Print FFF'07 Spreads
%X XLI -VMWL *MPQ -RWXMXYXI Introduction
I am delighted to be able to welcome you to the 2007 We are also thrilled to have the documentary filmmaker French Film Festival which is sponsored once again by Nicolas Philibert, the man behind Etre et avoir, joining us our generous partners Carte Noire. for a retrospective of his work. And as the purpose of the Festival is also about celebrating French film This is a particularly proud moment for me as the new heritage, we have asked the Irish music ensemble festival director to be able to say that the films in this 3pekano to bring their new score for Cocteau’s Blood of year’s festival represent why French cinema is still a Poet to the IFI for a special screening. dearly loved at home, in Ireland, and around the world. While the programme has several new films I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome from veteran directors like Jacques Rivette, Manoel de His Excellency Yvon Roé D’Albert, the new Ambassador Oliveira, Luc Moullet, Claude Berri and Nicolas Klotz, it of France to Ireland. This Festival will be a wonderful is also very much a year of discovery of new young opportunity for him to see how much the Irish love talent, new landscapes and new stories. French films.
Among the festival highlights are our opening film I hope you, the audience will enjoy the films as much Persepolis. Since it won the Prix du Jury at Cannes, this as I have. animated film has been a runaway box office success in France and has recently been selected to represent France at the Academy Awards. Alice Black, Festival Director
SPONSORS Many thanks to our sponsors. Please support them whenever you have the opportunity.
Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
2 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR FRENCH CLASSES, LEARN FRENCH WITH THE EXPERTS, Screening Schedule General French for all ages and levels (groups & one to one tuition) French Conversation OPENING FILM Specialised French (Business, Translation, TUESDAY 13th November 9.00 Persepolis Diploma in Legal French) [Tickets include Opening reception at 8pm] Diplomas and Certificate Courses French Workshops WEDNESDAY French for Secondary School Students 8:45 Anna M. 14th November Courses for Children Courses for Bilingual Children Tuition in Primary Schools THURSDAY 4:00 Philibert: Le pays des sourds [Land of the Deaf] Corporate Training (on company premises) 15th November 8:45 Les chansons d'amour [Love Songs]
{Library & Restaurant “Le café des amis”} 1.30 Philibert: La moindre des choses [Every Little Thing] FRIDAY 5.10 La France 16th November 7.00 Substitute 1 Kildare Street, D2 – Ph: 01 676 1732 www.alliance-francaise.ie // email: [email protected] 8.45 Naissance des pieuvres [Water Lilies] 12:00 Philibert: Être et avoir SATURDAY 2:00 Nicolas Philibert Masterclass [Meeting Room] 3.15 Moi, Pierre Rivière… 17th November 6:15 Philibert: Retour en Normandie [Back to Normandy] 8:45 Ensemble, c'est tout [Hunting and Gathering] 1:00 Le sang d’un poète [Blood of a Poet] 2:15 Belle toujours SUNDAY 4:30 Tout est pardonné [All Is Forgiven] 18th November 6:30 Ce que je sais de Lola 8:45 Flight of the Red Balloon
2:30 Philibert: La Ville Louvre MONDAY 4:30 Le prestige de la mort 19th November 7.00 J'aurais voulu être danseur [Gone For A Dance] 9.00 Un homme perdu 1.30 Philibert: Un animal, des animaux TUESDAY 5.00 Boxes 20th November 7.00 Belle toujours 8.30 La question humaine [Heartbeat Detector]
WEDNESDAY 6:00 Nos retrouvailles [In Your Wake] 21st November 8:00 Ne touchez pas la hache [Don't Touch The Axe]
2:00 Dans les cordes THURSDAY 6:30 Pas douce 22nd November 8:30 Un secret
TICKETS All tickets are €9, except the opening night film which is €15 and includes an Opening Night reception beforehand at 8pm. Membership is required. Tickets can be booked online at: www.ifibooking.ie or www.irishfilm.ie or on 01-6793477
18 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 3 Persepolis Anna M. Les chansons d’amour OPENING FILM Love Songs
Directors: Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Director: Michel Spinosa Director: Christophe Honoré Paronnaud Cast: Isabelle Carré, Gilbert Melki, Cast: Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Anne Consigny Clotilde Hesme
Tuesday 13 November (9:00 pm) Wednesday 14 November (8:45 pm) Thursday 15 November (8:45 pm)
France, 2007, 95 mins, Black & White France, 2007, 106 mins France, 2007, 100 mins
A prize-winner at Cannes and a box The mesmerising Isabelle Carré plays Eclectic Christophe Honoré’s latest film office smash at home, Persepolis has Anna M., a shy, depressed young is a charming and contemporary musi- just been chosen as France’s official woman who, after a suicide attempt, cal that owes as much to the great entry to this year’s Academy Awards. meets the handsome, but married, Jacques Demy as it does to Jean-Luc It might not look like your average Doctor Zanevsky and becomes con- Godard. Les Chansons d’amour stars French film, but this poignant coming- vinced they are in love with each other. Honoré regular Louis Garrel as Ismaël, of-age story is destined to become a As her delusional obsession takes a journalist working on a small periodi- classic of French cinema. hold, her gestures of love become cal, caught up in a ménage à trois with The mostly black and white, hand- increasingly extreme. She follows him, his girlfriend Julie and a girl who works drawn animation is based on co-direc- steals his letters, sends him presents at his office, Alice. It is a situation that tor Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical and rings him at home, day and night. has arisen through convenience, but graphic novels, which illustrated her Anna's hopes that Zanevsky will finally works through the fun and light-heart- own experience growing up in Iran dur- acknowledge his love for her are not edness of their youthful innocence. ing the Islamic Revolution. Marjane is fulfilled. At first she is disappointed at Julie knows that it is too good to last a feisty little girl, clever and fearless, his failure to surrender to his feelings, and when it does end – tragically – who outsmarts the ‘social guardians’ but then her disappointment gradually Ismaël is the one who finds it difficult and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron turns into hatred. The story takes on to get himself back together. Maiden. But when religious extremism the nail-biting suspense of a thriller as What begins as a lighthearted sex sweeps the country, her parents make we watch Anna's seemingly unstop- romp with songs turns into a story the painful decision to send the out- pable determination to wreak havoc. about coming to terms with grief and spoken Marjane overseas. Beautifully shot in a rich palette loss. Ismaël walks the streets of Paris, The voice-casting is pitch-perfect and inspired by the sumptuous hues of has casual sexual encounters, and is features three generations of wonder- Anna's favourite painting by baroque unable to shift the deep emptiness ful French actresses – real-life mother artist Zurbarán, Anna M. is an extraor- that lies within him, until he meets and daughter Catherine Deneuve and dinary glimpse of the inner-world of a Erwann, a young man who may be able Chiara Mastroianni, and a beautiful love that transcends reality. to bring him back to life. performance by Danielle Darrieux as Marjane’s beloved grandmother.
The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 5 PHILIBERT Guest of Honour
> Outside France, Philibert is best-known for his award-winning documentary Être et avoir (To Be and to Have), an account of a teacher’s year in a one-room schoolhouse in rural France. Minimalist and exceedingly moving, Être et avoir was praised by critics and also achieved a rare feat in France: box office success.
