BUY TICKETS at FILMLINC.ORG Rendez-Vous with OPENING French Cinema Returns NIGHT in Its 23Rd Edition to Remind Viewers That There’S Nothing Like French Cinema
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BUY TICKETS AT FILMLINC.ORG Rendez-Vous with OPENING French Cinema returns NIGHT in its 23rd edition to remind viewers that there’s nothing like French cinema. Emerging talents and established masters U.S. PREMIERE alike are highlighted BARBARA in this selection, which Directed by Mathieu Amalric France, 2017, 98m is as full of surprises The legendary chanteuse known only as always, from as Barbara, gifted with a tremulously expressive voice and striking stage unconventional biopics presence, is an enduring icon of French culture. In this tantalizing tribute from to tales of families on actor-director Mathieu Amalric, a transfix- the edge. Co-presented ing, chameleon-like Jeanne Balibar stars as Brigitte, a film actress cast in a biopic with UniFrance, Rendez- about the singer. This conceit yields, à la Cassavetes’ Opening Night, a mesmer- Vous demonstrates that izing meta-cinematic high-wire act about French cinema is vast the slippery nature of performance and identity as Balibar’s Barbara merges with and inspiring as ever. footage of the real-life diva until the two become virtually indistinguishable. The Artistic Direction: Florence Almozini result is both a captivating experiment and and Dennis Lim a love letter to a singular artist. Nominated for nine César Awards, including Best Film, All films are subtitled. Director, Actress, Cinematography, and Original Screenplay. Thursday, March 8 6:30pm & 9:00pm Introductions by Mathieu Amalric and Jeanne Balibar 12 DAYS (12 JOURS) AVA Directed by Raymond Depardon Directed by Léa Mysius France, 2017, 87m France, 2017, 105m Continuing a 30-year collaboration with The bold, bracingly original debut feature sound recordist and producer Claudine from Léa Mysius is a coming-of-age tale Nougaret, renowned photographer and unlike any other. While on summer vaca- documentarian Raymond Depardon has tion on the crystal blue coast, tempestu- made a startling, face-to-face look at men- ous 13-year-old Ava (Noée Abita) learns tal illness and the French legal system. she is quickly going blind. It’s a revelation According to the law, anyone admitted to that leads to a breathtaking turn of events, a psychiatric hospital against their will must as the newly emboldened Ava turns her be evaluated by a judge within twelve back on her single mother (Laure Calamy, days to determine whether they are fit to nominated for a Best Supporting Actress be released or must continue treatment. César Award) in favor of the outlaw teen With disarming, fly-on-the-wall immediacy, Juan (Juan Cano) and the wild freedom Depardon brings the viewer into the room of the road. Dazzling 35mm cinematogra- for these charged encounters, which are by phy—with sun-splashed beach images by turns heartrending, unnerving, and deeply day and rich, inky blacks by night—evokes humanizing. Crucially, Depardon and his the increasingly dark world of a girl taking impassive, vérité camera refuse to pass in as much of life as she can, while she can. judgment, letting the subjects—among society’s most vulnerable and marginal- Sunday, March 11 8:30pm ized—speak for themselves. Nominated Friday, March 16 9:15pm for a Best Documentary César Award. A Distrib Films release. Thursday, March 15 6:30pm Q&A with Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret FOR TICKETS VISIT FILMLINC.ORG BEFORE SUMMER ENDS U.S. PREMIERE (AVANT LA FIN DE L’ÉTÉ) C’EST LA VIE! Directed by Maryam Goormaghtigh (LE SENS DE LA FÊTE) France/Switzerland, 2017, 80m Directed by Olivier Nakache & Thirty-something Iranian friends Arash, Éric Toledano Hossein, and Ashkan embark on a late France/Canada/Belgium, 2017, 117m summer road trip through the sunny Nominated for 10 Césars, including Best South before Arash heads back to Iran. Film, this deliciously deadpan comic souf- The three camp under the stars as they flé from the directors ofThe Intouchables guzzle beers, join up with a rock ‘n’ roll concerns the behind-the-scenes plan- girl duo, and reflect on the cultural differ- ning of an elaborate wedding. Max (Jean- ences between their home and adopted Pierre Bacri) is a veteran event coordinator countries. With a wry, improvisatory sense who thinks he’s seen it all—until he must of humor and spare but striking compo- pull off a spectacular wedding at an sitions, director Maryam Goormaghtigh 18th-century chateau (complete with crafts an endearing and perceptive waitstaff in powdered wigs). Between semi-documentary travelogue that speaks an epic catering mishap, an egomaniac to both the challenges and freedoms that groomsman, and a photographer who’s come with being an outsider in a foreign more interested in his Tinder matches country. Bonus: a hilarious language les- than in taking pictures, it’s sure to be a son on the various Iranian terms for farts. night to remember… Like Altman with a featherlight, Gallic touch, C’est la vie! Saturday, March 17 1:00pm expertly juggles a sparkling