Media Release 6 December 2012 AUSTRALIA’S MOST ‘HAUTE’ FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS WITH ITS TASTIEST MENU YET!

Haute Cuisine (Les saveurs du palais) a deliciously appetising comedy, based on the extraordinary true story of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, private chef to President François Mitterrand, has been selected to launch the 24th annual Alliance Française French Film Festival, when it returns to Australia from 5 March, 2013.

Screening courtesy of Transmission Films and starring César award-winning actress, , Haute Cuisine tells the tale of Hortense Laborie who, upon her appointment as personal chef to the President at the Elysée Palace, is faced with the challenge of creating culinary art in a world of political intrigue. We are also delighted to announce that the remarkable Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch will be our guest-of-honour at the Festival’s opening night in Sydney.

And for closing night, we are thrilled to bring audiences Marcel Carné’s 1945 classic, Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis), a sweeping, period romance generally acknowledged as the greatest French film of all time, which has been meticulously restored from the original camera negative.

Proudly presented by the Alliance Française in association with the Embassy of in Australia and the generous support of Gold Sponsor Peugeot, who, like the Festival are renowned for their quality, dynamism, innovation & style, the 2013 Festival will screen a veritable banquet of 43 features and documentaries with courses to satisfy the most discerning cinematic tastes.

Artistic Director, Emmanuelle Denavit-Feller, has again selected the most critically acclaimed and entertaining films to emerge from France’s thriving movie industry throughout the last 12 months, which will be showcased across eight distinct categories encompassing such themes as the universality of love, art and cinema, suspense, tales from our past, stories beyond fiction, inspiring women, laughter and tales for budding cinephiles.

And, in keeping with tradition, many of France and Europe’s most celebrated actors, including , Isabelle Carré, , , , , Patrick Bruel, Charles Berling, , , Chiara Mastroianni, Isabella Rossellini, Agnès Jaoui, , , Denis Podalydès, Miou-Miou, , , , Gérard Depardieu, , Emmanuelle Seigner, , Jean-Pierre Bacri, , Tchéky Karyo, Fabrice Luchini, and Cécile de France, will bring to life these many fascinating stories.

2013 Festival highlights include:

AFTER MAY (Après Mai) Director: (Starring: Lola Créton, Clément Metayer & Félix Armand) A loosely autobiographical and evocative drama about a young French artist caught-up in a whirlwind of politics, art and sex in the wake of the electrifying events of May 1968.

ANOTHER WOMAN’S LIFE (La vie d’une autre) Director: (Starring Juliette Binoche, Mathieur Kassovitz & Aure Atika) This charm-filled romantic comedy about second chances tells the story of twenty-something Marie (Binoche), who meets and falls madly in love with Paul (Mathieu Kassovitz). After spending the night with him, Marie wakes to find she has skipped a decade of her life! She is now married to Paul with a son and a successful career. What happened? Has she deliberately forgotten her missing years? If so, why?

FEU BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN (Feu par Christian Louboutin) Director: Bruno Hullin A breathtaking collaboration between legendary French cabaret, Crazy Horse, and Christian Louboutin, designer of the world-famous, red-soled shoes, this filmed, live, production is an erotically fuelled collection of tableaux that mixes cabaret with music, dance, paintings, space-age chic…and some seriously stylish footwear!

FLY ME TO THE MOON (Un plan parfait) Director: (Starring: Diane Kruger & Dany Boon) Isabelle has a successful career and a loving boyfriend, but her family is plagued with a curse: every first marriage ends in divorce. So when her long-term boyfriend, Pierre, proposes, there’s only one thing to do. Isabelle decides she needs to find a total stranger, marry him and divorce him – all before her actual wedding!

IN THE HOUSE (Dans la maison) Director: Francois Ozon (Starring: Fabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott Thomas & Emmanuelle Seigner) A disillusioned high-school literature teacher finds his passion for teaching re-awakened, when he reads a story by one of his students, that is both compelling, yet voyeuristic. His subsequently offers the boy private tuition, but as the line between his new stories and reality blur, he starts to wonder just whom he has let into his house?

THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX (Thérèse Desqueyroux) Director: Claude Miller (Starring Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier & Catherine Arditi) Based on François Mauriac’s famous novel, famed director Claude Miller’s final film is an elegant drama that tells the story of Thérèse (Audrey Tautou), an intelligent young woman, married off to Bernard Desqueyroux (Gilles Lellouche), the chauvinistic son of another local bourgeois dynasty. Thérèse’s avant-garde ideas clash with the local conventions, which lead her to dream of escaping her staid existence, at almost any cost.

THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (L’homme qui rit) Director: Jean-Pierre Améris (Starring Gérard Depardieu, Marc-André Grondin & Emmanuelle Seigner) Based on the acclaimed Victor Hugo novel, The Man Who Laughs tells the story of Gwynplaine, a disfigured man with a scarred mouth, which gives him a permanent smile. But on discovering he is the heir to a fortune, he becomes seduced by a life of luxury, forgetting the two people who have always loved him for himself.

THE INVISIBLES (Journal de France) Director: Sébastien Lifshitz This documentary explores the lives of the so-called “invisibles” – homosexual men and women born in the interwar period (1919 to 1939). Eleven people from a range of backgrounds share their experiences re struggling to live openly within society, with all the joy, love, sex, homophobia and aggression they have experienced throughout their long lives.

National dates and venues for the 2013 ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL are:

SYDNEY: 5 – 24 March Chauvel Cinema, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona & Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace MELBOURNE: 6 – 24 March Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth Cinemas & Kino Cinemas CANBERRA: 7 – 26 March Palace Electric Cinema BRISBANE: 14 March - 4 April Palace Barracks Cinemas & Palace Centro Cinemas ADELAIDE: 19 March - 7 April Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas PERTH: 19 March - 7 April Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX & Windsor Cinema

For booking and session details, visit the Festival's official website at: http://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/

MEDIA ENQUIRIES / IMAGE REQUESTS Annette Smith - Ned & Co E: [email protected] M: 0419 578 925