What sets Philibert’s work apart from other documentary filmmakers is his commitment to revealing the extraordinary which exists within the ordinary. His approach is one of engagement through patient observation, capturing all the little details which reveal what is interesting about each situation to the viewer. His fly-on-the-wall approach enables him to gain incredible access to locations normally forbidden to strangers, and certainly to filmmakers. On set, his patience allows him, and ultimately us, to watch actions unfold in a non-linear fashion - to see people reveal them- La France Substitute Naissance des pieuvres selves in unpredictable, often astonishing, ways. Water Lilies
FAS / SCREEN TRAINING IRELAND Director: Serge Bozon Director: Fred Poulet Director: Céline Sciamma presents Cast: Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Cast: Vikash Dhorasoo Cast: Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachére, Guillame Depardieu Adele Haenel A Director’s Masterclass with Nicolas Philibert Friday 16 November (5:10 pm) Friday 16 November (7:00 pm) Friday 16 November (8:45 pm) On Saturday 17th November (12:00 pm) following the screening of Être et France, 2007, 102 mins France, 2006, 96 mins France, 2007, 85 mins Avoir, the Masterclass will commence at 2:00 pm. It will focus on the skills Autumn 1917. World War I. Miles from For those who were disappointed by Naissance des pieuvres caused a buzz and aesthetics of film directing in the the fighting, Camille’s life revolves the impersonal tone of last year’s hit at this year’s Cannes Film Festival as its Documentary genre, illustrated by around the letters she receives from Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, director, 27-year old Céline Sciamma, clips from Philibert’s work. Covering her soldier husband. Her life is shat- Substitute is the perfect antidote. had never even directed a short before Philibert’s own unique style and pio- tered when she receives a cryptic note A collaboration between video director turning the screenplay she wrote for neering methods, it will cover his from him ending their relationship. Fred Poulet and French midfielder school into a feature film. approach to protagonists, sound Distraught, she decides to disguise Vikash Dhorasoo, Substitute docu- La Ville Louvre Un animal, des animaux Marie is a petite 15-year-old girl from a design, approach to camera work, as herself as a man to go and find him. ments Dhorasoo’s 16 minutes on the Louvre City Animals and More Animals Parisian suburb who looks underdevel- well as his considerable work as an She heads for the frontline cutting pitch in the 2006 World Cup tourna- oped when compared to her class- editor. It will cover authorship /owner- across fields to avoid the gendarmes ment as well as the hours and hours of mates and the girls on the synchro- Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Nicolas Philibert ship of ‘the story’ and responsibility (ie and, in a forest, she comes across a frustration he endured when left on nised swimming team she is so eager Monday 19 November (1:30 pm) Tuesday 20 November (1:30 pm) the director’s influence on the story), small group of lost soldiers who do not the bench as the French team jour- to join. Her best friend Anne is Marie’s issues of trust and relationships dur- suspect her true identity. She joins neyed to the final. physical opposite and is gutsy in ways ing and following the making of a film, them, and in time discovers the real France, 1990, 81 mins France, 1996, 59 mins With footage shot almost entirely by Marie can only dream of. Anne and and the need for access, and legal reason why the men have drifted off What happens at the Louvre Museum The zoological gallery of France’s Dhorasoo himself on Super 8, Marie's relationship changes dramati- implications. Donald Taylor Black, from course. when it is closed to the public? During Natural History Museum was closed to Substitute captures his initial excite- cally when Marie starts hanging out the National Film School in Dun the Grand Louvre’s extensive renova- the public for over 25 years, leaving Bozon shifts effortlessly between war- ment at being part of the top team and with Floriane, the stunning blonde with Laoghaire will chair the Masterclass. weary soldiers trudging through the his growing frustration as he is left off the model-like body who is the swim tions, the museum opened its corri- thousands of stuffed animals forgotten Philibert’s latest film, Back to forest to sweet musical numbers to the team by coach Raymond team’s captain. Floriane decides to use dors to a film crew for the first time. in the shadows. Shot during the Normandy, will screen at 6:30pm. All shocking, cold-blooded murders. Aptly Domenech and sidelined by the rest of Marie as an excuse to sneak out for People are seen moving paintings and gallery’s renovations, the film docu- participants will be welcome to attend. described by Variety as ‘Bresson the squad. Honest and poignant, this lovemaking sessions with her current reorganising rooms. Miles of under- ments its metamorphosis and the res- meets the Beatles’, this audacious film offers an insight into the world of boyfriend, forging, if not a friendship, ground corridors and galleries cross urrection of its strange lodgers. WWI drama is a stark portrait of fight- football we rarely see – instead of at least a sense of uneasy complicity. each other. Little by little, the secret, Masterclass fee €50, includes and sometimes comical, mundane, admission to Être et avoir. ing and friendship on the Western WAGs and beautiful goals, the reality Sciamma’s revealing and uncomfort- sublime and fascinating world of one Meeting Room, Irish Film Institute front. Defying all sorts of conventions, of broken dreams and defeat. able look into the world of teenage you’ll soon understand why La France of the most famous museums in the 17th November, 2007 girls has a raw edginess that led some world is revealed. A veritable city with- *Note: There will be an onstage public won the prestigious Prix Jean Vigo ear- French critics to describe her as a in a city opens its heart to us. interview with Nicolas Philibert follow- All applications must me made online lier this year. young Catherine Breillat. ing the screening of his new film at www.screentrainingireland.ie. Director Céline Sciamma will be pres- Retour en Normandie. ent at this screening and will give a Q&A afterwards.
6 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 15 Special Presentation NICOLAS
Nicolas Philibert is one of Europe’s most celebrated and well-loved documentary filmmakers. Born in Nancy, France, in 1951, Philibert studied philosophy before becoming an assistant director working with such notable directors as René Allio, Alain Tanner, Claude Goretta and Joris Ivens.