ensemble cast including Vincent Macaigne, Gilles Lellouche, and Suzanne Clement. Saturday, March 10 9:30pm Sunday, March 18 7:45pm RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE CUSTODY COMFORT AND (JUSQU’À LA GARDE) CONSOLATION IN FRANCE Directed by Xavier Legrand (POUR LE RÉCONFORT) France, 2017, 93m Directed by Vincent Macaigne Winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film France, 2017, 91m Festival, this riveting domestic drama is a After squandering their inheritance while harrowing study of a family coming undone. living la vie de bohème abroad, siblings When his parents separate, a bitter cus- Pascal (Pascal Rénéric) and Pauline tody battle results in 11-year-old Julien (a (Pauline Lorillard)—scions of an old money, heartrendingly naturalistic Thomas Gioria) aristocratic family—return to their ancestral being shuttled between his fearful mother estate and their childhood friends in the (Léa Drucker) and abusive father (Denis Loire Valley. Awaiting them is a tidal wave Ménochet), who uses the boy as a pawn of pent-up resentment as their presence to manipulate his ex-wife—a volatile situa- unleashes the ire of all those in their orbit, tion that pushes everyone to the breaking in particular a bitter, virulently anti-bour- point. Expanding on his Oscar-nominated geois nursing home manager who will stop short Just Before Losing Everything, direc- at nothing to see the pair humiliated. One tor Xavier Legrand displays a distinctive of France’s most distinctive rising talents, touch that imbues each frame with quiver- Macaigne pulls no punches in this daringly ing tension. A Kino Lorber release. iconoclastic tale of the clash between the haves and have-nots and the struggle for Sunday, March 11 3:00pm the soul of Europe. Q&A with Xavier Legrand Wednesday, March 14 8:45pm Q&A with Vincent Macaigne Sunday, March 18 1:00pm FOR TICKETS VISIT FILMLINC.ORG U.S. PREMIERE U.S. PREMIERE ENDANGERED SPECIES THE GUARDIANS (ESPÈCES MENACÉES) (LES GARDIENNES) Directed by Gilles Bourdos Directed by Xavier Beauvois France/Belgium, 2017, 105m Switzerland/France, 2017, 138m Drawing from Richard Bausch’s short sto- A quietly affecting human drama of love, ries, Gilles Bourdos delivers an explosive loss, and resilience unfolds against the emotional epic about the tangled relation- backdrop of World War I in the new film ships among parents, children, husbands, from Of Gods and Men director Xavier wives, and lovers. At the heart of this Beauvois. France, 1916: due to a short- multi-strand ensemble piece is Josephine, age of men, teenage orphan Francine a young newlywed fearfully taking first (Iris Bry) is hired to work on the farm of steps to escape her abusive, possessive the hardened Hortense (Nathalie Baye) husband. Swirling about her are turbulent and her loitering daughter Solange lives in various stages of free-fall, from a (Laura Smet). When a romance forms lonely student caring for his mentally ill between Francine and Hortense’s son mother to a middle-aged father starting Georges (Cyril Descours), a soldier on over after a divorce. Masterful crosscutting leave, their love is tested by war and the creates a charged sense of anticipation, complex social fabric of the community. while regular Hou Hsiao-hsien cinema- Composed in painterly images bathed tographer Mark Lee Ping-bing contributes in natural light by Caroline Champetier, dynamic, color-saturated compositions. this intimate epic traces the journey of a young woman weathering turbulent Sunday, March 11 5:30pm times—and refusing to be defeated. A Q&A with Gilles Bourdos and Music Box Films release. Richard Bausch Thursday, March 15 1:30pm Friday, March 16 6:00pm Q&A with Xavier Beauvois RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA JEANNETTE, THE CHILDHOOD NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF JOAN OF ARC JULY TALES Directed by Bruno Dumont (CONTES DE JUILLET) France, 2017, 105m Directed by Guillaume Brac The ever-unpredictable Bruno Dumont France, 2017, 68m (Slack Bay) takes another thrilling hairpin Two languorous summer days, two thorny turn with this audacious, 15th-century-set tales of romantic misunderstanding: in heavy-metal musical composed by Igorrr part one, two girlfriends (Milena Csergo (aka Gautier Serre). It’s 1425, and 8-year- and Lucie Grunstein) head to the Cergy old shepherdess Jeannette—the future leisure park for a day of swimming and Joan of Arc—already has the weight of equally vigorous flirtation; in the second, the French nation on her shoulders as a Norwegian exchange student (Hanne she grapples with matters of the soul, the Mathisen Haga) finds herself the target ongoing Hundred Years’ War, and the feel- of unwanted attention from two would-be ing that she is meant for something great. suitors. Channeling the spirits of Éric Along the way there are head-banging Rohmer and Jacques Rozier in its sunny nuns, surreal angelic visions, and a cav- summer setting and concern with the alcade of hard-stomping electro-rock erotic entanglements of the young and song and dance numbers recorded live idle, this deceptively breezy diptych is, on on location.