french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 1 7 November to 7 December 2014 www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk Edinburgh Glasgow Aberdeen Dundee Inverness Kirkcaldy London Cambridge Newcastle Warwick York french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 2 french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 3 Welcome I N D E X At a glance 4 –5 Bienvenue to the 22nd edition of the French Film Festival UK, your annual showcase of the best of Francophone cinema. We pay tribute to the late Alain Resnais tribute 6 –7 lamented Alain Resnais who passed away earlier in the year at the age of 91. And we focus on all corners of la belle France from Normandy via Paris Panorama Horizons 9 – 22 to the Riviera and the Camargue with films on all kinds of subjects and in all manner of styles from such directors as Jean-Luc Godard, André Paris City of Cinema Téchiné, Volker Schlöndorff, Jean Becker, Pierre Salvadori, Rose Bosch Documentary 23 and Jean-Pierre Améris and featuring such stellar talents as Isabelle Huppert, CinéConcert 24 – 25 Catherine Deneuve, Jean Reno, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Classic 26 Guillaume Canet. There are new talents in Short Cuts, a choice of animation, and reflections Discovery Horizons 27 – 33 on the Great War in French cinema. Meanwhile the audiences of tomorrow will be packing in to see films in the Classe du cinéma section. Animation 34 – 35 Many guests are waiting in the wings to accompany their films and to Great War Centenary 36 – 38 take part in debates and encounter sessions. Keep an eye on the website for details. L’école du cinéma 42 – 43 Many mercis to our formidable team, sponsors, advertisers, supporters, colleagues, funding bodies, film companies and distributors as well as the Short Cuts 44 – 45 most important participants of all: our audience. Bon Festival! Timetables 48 – 49 Richard Mowe, Director, French Film Festival UK Ilona Morison, Deputy Director, French Film Festival UK Hail César 53 Tickets and booking 54 – 55 Sylvain Chomet, French Film Festival UK patron: Cast & crew 58 – 59 I will miss being with you in person this year – I had such fun presenting Attila Marcel last time. Now I’m working A table 60 – 61 on the next… My heart and spirit are with this wonderful festival, which is put together with such passion and Remerciements 62 commitment. Bravo et à la prochaine. Cover image Isabelle Huppert in Paris Follies (page 19) Certificates in this brochure are advisory FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2014 3 french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 4 AT A G L A N C E what’sonwhere Ariane’s Thread (p.11) French Riviera (p.13) Hope (p.30) Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Inverness Eden Court London Ciné Lumière Gare du Nord (p.23) In the Courtyard (p.15) Glasgow Alliance Française Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Aunt Hilda! (p.34/43) Edinburgh Dominion London Ciné Lumière Gazelles (p.28) Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse London Ciné Lumière Belle & Sebastian (p.11/43) Glasgow Film Theatre Dundee Contemporary Arts London Ciné Lumière Le Joli Mai (p.26) Edinburgh Dominion Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Get Well Soon (p.14) York City Screen Picturehouse Glasgow Film Theatre Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse London Barbican Centre Edinburgh Filmhouse Life and Nothing But (p.38) Glasgow Alliance Française Warwick Arts Centre Glasgow Film Theatre Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Life of Riley (p.7) Day of the Crows (p.34) Edinburgh Filmhouse Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Going Away (p.14) Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre York City Screen Picturehouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Warwick Arts Centre Inverness Eden Court Diplomacy (p.12) Longwave (p.17) Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Dundee Contemporary Arts Goodbye to Language (p.15) Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Dominion Dundee Contemporary Arts Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse Inverness Eden Court London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Warwick Arts Centre Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Love at First Fight (p.30) Domestic Life (p.28) Hiroshima Mon Amour (p.7) Dundee Contemporary Arts Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Dundee Contemporary Arts Edinburgh Filmhouse Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre York City Screen Picturehouse Glasgow Film Theatre Inverness Eden Court Newcastle Tyneside Cinema London Ciné Lumière FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2014 4 french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 5 AT A G L A N C E what’sonwhere Marie’s Story (p.17) Patchwork Family (p.19) Timbuktu (p.21) Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière London Ciné Lumière London Ciné Lumière School of Babel (p.21) Trousers (p.38) Nine Month Stretch (p.31) Dundee Contemporary Arts Glasgow Alliance Française Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Dominion Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre Turning Tide (p.33) Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Dundee Contemporary Arts Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Edinburgh Filmhouse Not My Type (p.18) Shorts Programme (p.44) 24 Days (p.22) Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Dundee Contemporary Arts Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Centre for Edinburgh Dominion Glasgow Film Theatre Contemporary Arts Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Studies on Paris (p.24) Weekends in Normandy (p.22) Once in a Lifetime (p.31) London Barbican Centre Edinburgh Dominion London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre The Blue Room (p.12) London Ciné Lumière Our Summer in Provence (p.18) Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Welcome to Argentina (p.33) Edinburgh Dominion Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Inverness Eden Court London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Warwick Arts Centre Wolfy, the Incredible Secret (p.35/43) Paris Follies (p.19) Edinburgh Filmhouse Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse The Finishers (p.13) Kirkcaldy Adam Smith Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Inverness Eden Court Wooden Crosses (p.38) Kirkcaldy Adam Smith Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2014 5 french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 6 A L A I N R E S N A I S T R I B U T E Auniqueoutsider fromtheNewWave Alain Resnais who died earlier this year attention to the town, which had suffered aged 91 after completing his last film, the first atomic bombing in history. Sixteen always stood apart from the rest of the films had already been made about it. New Wave generation. His films are unique Resnais began to have second thoughts. and do not resemble anybody else's, or Finally, he took the plunge and came up even appear to possess connections to with a fictional feature film, the first in his each other. career, and a work that has retained its The director, still debonair and elegant into mythical power right up until today. his nineties, knew that he was perceived – Then, with the writer Alain Robbe-Grillet, and often misperceived – as the maker of he made the even more mystifying Last “difficult” films. “That’s the way it is,” he Year in Marienbad/L’Année dernière à Young man with a camera: Alain Resnais used to say with resignation. Marienbad (1960), which provoked yawns at the start of his career. Resnais, long infatuated with British and fidgets at the time. theatre, made his successful two-part Raised in austere Brittany, in a Catholic Smoking/No Smoking (1993) from a nest family, Resnais says that he was brought up of eight Alan Ayckbourn plays. Another to think there were only two great names: popular film was Same Old Song/On Molière and Racine. “That was it, and connaît la chanson (1997), inspired by maybe de Musset,” he adds. “But then, Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective. I discovered that there were more.” Fittingly he returned to Ayckbourn for his He began as a film editor, and formal final film Life of Riley/Aimer boire et structure appealed to him. He harboured chanter. He died just after its première at a passion for pop culture: silent movies, the Berlin Film Festival. slapstick, comic strips, musicals and In 1959, Resnais, with Marguerite Duras as his theatre, English and American. He once screenwriter, reshaped narrative structure in explained that he chose his actors for their Hiroshima Mon Amour, a film that merged voices. “Radio made a lasting impression past and present tenses, layered with on me. I don't think any actor is superior or dialogues between lovers incanting inferior: Jack Benny and John Gielgud are memories of postwar France and Japan. both great actors in my book,” he was An involving meditation on the potentials once quoted as saying. and limits of passion and pacifism featuring Resnais won a special award for his whole two “impossible” love affairs, one career in Cannes in 2009. When he was Alain Resnais at 91 on the set of Life of Riley: overshadowed by the bomb, one undercut asked in an interview what he thought “I’m a little melancholic because I don’t work by Second World War exigencies Hiroshima of his own films he replied: “I’m a little nearly enough.” Mon Amour very nearly didn’t happen. melancholic because I don't work nearly At the time, Resnais was working on short enough.” documentary films and had turned his RICHARD MOWE /JOAN DUPONT FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2014 6 french film 2014:french film 15/10/14 12:12 Page 7 AlainResnaisTribute Hiroshima Mon Amour (18) Life of Riley Alain Resnais’s first feature began as a documentary commission from Aimer, boire et chanter (12) Japan’s Daiei Studios, secured for Alain Resnais by producer Anatole Dauman.