Philibert’s first documentary feature La Ville Louvre (1990), is a fascinating portrait of the famous museum’s nocturnal activities. Philibert quickly established a reputation for approaching his subjects with honesty and tenderness with his next film Les Pays Des Sourds (1993), a study of the world through the eyes of the deaf. In 1995, the French director returned to the subject of museums, deepening the human factor with humor. Un Animal, Des Animaux, explores the zoological wing of France's Museum of Natural History, which had been closed for years, and brings to light its unusu- al treasures. La moindre des choses (1997) follows the rehearsals for a summer play in one of France’s most highly Moi, pierre rivière... Ensemble, ç’est tout Le sang d’un poète regarded mental institutions. > Hunting and Gathering Blood of A Poet WITH LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT
Director: René Allio Director: Claude Berri Director: Jean Cocteau Cast: Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Cast: Enrique Rivero, Lee Miller, Laurent Stocker Pauline Carton
Saturday 17 November (3:15 pm) Saturday 17 November (8:45pm) Sunday 18 November (1:00pm)
France, 1975, 130 mins France, 2007, 95 mins France, 1930, 55 mins
Based on documents compiled by Claude Berri's newest film is a bitter- A silent film set to a new score per- Michel Foucault, this film is a uniquely sweet exploration of loneliness, ageing formed live by a seven-piece ensenm- original meditation on a gruesome and finding love. ble, this is a real treat for Cocteau 19th century crime. The story happens Scrawny Camille has a talent for draw- fans. in a Normandy village in 1835, as a ing, but works as a cleaner and lives in Jean Cocteau made his first foray into very young man, Rivière, murders his Le Pays des sourds La Moindre des choses Être et avoir a Parisian attic. One night, she meets a cinema with the haunting collage-like mother, sister and brother before run- fellow tenant, courtly and erudite film Le Sang d’un Poète. Financed by The Land of the Deaf Every Little Thing To Be And To Have ning away to the countryside. The writ- Philibert, who has a stutter and an the philanthropic Vicomte de Noailles, ten confession of Rivière himself is one aristocratic surname a mile long. it shimmers with energy and invention, of the voiceovers. Rivière was con- Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Nicolas Philibert Philibert lives in a vast bourgeois inaugurating a style that Cocteau vinced that his mother was weakening Thursday 15 November (4:00 pm) Friday 16 November (1:30 pm) Saturday 17 November (12:00 pm) apartment that could be sold by his would rework in each of his future and humiliating his father - and his late grandmother's estate at any films. Borrowing the sexual under- words on this subject are deeply dis- France, 1992, 99 mins France, 1996, 105 mins France, 2002, 104 mins, Colour moment. His roommate Franck works tones and dreamlike structure of his turbing. long hours as a cook six days a week. plays, novels and paintings, Cocteau “I wanted to give a ‘voice,’ if I may use During the summer of 1995, true to Être et avoir unfolds during four dis- The cast, mostly villagers found in the He drinks, smokes and beds brainless presents a sequence of seemingly the term, to people whom we usually what has now become a tradition, resi- tinct seasons in one of France's few places where the events had taken babes, but is antsy and dissatisfied. unrelated events, all depicting the see only through the prism of their dis- dents and staff at the La Borde psychi- remaining one-room schoolhouses, in place 150 years before, creates an Franck loves his grandmother Paulette philosophical and metaphysical strug- ability. I wanted to show that we can atric clinic get together to put on the rural St.-Etienne-sur-Osson, population interesting atmosphere of hyper-real- (Alain Resnais’ regular Françoise gles of the artist. approach them in other ways.” Nicolas play that they will perform on 15 200. The teacher, the charismatic ism. Bertin), who raised him, but resents Philibert enters the world of deaf- August. During rehearsals, the film Georges Lopez, presides over 13 stu- 3epkano, the Dublin-based collective, René Allio accomplishes the unique having to spend precious days off vis- blend electronic and acoustic instru- mutes and, with dignity and simplicity, retraces the ups and downs of this dents, ages 3 to 15, who are separated iting her after she breaks her leg. shows us the strength and diversity of adventure. But over and above the the- by age into three groups that work at feat of producing an (almost) ethno- ments to create contemporary scores the community. What is the world like atre, it describes life at La Borde, three separate large tables. Lopez has graphic document, an historical film, Then circumstances force all four of to classic silent films. Creating music to the thousands of people who live in everyday life, time passing, trivial lived above the school for the past 21 and an inquiry into a psychopathologi- them to live under the one roof for a for 3epkano is a process of patient silence? Jean-Claude, Abou, Claire, goings-on, loneliness and tiredness, years and is set to retire. He is at the cal case. year, and to learn each other’s ways. exploration and tentative discovery. Florent and the other characters were as well as the moments of merriment, centre of the film, acting a teacher / The cast are pitch-perfect in this adap- The result is a compelling and unique either born deaf or became deaf in the laughter, and wit peculiar to certain friend / father / confessor to the chil- tation of the best-selling novel by Anna cinematic experience. first few months of their lives. With residents, and the close attention dren, each of whom is filmed in his or Galvada, which veteran director Berri them, we set out to discover a land which people pay to one another... her budding individuality. has infused with a light touch. where vision and touch take on increased importance.
14 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 7 Dans les cordes Pas douce Un secret Le voyage du ballon Le prestige de la mort J'aurais voulu être un In the ring Parting Shot CLOSING FILM rouge Death’s Glamour danseur Flight of the Red Balloon Gone For A Dance Director: Magaly Richard-Serrano Director: Jeanne Waltz Director: Claude Miller Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien Director: Luc Moullet Director: Alain Berliner Cast: Richard Anconina, Maria de Cast: Isild Le Besco, Lio, Steven de Cast: Cécile de France, Patrick Bruel, Cast: Juliette Binoche, Song Fang, Cast: Luc Moullet, Bernadette Lafont, Cast: Vincent Elbaz, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Medeiros, Louise Szpindel, Stéphanie Almeida Ludivine Sagnier Simon Iteanu Christine Vézinet Cécile de France, Jeanne Balibar Sokolinski Thursday 22 November (2:00pm) Thursday 22 November (6:30 pm) Thursday 22 November (8:30 pm) Sunday 18 November (8:45 pm) Monday 19 November (4:30 pm) Monday 19 November (7:00 pm)
France, 2007, 93 mins France, 2007, 84 mins France, 2007, 105 mins France, 2007, 113 mins France, 2006, 75 mins Belgium/Luxembourg, 2007, 106 mins
Joseph manages a boxing club in a The French title of this tale of anger, Claude Miller's extraordinary new film The helium-filled icon of Albert French comedy director extraordinaire François Maréchal seems set – he is small suburban city while, at the same guilt and redemption translates literal- Un secret traces the life of a Jewish Lamorisse’s beloved Le ballon rouge Luc Moullet is not as well known out- happily married with a beautiful young time, training his daughter and niece ly as ‘not sweet’, and it refers to the family during and after the Second serves as the breathtaking inspiration side France as he should be. In his wife (Cécile de France), father to a son for the French championships. Boxing film’s main character, a young woman World War. Adapted from Phillipe for Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first film set out- most recent outing, Moullet directs he adores, and he has just been pro- is everything for this threesome, their named Fred. Played by the wonderful Grimbert's autobiographical novel, side of Asia. Commissioned by the and stars as himself in an odd but moted in his job as general manager of lives consumed by their passion for French actress Isild Le Besco, Fred this film is one of Miller's finest works Musée d'Orsay, the film’s focus is on hilarious new comedy. The premise a DVD rental shop. All is going to plan the sport – a passion that Theresa, appears at first as a solemn, delicate in years. Suzanne (played by the wonderful has Moullet (in a depreciative self-cari- until one day when he sees Singing in Joseph's wife, ends up detesting. The person with a gentle voice. But under- An exploration of dark secrets and Juliette Binoche), a whirlwind of a cature) as an over-the-hill director who the Rain, and becomes obsessed with defeat of one of the two girls throws neath that soft exterior is a defiant and passion, the story centres on François, mother and artist. She works as a pup- has hit upon a new scheme to restore the idea of becoming a tap dancer. the survival of the club into peril and self-destructive rage that earns her the who is trying to come to terms with peteer – Chinese puppet theatre is a public interest in his own work: he Turning his back on his happy home shatters the family's equilibrium. tart nickname. conflicting memories from his child- running theme for Hou – and is devot- fakes his own death (delayed, within life, he starts to ignore his wife, his Between the two young women, Angie Fred works as a nurse at a hospital in a hood. An only son, he was always ed to her young son, Simon. But she is the story, by the passing of Jean-Luc work and everything in favour of his and Sandra, raised as if sisters, a dan- small mountain town on the Franco- haunted by a sense that he had a self-obsessed, slightly manic and des- Godard), then assumes the identity of passion. Even though he really isn’t gerous rivalry begins to fester, both Swiss border; her boyfriend has bro- phantom brother. Now an adult, he perately in need of serious help an oddball drifter whose body he finds very good at tap dancing, he perse- inside and outside of the ring. ken up with her, and she no longer embarks on a search for answers. around the house. She hires Song, a in the desert during a location-scout- veres, and eventually is hired in a Director Richard-Serrano drew on her speaks to her father. She also has a What he uncovers is a painful history Taiwanese film student living in Paris, ing trip. He is convinced that the royal- small run-down joint in the suburbs own personal experiences to make rifle, and she’s an expert shot. She of a family struggling to survive during to mind Simon. ties will pour in from the use of his film where he comes face to face with his Dans les cordes. Her grandfather was a takes her rifle into the woods with the the Occupation, forced to decide Like Hou’s previous work, the film is clips in television. No points for guess- past and the father he thought was boxer who ran a boxing club, her moth- intention of killing herself, but is dis- between declaring and concealing contemplative and breathtakingly ing that the ploy works – but how will dead. Turns out the apple didn’t fall far er was one of the first female boxers in tracted by two teenagers engaged in a their Jewish identity. Using a complex, beautiful, offering picture postcard Moullet contend with his new persona, from the tree. France and Richard-Serrano herself tussle. In the heat of her own self- seamless structure of flashbacks, glimpses of the French capital and all or continue his film career, without Alain Berliner, director of the universal- has twice been crowned the French destructive turmoil, she impulsively Miller has created a fresh and moving its charms. But it is also a direct and raising the suspicions of nearly every- ly acclaimed Ma vie en rose, once women’s boxing champion. Shot in her turns the barrel on one of the boys. In exploration of this trouble period in honest look at the life of a single par- one? more intertwines poetry and reality in hometown of Vitry-sur-Seine, Dans les a split second, an act of violence French history. ent, and at the intersection between Moullet has said that he was inspired a magical combination of beautiful set- cordes captures with warmth and hon- becomes an act of discovery that Cécile de France is luminous as the East and West, through the medium of by Cecil B. DeMille’s 1918 film The tings and storytelling. This film also esty the struggle of a working-class changes her life, and the boy’s, forev- glamorous mother and Julie Depardieu storytelling and cinema. Whispering Chorus and André features one of the last performances family for whom boxing is everything. er. excels as François' childhood confi- Berthomieu’s film Mort en fuite to cre- of the legendary Jean-Pierre Cassel, dante, the witness who finally breaks ate this wonderful mockumentary who gives a charming turn as a man the silence and reveals the family which lies somewhere between biting who devotes his life to dancing. secret. satire and farce.
