingston into hysteria and the national media spotlight. As the accused uphold a vow of silence, Emily’s blog takes an unexpected turn when girls across the country emerge with personal stories of sexual abuse. Why are the Sisterhood girls willing to risk so much for a ritualistic gathering in the woods? From the story by Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Millhauser, “The Sisterhood of Night” chronicles a provocative alternative to adolescent loneliness, revealing the tragedy and humor of teenage years changed forever by the Internet age.
Starring: Georgie Henley, Kara Hayward, Willa Cuthrell, Olivia De Jonge, Kal Penn, Laura Fraser
#NarrativeSomewhere in the Middle
directed by Lanre Olabisi
USA, 2015, English, 89 minutesSofia’s life is a mess. Bad relationships. Dwindling job prospects. But a chance encounter at a bookstore convinces her that she’s met the love of her life in Kofi — a handsome, but immature office manager. Kofi, however, has other things on his mind. Namely, his crumbling marriage to his demanding wife, Billie, who is herself struggling with a newfound attraction for her female co-worker, Alex. In an instant, events that seem true suddenly turn upside down. As secrets and lies surface, each layer of the love quadrangle is slowly peeled away, leaving everyone to cope with the ripple effects of love, obsession, sexuality and ultimately self-discovery. “Somewhere in the Middle” was born out of a year long improvisational process wherein the actors and director mutually crafted a time-fragmented, ensemble drama. Structured like a jigsaw puzzle, no character fully grasps their current dilemma as three interwoven stories are retold from varying viewpoints.
Starring: Cassandra Freeman, Charles Miller, Louisa Ward, Marisol Miranda, Aristotle Stamat, D. Rubin Green
#Narrative #WorldPremiereDocumentary Feature Competition
Frame by Frame
directed by Alexandria Bombach, Mo Scarpelli
USA/Afghanistan, 2015, English/Dari, 85 minutesIn 1996, the Taliban banned photography in Afghanistan. Taking a photo was considered a crime. When the US invaded after 9/11, Afghans saw the Taliban regime topple, the media blackout disappear, and a promising media industry emerge. Now, in a country facing abject uncertainty and ongoing war, Afghanistan’s young press struggles to be a free press. “Frame by Frame” is a feature-length documentary that follows four Afghan photojournalists navigating a young and dangerous media landscape. Through cinema verité, powerful photojournalism, and never-before-seen archival footage shot in secret during the Taliban, the film reveals a struggle in overcoming the odds to capture the truth.
#Documentary #International
Madina’s Dream
directed by Andrew Berends
USA/Sudan, 2015, Sudanese Arabic, 80 minutesAn unflinching and poetic glimpse into a forgotten war, “Madina’s Dream” tells the story of rebels and refugees fighting to survive in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. After decades of civil war, South Sudan achieved its independence from Sudan in 2011. But inside Sudan, the conflict continues. Sudan’s government employs aerial bombings and starvation warfare against the inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan or remain trapped in the war zone. Eleven-year-old Madina and countless others dream of a brighter future for the Nuban people.
#Documentary #International
Masculinity/Femininity
directed by Russell Sheaffer
USA, 2014,English, 88 minutes“Masculinity/Femininity” is an experimental interrogation of normative notions of gender, sexuality and performance. Prominent filmmakers, film theorists, gender theorists, and artists are each asked to perform a piece that deals with issues surrounding gender identity and construction. Shot primarily on Super 8, the film merges academic and cinematic critique—aiming to be more of a document of gender de-construction rather than a documentary about gender construction.
#Documentary #PinkPeach
A Snake Gives Birth to a Snake
directed by Michael Lessac
South Africa, 2014, English, 99 minutesA diverse group of South African actors tours the war-torn regions of Northern Ireland, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia to share their country’s experiment with reconciliation. As they ignite a dialogue among people with raw memories of atrocity, the actors find they must once again confront their homeland’s violent past, and question their own capacity for healing and forgiveness. Featuring never-before-heard original music by jazz legend Hugh Masekela.
#Documentary #International
Stray Dog
directed by Debra Granik
USA, 2014, English, 98 minutesHarley-Davidson, leather, tattooed biceps: Ron “Stray Dog” Hall looks like an authentic tough guy. A Vietnam veteran, he runs a trailer park in rural Missouri with his wife, Alicia, who recently emigrated from Mexico. Gradually, a layered image comes into focus of a man struggling to come to terms with his combat experience. When Alicia’s teenage sons arrive, the film reveals a tender portrait of an America outside the mainstream. “Stray Dog” is a powerful look at the veteran experience, a surprising love story, and a fresh exploration of what it takes to survive in the hardscrabble heartland.
#Documentary
Sweet Micky for President
directed by Ben Patterson
Haiti/USA/Canada, 2015, English, 89 minutesCan one man change a country? Pras Michel believed he could. “Sweet Micky for President” tells the story of Pras, founder of the Grammy award winning hip-hop group The Fugees, as he sets out to change the destiny of his home country of Haiti. With no experience, no money and no support, Pras mobilizes a presidential campaign for Michel Martelly better known as the controversial diaper wearing pop-star Sweet Micky. As a first time political candidate, Martelly aims to use his skills as an artist to affect revolutionary change in a country whose people have been disenfranchised for over 200 years. Despite all odds, Martelly wins the presidency instilling a renewed sense of hope for Haiti’s future.
#Documentary #International
Tomorrow We Disappear
directed by Jim Goldblum, Adam M. Weber
India/USA, 2014, Hindi/English, 85 minutesWhen their home is sold to real-estate developers, the magicians, acrobats, and puppeteers of Delhi’s Kathputli Colony must find a way to unite—or splinter apart forever.
#Documentary #International
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Rendez-Vous with French Cinema to Showcase French Films in NYC
3 Hearts / 3 CoeursThe 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. PremiereClosing 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. PremiereEat 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. PremiereFidelio, 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 PremiereHippocrates / 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 PremiereIn 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 PremiereIn 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 PremiereLove 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 PremiereMy 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 PremiereNext 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. PremierePortrait 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 PremiereSK1 / 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. PremiereStubborn / 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 PremiereWild 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 PremiereYoung 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 PremiereBack 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. PremiereExtrasystole
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.