%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.