12 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 9 Un homme perdu Retour en Normandie Boxes La question humaine Nos retrouvailles Ne touchez pas la hache A Lost Man Back To Normandy Heartbeat Detector In Your Wake Don’t Touch The Axe
Director: Danielle Arbid Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Jane Birkin Director: Nicolas Klotz Director: David Oelhoffen Director: Jacques Rivette Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Carol Abboud, Cast: Jane Birkin, Michel Piccoli, Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Michael Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Nicolas Giraud, Cast: Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Alexander Siddig Géraldine Chaplin, John Hurt, Charlotte Lonsdale, Jean-Pierre Kalfon Jacques Spiesser Depardieu, Michel Piccoli, Bulle Ogier Gainsbourg Monday 19 November (9:00pm) Saturday 17 November (6:15 pm) Tuesday 20 November (5:00 pm) Tuesday 20 November (8:30 pm) Wednesday 21 November (6:00pm) Wednesday 21 November (8:00pm)
France, 2007, 93 mins, Colour France, 2007, 116 mins France, 2007, 95 mins France, 2007, 143 mins France, 2007, 99 mins France / Italy, 137, mins
Melvil Poupaud stars as Thomas Koré, In 1975, as a young man, Nicolas Jane Birkin, best known as an actress Simon is the corporate psychologist Marco (Nicolas Giraud) leads a solitary, This new film by New Wave master a French photographer who travels Philibert worked as an assistant direc- and pop icon of the 60s, can now add for the German firm FC Farb, a petro- humdrum existence working in a can- Jacques Rivette sees him returning to around the world for his research tor on Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant director to her list of accomplish- chemical company based in Paris. He teen. From out of nowhere his his beloved Balzac as a source. Unlike about extreme experiences. For him, égorgé ma mère, ma soeur et mon ments. Boxes, her first feature film, is is well-respected for his work, self- estranged father Gabriel stumbles La belle noiseuse, Ne touchez pas la an experience does not exist unless it frère . . . , a film by René Allio. Based a bittersweet chronicle of a woman in assured, ambitious, and a trusted back into his life. Even though his sud- hache is very much a literal adaptation is photographed, women are objects on a true event that occurred in the midst of a crisis. Birkin plays Anna, member of staff. But when the assis- den presence opens old wounds and of the novella La Duchesse de to be used and discarded, and a mys- Normandy in 1835, the film told the who has just moved into a new house tant director presents him with the revives Marco’s resentment, he still Langeais which makes up part of tery is not solved unless it is demysti- tale of a 20-year-old peasant who slit in Brittany, full of packing cartons, challenge of assessing the mental sees this return as a welcome breath Balzac's La Comédie humaine. fied. the throats of several members of his each of which is a Pandora's box of health of the firm’s director, he is of fresh air in his otherwise desolate Best described as a romantic duel, During his travels, he crosses paths family with a billhook. Most of the memories. At a stage in her life when forced to confront some disturbing rev- and solitary world. Gabriel personifies Balzac's novella tells of the tumul- with Fouad Saleh (played by British- roles were played by farmers in the time is rushing forward at a dizzying elations about his methods and his nightlife, partying, exuberance. tuous relationship between a French Sudanese actor Alexander Siddig) a region. Thirty years later, Philibert pace, Anna tries to draw breath, to workplace. Simon's search heads Looking for cash to open his own General, Armand de Montriveau solitary and amnesic man who disap- decided to find these people again, to confront her past, visualise herself in down an unexpected path, yielding nightclub, Gabriel proposes a plan to (Guillaume Depardieu), and the peared from Beirut 17 years ago and remember the adventure they shared the future and, perhaps, believe in more and more questions about the rob a warehouse outside of Paris. coquettish but married Duchess never returned. Intrigued, Koré sets so many years before, but also to film love one more time. history of FC Farb, in particular the Fuelled by his desire to make up for Antoinette de Langeais (Jeanne out to chronicle the history of this them in their present lives. Birkin recalls: ‘About ten years ago, I company’s relationship with the Nazi lost time, Marco gets caught up in Balibar). régime in the Second World War. Gabriel’s dangerous scheme. man, and this journey into the heart of Using his trademark style, Philibert began writing about a woman of 45-50 Rivette’s trademark long takes allow a forbidden world changes both their unobtrusively uses the premise of years old . . . the panic, the mystery, Working again with Elisabeth Perceval An award-winning short filmmaker the words and the actors’ performanc- lives forever. revisiting the making of Moi, Pierre the fears of a specific age . . . Of what (here adapting François Emmanuel's who also wrote the script, David es to shine through. Balibar and Danielle Arbid, the award-winning Riviere . . . into an exploration of col- use will she be? She who from the age book), Nicolas Klotz has cemented his Oelhoffen has crafted a highly watch- Depardieu are more than up to the director of Dans les champs de lective memory, rural community life of 19 was able to give children to the reputation as one of France’s most able psychological drama which focus- task, igniting both verbal and physical bataille, was born in Lebanon and and, of course, cinema. With great men she loved . . . Who will love you provocative and politically engaged es as much on the father and son rela- fireworks. Lavishly produced, with lux- began her career as a journalist. The patience and care, he allows his sub- with all this baggage, this past histo- filmmakers. The third in a loose trilogy, tionship as it does on the heist the two urious costumes and sets, the film character of Koré is based on Antoine jects to reveal their intimate thoughts ry? Or were you just loved for that?’ preceded by Pariah and La blessure, La are preparing. The cinematography brings us straight into the inner circles d’Agata, a photographer, who served themselves and generously allows us a Birkin has gathered together a stellar question humaine is perhaps the most and performances by the excellent cast of the upper classes of Restoration-era as an advisor on the script. rare glimpse into his own history. cast: John Hurt, Geraldine Chaplin, as haunting. are restrained and so finely tuned that Paris, when society was dominated by well as her two daughters, Charlotte the tension around the crisis point is hypocrisy, vanity and money. Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon. palpable. Director Nicolas Philibert, who is the guest of honour (see pages 14-15), will give a public interview following this screening.
10 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 11 Un homme perdu Retour en Normandie Boxes La question humaine Nos retrouvailles Ne touchez pas la hache A Lost Man Back To Normandy Heartbeat Detector In Your Wake Don’t Touch The Axe
Director: Danielle Arbid Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Jane Birkin Director: Nicolas Klotz Director: David Oelhoffen Director: Jacques Rivette Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Carol Abboud, Cast: Jane Birkin, Michel Piccoli, Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Michael Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Nicolas Giraud, Cast: Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Alexander Siddig Géraldine Chaplin, John Hurt, Charlotte Lonsdale, Jean-Pierre Kalfon Jacques Spiesser Depardieu, Michel Piccoli, Bulle Ogier Gainsbourg Monday 19 November (9:00pm) Saturday 17 November (6:15 pm) Tuesday 20 November (5:00 pm) Tuesday 20 November (8:30 pm) Wednesday 21 November (6:00pm) Wednesday 21 November (8:00pm)
France, 2007, 93 mins, Colour France, 2007, 116 mins France, 2007, 95 mins France, 2007, 143 mins France, 2007, 99 mins France / Italy, 137, mins
Melvil Poupaud stars as Thomas Koré, In 1975, as a young man, Nicolas Jane Birkin, best known as an actress Simon is the corporate psychologist Marco (Nicolas Giraud) leads a solitary, This new film by New Wave master a French photographer who travels Philibert worked as an assistant direc- and pop icon of the 60s, can now add for the German firm FC Farb, a petro- humdrum existence working in a can- Jacques Rivette sees him returning to around the world for his research tor on Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant director to her list of accomplish- chemical company based in Paris. He teen. From out of nowhere his his beloved Balzac as a source. Unlike about extreme experiences. For him, égorgé ma mère, ma soeur et mon ments. Boxes, her first feature film, is is well-respected for his work, self- estranged father Gabriel stumbles La belle noiseuse, Ne touchez pas la an experience does not exist unless it frère . . . , a film by René Allio. Based a bittersweet chronicle of a woman in assured, ambitious, and a trusted back into his life. Even though his sud- hache is very much a literal adaptation is photographed, women are objects on a true event that occurred in the midst of a crisis. Birkin plays Anna, member of staff. But when the assis- den presence opens old wounds and of the novella La Duchesse de to be used and discarded, and a mys- Normandy in 1835, the film told the who has just moved into a new house tant director presents him with the revives Marco’s resentment, he still Langeais which makes up part of tery is not solved unless it is demysti- tale of a 20-year-old peasant who slit in Brittany, full of packing cartons, challenge of assessing the mental sees this return as a welcome breath Balzac's La Comédie humaine. fied. the throats of several members of his each of which is a Pandora's box of health of the firm’s director, he is of fresh air in his otherwise desolate Best described as a romantic duel, During his travels, he crosses paths family with a billhook. Most of the memories. At a stage in her life when forced to confront some disturbing rev- and solitary world. Gabriel personifies Balzac's novella tells of the tumul- with Fouad Saleh (played by British- roles were played by farmers in the time is rushing forward at a dizzying elations about his methods and his nightlife, partying, exuberance. tuous relationship between a French Sudanese actor Alexander Siddig) a region. Thirty years later, Philibert pace, Anna tries to draw breath, to workplace. Simon's search heads Looking for cash to open his own General, Armand de Montriveau solitary and amnesic man who disap- decided to find these people again, to confront her past, visualise herself in down an unexpected path, yielding nightclub, Gabriel proposes a plan to (Guillaume Depardieu), and the peared from Beirut 17 years ago and remember the adventure they shared the future and, perhaps, believe in more and more questions about the rob a warehouse outside of Paris. coquettish but married Duchess never returned. Intrigued, Koré sets so many years before, but also to film love one more time. history of FC Farb, in particular the Fuelled by his desire to make up for Antoinette de Langeais (Jeanne out to chronicle the history of this them in their present lives. Birkin recalls: ‘About ten years ago, I company’s relationship with the Nazi lost time, Marco gets caught up in Balibar). régime in the Second World War. Gabriel’s dangerous scheme. man, and this journey into the heart of Using his trademark style, Philibert began writing about a woman of 45-50 Rivette’s trademark long takes allow a forbidden world changes both their unobtrusively uses the premise of years old . . . the panic, the mystery, Working again with Elisabeth Perceval An award-winning short filmmaker the words and the actors’ performanc- lives forever. revisiting the making of Moi, Pierre the fears of a specific age . . . Of what (here adapting François Emmanuel's who also wrote the script, David es to shine through. Balibar and Danielle Arbid, the award-winning Riviere . . . into an exploration of col- use will she be? She who from the age book), Nicolas Klotz has cemented his Oelhoffen has crafted a highly watch- Depardieu are more than up to the director of Dans les champs de lective memory, rural community life of 19 was able to give children to the reputation as one of France’s most able psychological drama which focus- task, igniting both verbal and physical bataille, was born in Lebanon and and, of course, cinema. With great men she loved . . . Who will love you provocative and politically engaged es as much on the father and son rela- fireworks. Lavishly produced, with lux- began her career as a journalist. The patience and care, he allows his sub- with all this baggage, this past histo- filmmakers. The third in a loose trilogy, tionship as it does on the heist the two urious costumes and sets, the film character of Koré is based on Antoine jects to reveal their intimate thoughts ry? Or were you just loved for that?’ preceded by Pariah and La blessure, La are preparing. The cinematography brings us straight into the inner circles d’Agata, a photographer, who served themselves and generously allows us a Birkin has gathered together a stellar question humaine is perhaps the most and performances by the excellent cast of the upper classes of Restoration-era as an advisor on the script. rare glimpse into his own history. cast: John Hurt, Geraldine Chaplin, as haunting. are restrained and so finely tuned that Paris, when society was dominated by well as her two daughters, Charlotte the tension around the crisis point is hypocrisy, vanity and money. Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon. palpable. Director Nicolas Philibert, who is the guest of honour (see pages 14-15), will give a public interview following this screening.
10 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 11 Dans les cordes Pas douce Un secret Le voyage du ballon Le prestige de la mort J'aurais voulu être un In the ring Parting Shot CLOSING FILM rouge Death’s Glamour danseur Flight of the Red Balloon Gone For A Dance Director: Magaly Richard-Serrano Director: Jeanne Waltz Director: Claude Miller Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien Director: Luc Moullet Director: Alain Berliner Cast: Richard Anconina, Maria de Cast: Isild Le Besco, Lio, Steven de Cast: Cécile de France, Patrick Bruel, Cast: Juliette Binoche, Song Fang, Cast: Luc Moullet, Bernadette Lafont, Cast: Vincent Elbaz, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Medeiros, Louise Szpindel, Stéphanie Almeida Ludivine Sagnier Simon Iteanu Christine Vézinet Cécile de France, Jeanne Balibar Sokolinski Thursday 22 November (2:00pm) Thursday 22 November (6:30 pm) Thursday 22 November (8:30 pm) Sunday 18 November (8:45 pm) Monday 19 November (4:30 pm) Monday 19 November (7:00 pm)
France, 2007, 93 mins France, 2007, 84 mins France, 2007, 105 mins France, 2007, 113 mins France, 2006, 75 mins Belgium/Luxembourg, 2007, 106 mins
Joseph manages a boxing club in a The French title of this tale of anger, Claude Miller's extraordinary new film The helium-filled icon of Albert French comedy director extraordinaire François Maréchal seems set – he is small suburban city while, at the same guilt and redemption translates literal- Un secret traces the life of a Jewish Lamorisse’s beloved Le ballon rouge Luc Moullet is not as well known out- happily married with a beautiful young time, training his daughter and niece ly as ‘not sweet’, and it refers to the family during and after the Second serves as the breathtaking inspiration side France as he should be. In his wife (Cécile de France), father to a son for the French championships. Boxing film’s main character, a young woman World War. Adapted from Phillipe for Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first film set out- most recent outing, Moullet directs he adores, and he has just been pro- is everything for this threesome, their named Fred. Played by the wonderful Grimbert's autobiographical novel, side of Asia. Commissioned by the and stars as himself in an odd but moted in his job as general manager of lives consumed by their passion for French actress Isild Le Besco, Fred this film is one of Miller's finest works Musée d'Orsay, the film’s focus is on hilarious new comedy. The premise a DVD rental shop. All is going to plan the sport – a passion that Theresa, appears at first as a solemn, delicate in years. Suzanne (played by the wonderful has Moullet (in a depreciative self-cari- until one day when he sees Singing in Joseph's wife, ends up detesting. The person with a gentle voice. But under- An exploration of dark secrets and Juliette Binoche), a whirlwind of a cature) as an over-the-hill director who the Rain, and becomes obsessed with defeat of one of the two girls throws neath that soft exterior is a defiant and passion, the story centres on François, mother and artist. She works as a pup- has hit upon a new scheme to restore the idea of becoming a tap dancer. the survival of the club into peril and self-destructive rage that earns her the who is trying to come to terms with peteer – Chinese puppet theatre is a public interest in his own work: he Turning his back on his happy home shatters the family's equilibrium. tart nickname. conflicting memories from his child- running theme for Hou – and is devot- fakes his own death (delayed, within life, he starts to ignore his wife, his Between the two young women, Angie Fred works as a nurse at a hospital in a hood. An only son, he was always ed to her young son, Simon. But she is the story, by the passing of Jean-Luc work and everything in favour of his and Sandra, raised as if sisters, a dan- small mountain town on the Franco- haunted by a sense that he had a self-obsessed, slightly manic and des- Godard), then assumes the identity of passion. Even though he really isn’t gerous rivalry begins to fester, both Swiss border; her boyfriend has bro- phantom brother. Now an adult, he perately in need of serious help an oddball drifter whose body he finds very good at tap dancing, he perse- inside and outside of the ring. ken up with her, and she no longer embarks on a search for answers. around the house. She hires Song, a in the desert during a location-scout- veres, and eventually is hired in a Director Richard-Serrano drew on her speaks to her father. She also has a What he uncovers is a painful history Taiwanese film student living in Paris, ing trip. He is convinced that the royal- small run-down joint in the suburbs own personal experiences to make rifle, and she’s an expert shot. She of a family struggling to survive during to mind Simon. ties will pour in from the use of his film where he comes face to face with his Dans les cordes. Her grandfather was a takes her rifle into the woods with the the Occupation, forced to decide Like Hou’s previous work, the film is clips in television. No points for guess- past and the father he thought was boxer who ran a boxing club, her moth- intention of killing herself, but is dis- between declaring and concealing contemplative and breathtakingly ing that the ploy works – but how will dead. Turns out the apple didn’t fall far er was one of the first female boxers in tracted by two teenagers engaged in a their Jewish identity. Using a complex, beautiful, offering picture postcard Moullet contend with his new persona, from the tree. France and Richard-Serrano herself tussle. In the heat of her own self- seamless structure of flashbacks, glimpses of the French capital and all or continue his film career, without Alain Berliner, director of the universal- has twice been crowned the French destructive turmoil, she impulsively Miller has created a fresh and moving its charms. But it is also a direct and raising the suspicions of nearly every- ly acclaimed Ma vie en rose, once women’s boxing champion. Shot in her turns the barrel on one of the boys. In exploration of this trouble period in honest look at the life of a single par- one? more intertwines poetry and reality in hometown of Vitry-sur-Seine, Dans les a split second, an act of violence French history. ent, and at the intersection between Moullet has said that he was inspired a magical combination of beautiful set- cordes captures with warmth and hon- becomes an act of discovery that Cécile de France is luminous as the East and West, through the medium of by Cecil B. DeMille’s 1918 film The tings and storytelling. This film also esty the struggle of a working-class changes her life, and the boy’s, forev- glamorous mother and Julie Depardieu storytelling and cinema. Whispering Chorus and André features one of the last performances family for whom boxing is everything. er. excels as François' childhood confi- Berthomieu’s film Mort en fuite to cre- of the legendary Jean-Pierre Cassel, dante, the witness who finally breaks ate this wonderful mockumentary who gives a charming turn as a man the silence and reveals the family which lies somewhere between biting who devotes his life to dancing. secret. satire and farce.
12 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 9 Special Presentation NICOLAS
Nicolas Philibert is one of Europe’s most celebrated and well-loved documentary filmmakers. Born in Nancy, France, in 1951, Philibert studied philosophy before becoming an assistant director working with such notable directors as René Allio, Alain Tanner, Claude Goretta and Joris Ivens.
Philibert’s first documentary feature La Ville Louvre (1990), is a fascinating portrait of the famous museum’s nocturnal activities. Philibert quickly established a reputation for approaching his subjects with honesty and tenderness with his next film Les Pays Des Sourds (1993), a study of the world through the eyes of the deaf. In 1995, the French director returned to the subject of museums, deepening the human factor with humor. Un Animal, Des Animaux, explores the zoological wing of France's Museum of Natural History, which had been closed for years, and brings to light its unusu- al treasures. La moindre des choses (1997) follows the rehearsals for a summer play in one of France’s most highly Moi, pierre rivière... Ensemble, ç’est tout Le sang d’un poète regarded mental institutions. > Hunting and Gathering Blood of A Poet WITH LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT
Director: René Allio Director: Claude Berri Director: Jean Cocteau Cast: Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Cast: Enrique Rivero, Lee Miller, Laurent Stocker Pauline Carton
Saturday 17 November (3:15 pm) Saturday 17 November (8:45pm) Sunday 18 November (1:00pm)
France, 1975, 130 mins France, 2007, 95 mins France, 1930, 55 mins
Based on documents compiled by Claude Berri's newest film is a bitter- A silent film set to a new score per- Michel Foucault, this film is a uniquely sweet exploration of loneliness, ageing formed live by a seven-piece ensenm- original meditation on a gruesome and finding love. ble, this is a real treat for Cocteau 19th century crime. The story happens Scrawny Camille has a talent for draw- fans. in a Normandy village in 1835, as a ing, but works as a cleaner and lives in Jean Cocteau made his first foray into very young man, Rivière, murders his Le Pays des sourds La Moindre des choses Être et avoir a Parisian attic. One night, she meets a cinema with the haunting collage-like mother, sister and brother before run- fellow tenant, courtly and erudite film Le Sang d’un Poète. Financed by The Land of the Deaf Every Little Thing To Be And To Have ning away to the countryside. The writ- Philibert, who has a stutter and an the philanthropic Vicomte de Noailles, ten confession of Rivière himself is one aristocratic surname a mile long. it shimmers with energy and invention, of the voiceovers. Rivière was con- Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Nicolas Philibert Philibert lives in a vast bourgeois inaugurating a style that Cocteau vinced that his mother was weakening Thursday 15 November (4:00 pm) Friday 16 November (1:30 pm) Saturday 17 November (12:00 pm) apartment that could be sold by his would rework in each of his future and humiliating his father - and his late grandmother's estate at any films. Borrowing the sexual under- words on this subject are deeply dis- France, 1992, 99 mins France, 1996, 105 mins France, 2002, 104 mins, Colour moment. His roommate Franck works tones and dreamlike structure of his turbing. long hours as a cook six days a week. plays, novels and paintings, Cocteau “I wanted to give a ‘voice,’ if I may use During the summer of 1995, true to Être et avoir unfolds during four dis- The cast, mostly villagers found in the He drinks, smokes and beds brainless presents a sequence of seemingly the term, to people whom we usually what has now become a tradition, resi- tinct seasons in one of France's few places where the events had taken babes, but is antsy and dissatisfied. unrelated events, all depicting the see only through the prism of their dis- dents and staff at the La Borde psychi- remaining one-room schoolhouses, in place 150 years before, creates an Franck loves his grandmother Paulette philosophical and metaphysical strug- ability. I wanted to show that we can atric clinic get together to put on the rural St.-Etienne-sur-Osson, population interesting atmosphere of hyper-real- (Alain Resnais’ regular Françoise gles of the artist. approach them in other ways.” Nicolas play that they will perform on 15 200. The teacher, the charismatic ism. Bertin), who raised him, but resents Philibert enters the world of deaf- August. During rehearsals, the film Georges Lopez, presides over 13 stu- 3epkano, the Dublin-based collective, René Allio accomplishes the unique having to spend precious days off vis- blend electronic and acoustic instru- mutes and, with dignity and simplicity, retraces the ups and downs of this dents, ages 3 to 15, who are separated iting her after she breaks her leg. shows us the strength and diversity of adventure. But over and above the the- by age into three groups that work at feat of producing an (almost) ethno- ments to create contemporary scores the community. What is the world like atre, it describes life at La Borde, three separate large tables. Lopez has graphic document, an historical film, Then circumstances force all four of to classic silent films. Creating music to the thousands of people who live in everyday life, time passing, trivial lived above the school for the past 21 and an inquiry into a psychopathologi- them to live under the one roof for a for 3epkano is a process of patient silence? Jean-Claude, Abou, Claire, goings-on, loneliness and tiredness, years and is set to retire. He is at the cal case. year, and to learn each other’s ways. exploration and tentative discovery. Florent and the other characters were as well as the moments of merriment, centre of the film, acting a teacher / The cast are pitch-perfect in this adap- The result is a compelling and unique either born deaf or became deaf in the laughter, and wit peculiar to certain friend / father / confessor to the chil- tation of the best-selling novel by Anna cinematic experience. first few months of their lives. With residents, and the close attention dren, each of whom is filmed in his or Galvada, which veteran director Berri them, we set out to discover a land which people pay to one another... her budding individuality. has infused with a light touch. where vision and touch take on increased importance.
14 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 7 PHILIBERT Guest of Honour
> Outside France, Philibert is best-known for his award-winning documentary Être et avoir (To Be and to Have), an account of a teacher’s year in a one-room schoolhouse in rural France. Minimalist and exceedingly moving, Être et avoir was praised by critics and also achieved a rare feat in France: box office success.
What sets Philibert’s work apart from other documentary filmmakers is his commitment to revealing the extraordinary which exists within the ordinary. His approach is one of engagement through patient observation, capturing all the little details which reveal what is interesting about each situation to the viewer. His fly-on-the-wall approach enables him to gain incredible access to locations normally forbidden to strangers, and certainly to filmmakers. On set, his patience allows him, and ultimately us, to watch actions unfold in a non-linear fashion - to see people reveal them- La France Substitute Naissance des pieuvres selves in unpredictable, often astonishing, ways. Water Lilies
FAS / SCREEN TRAINING IRELAND Director: Serge Bozon Director: Fred Poulet Director: Céline Sciamma presents Cast: Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Cast: Vikash Dhorasoo Cast: Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachére, Guillame Depardieu Adele Haenel A Director’s Masterclass with Nicolas Philibert Friday 16 November (5:10 pm) Friday 16 November (7:00 pm) Friday 16 November (8:45 pm) On Saturday 17th November (12:00 pm) following the screening of Être et France, 2007, 102 mins France, 2006, 96 mins France, 2007, 85 mins Avoir, the Masterclass will commence at 2:00 pm. It will focus on the skills Autumn 1917. World War I. Miles from For those who were disappointed by Naissance des pieuvres caused a buzz and aesthetics of film directing in the the fighting, Camille’s life revolves the impersonal tone of last year’s hit at this year’s Cannes Film Festival as its Documentary genre, illustrated by around the letters she receives from Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, director, 27-year old Céline Sciamma, clips from Philibert’s work. Covering her soldier husband. Her life is shat- Substitute is the perfect antidote. had never even directed a short before Philibert’s own unique style and pio- tered when she receives a cryptic note A collaboration between video director turning the screenplay she wrote for neering methods, it will cover his from him ending their relationship. Fred Poulet and French midfielder school into a feature film. approach to protagonists, sound Distraught, she decides to disguise Vikash Dhorasoo, Substitute docu- La Ville Louvre Un animal, des animaux Marie is a petite 15-year-old girl from a design, approach to camera work, as herself as a man to go and find him. ments Dhorasoo’s 16 minutes on the Louvre City Animals and More Animals Parisian suburb who looks underdevel- well as his considerable work as an She heads for the frontline cutting pitch in the 2006 World Cup tourna- oped when compared to her class- editor. It will cover authorship /owner- across fields to avoid the gendarmes ment as well as the hours and hours of mates and the girls on the synchro- Director: Nicolas Philibert Director: Nicolas Philibert ship of ‘the story’ and responsibility (ie and, in a forest, she comes across a frustration he endured when left on nised swimming team she is so eager Monday 19 November (1:30 pm) Tuesday 20 November (1:30 pm) the director’s influence on the story), small group of lost soldiers who do not the bench as the French team jour- to join. Her best friend Anne is Marie’s issues of trust and relationships dur- suspect her true identity. She joins neyed to the final. physical opposite and is gutsy in ways ing and following the making of a film, them, and in time discovers the real France, 1990, 81 mins France, 1996, 59 mins With footage shot almost entirely by Marie can only dream of. Anne and and the need for access, and legal reason why the men have drifted off What happens at the Louvre Museum The zoological gallery of France’s Dhorasoo himself on Super 8, Marie's relationship changes dramati- implications. Donald Taylor Black, from course. when it is closed to the public? During Natural History Museum was closed to Substitute captures his initial excite- cally when Marie starts hanging out the National Film School in Dun the Grand Louvre’s extensive renova- the public for over 25 years, leaving Bozon shifts effortlessly between war- ment at being part of the top team and with Floriane, the stunning blonde with Laoghaire will chair the Masterclass. weary soldiers trudging through the his growing frustration as he is left off the model-like body who is the swim tions, the museum opened its corri- thousands of stuffed animals forgotten Philibert’s latest film, Back to forest to sweet musical numbers to the team by coach Raymond team’s captain. Floriane decides to use dors to a film crew for the first time. in the shadows. Shot during the Normandy, will screen at 6:30pm. All shocking, cold-blooded murders. Aptly Domenech and sidelined by the rest of Marie as an excuse to sneak out for People are seen moving paintings and gallery’s renovations, the film docu- participants will be welcome to attend. described by Variety as ‘Bresson the squad. Honest and poignant, this lovemaking sessions with her current reorganising rooms. Miles of under- ments its metamorphosis and the res- meets the Beatles’, this audacious film offers an insight into the world of boyfriend, forging, if not a friendship, ground corridors and galleries cross urrection of its strange lodgers. WWI drama is a stark portrait of fight- football we rarely see – instead of at least a sense of uneasy complicity. each other. Little by little, the secret, Masterclass fee €50, includes and sometimes comical, mundane, admission to Être et avoir. ing and friendship on the Western WAGs and beautiful goals, the reality Sciamma’s revealing and uncomfort- sublime and fascinating world of one Meeting Room, Irish Film Institute front. Defying all sorts of conventions, of broken dreams and defeat. able look into the world of teenage you’ll soon understand why La France of the most famous museums in the 17th November, 2007 girls has a raw edginess that led some world is revealed. A veritable city with- *Note: There will be an onstage public won the prestigious Prix Jean Vigo ear- French critics to describe her as a in a city opens its heart to us. interview with Nicolas Philibert follow- All applications must me made online lier this year. young Catherine Breillat. ing the screening of his new film at www.screentrainingireland.ie. Director Céline Sciamma will be pres- Retour en Normandie. ent at this screening and will give a Q&A afterwards.
6 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 15 A L’Ouest!
Three of the best films in the Festival will also travel west to Galway, and bookings for these can be made on 091 780078. GALWAY
Ensemble, c’est tout Ce que je sais de Lola Un homme perdu Lola A Lost Man Monday 19 November (7:30pm) Tuesday 20 November (7:30pm) Wednesday 21 November (7:30pm)
Claude Berri's newest film is a bitter- Director Javier Rebollo's first feature, Melvil Poupaud stars as Thomas Koré, sweet exploration of loneliness, ageing shot in French and in Spanish, is a a French photographer who travels and finding love. visually provocative tale of a conven- around the world for his research Scrawny Camille has a talent for draw- tional loner who becomes a silent about extreme experiences. For him, ing, but works as a cleaner and lives in voyeur obsessed by desire and an an experience does not exist unless it a Parisian attic. One night, she meets a impossible love. is photographed, women are objects fellow tenant, courtly and erudite Leon is a youngish man who lives in an to be used and discarded, and a mys- Philibert, who has a stutter and an apartment in an unexciting part of tery is not solved unless it is demysti- aristocratic surname a mile long. Paris, where he seems to do no work fied. Philibert lives in a vast bourgeois but look after his bed-ridden mother. During his travels, he crosses paths apartment that could be sold by his For fun, he prises his neighbours' let- with Fouad Saleh played by British- TV5MONDE late grandmother's estate at any ters out of the apartment block's let- Sudanese actor Alexander Siddig a moment. His roommate Franck works terboxes or goes to insignificant train solitary and amnesic man who disap- long hours as a cook six days a week. stations to watch unknown passengers peared from Beirut 17 years ago and the best in cinema He drinks, smokes and beds brainless come and go. This quietly pursued never returned. Intrigued, Koré sets babes, but is antsy and dissatisfied. activity is kept at a low level until a out to Chronicle the history of this en français Franck loves his grandmother Paulette noisy Spanish woman, Dolores man, and this journey into the heart of (Alain Resnais’ regular Françoise (Spanish actress Lola Dueñas, last a forbidden world changes both their Bertin), who raised him, but resents seen in Volver) also known as Lola, lives forever. having to spend precious days off vis- moves into the flat next door. Lola is Danielle Arbid, the award-winning iting her after she breaks her leg. bold and irresistible to the placid Leon. director of Dans les champs de Then circumstances force all four of He starts writing a diary of the minute bataille, was born in Lebanon and Digital TV Ch. 825 them to live under the one roof for a details of her life, her daily activities, began her career as a journalist. The & Analogue year, and to learn each other’s ways. her ups and downs. Quietly, and for character of Koré is based on Antoine Call 1890 918 444 years, their separate lives run in a d’Agata, a photographer who served Films and fiction series every day of the week shadowy and eventually dangerous as an advisor on the script. Channel 799 parallel. from 5.30 p.m on TV5MONDE Call 0818 719 819 RECEPTION/PROGRAMME details : (01) 8333893 / O86 3815123 EYE Cinema, Wellpark, Galway Tel: 091 78 00 78 www.eyecinema.ie [email protected] www.tv5.org/cinema
The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007 17 Belle toujours Tout est pardonné Ce que je sais de Lola All Is Forgiven Lola
Director: Manoel de Oliveira Director: Mia Hansen-Løve Director: Javier Rebollo Cast: Michel Piccoli, Bulle Ogier, Cast: Paul Blain, Marie-Christine Cast: Michaël Abiteboul, Lola Dueñas, Ricardo Trêpa, Leonor Baldaque Friedrich, Victoire Rousseau, Carmen Machi Sunday 18 November (2:15 pm) Constance Rousseau Tuesday 20 November (7:00 pm) Sunday 18 November (4:30 pm) Sunday 18 November (6:30 pm)
Portugal / France, 2006, 70 mins France, 2007, 105 mins France / Spain, 2006, 112 mins
This sly, witty work by Portuguese Victor lives in Vienna with his Austrian Director Javier Rebollo's first feature, master Manoel de Oliveira (soon to wife Annette and their 6-year-old shot in French and in Spanish, is a celebrate his 98th birthday) revisits daughter Pamela. Victor and Annette’s visually provocative tale of a conven- Luis Buñuel’s 1967 classic Belle de is a difficult marriage. He, a failed tional loner who becomes a silent jour, or at least two of its characters, writer, feels isolated by her extended voyeur obsessed by desire and an marvellously played by Michel Piccoli family and spends his days, and some- impossible love. and Bulle Ogier (in the role originated times his nights, out of the house. Very Leon is a youngish man who lives in an by Catherine Deneuve). much attached to him, Annette hopes apartment in an unexciting part of Henri (Piccoli), long ago rejected by that he will get his act together once Paris, where he seems to do no work Séverine (Ogier), is now in possession they move back to Paris. But in France, but look after his bed-ridden mother. of a secret that she is anxious to learn. Victor doesn't give up his bad habits For fun, he prises his neighbours' let- The erotic cat-and-mouse game they and after a violent argument, he leaves ters out of the apartment block's let- play across Paris results in a delicious the family home to live with his girl- terboxes or goes to insignificant train comedy of manners. There is also a friend, a junkie. Annette takes Pamela stations to watch unknown passengers wonderful, gracious freedom in the and returns to Vienna. But 11 years come and go. This quietly pursued tribute that one major film director later, she and Pamela are again living activity is kept at a low level until a pays another: Oliveira captures the in Paris and Victor tentatively lays the noisy Spanish woman, Dolores wry perversity of Buñuel’s late style, groundwork for a reunion. (Spanish actress Lola Dueñas, last while bringing his own unpredictable, First-time director Hansen-Løve has seen in Volver) also known as Lola, worldly spirit to the table. carefully crafted a narrative that moves into the flat next door. Lola is Oliveira’s Belle toujours is very much reveals as much about how a family is bold and irresistible to the placid Leon. its own film – not a shot is wasted and built as how one is destroyed by a He starts writing a diary of the minute at an hour and ten minutes it is an series of small dramatic moments. details of her life, her daily activities, unexpectedly moving and sweet elegy Watch out for the performances by two her ups and downs. Quietly, and for on ageing, sexuality and the power of unprofessional actresses, Victoire and years, their separate lives run in a cinema. Constance Rousseau, two real-life sis- shadowy and eventually dangerous ters who both play the role of Pamela, parallel. as a little girl and young woman respectively.
18 The Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2007