french film 2015.qxp_french film 14/10/2015 17:23 Page 1 5 November to 13 December 2015 www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk Edinburgh Glasgow Aberdeen Dundee Inverness Kirkcaldy Hawick London Manchester Leeds Newcastle Warwick Hereford Belfast french film 2015.qxp_french film 14/10/2015 17:23 Page 2 french film 2015.qxp_french film 14/10/2015 17:23 Page 3 welcome I N D E X Bienvenue to the 23rd edition of the On average over the past ten years French French Film Festival UK which every year films have generated more ticket sales At a glance 4 –5 showcases the best of Francophone and outside France than on their home ground. French-speaking cinema in leading More than 70 French films or co-productions independent cinemas around the country. scored more than 100,000 admissions The glories of Gaumont 6 –9 This year we’re delighted to add to the abroad, against an average of 56 since family of the French Film Festival new 2000. In terms of markets, 2014 saw a new Silent masterpiece 10 venues in Leeds, Belfast, and Hereford, as record for ticket sales in China with eight well as a return to the fold for Manchester releases chalking up 17 million-plus box and Home, the city’s exciting new venue ofce sales. In both admissions and box Panorama Horizons 11 – 23 for contemporary visual art, theatre and ofce receipts, China is now France’s film. Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow second-biggest global market, its 91 million Discovery Horizons 25 – 30 Film Theatre where the event began more dollar box ofce grosses for Gallic fare than two decades ago remain as focal only bettered by 147.6 million dollars from Documentary points alongside the Ciné Lumière in the United States and English-speaking 31 London with a selection of events and Canada. premieres and the Barbican hosting a silent Screenings for schools Jean-Paul Salomé, Unifrance’s president, 32 – 33 film and music event. French film fans in has noted that the performance of French Newcastle, Warwick, Aberdeen, Inverness, films were justification for Europe’s cultural Going Beyond Cinema 35 Dundee, Kirkcaldy and Hawick also will be exception as cultural diversity drives the able to appreciate and enjoy highlights buoyant box ofce results. The challenges from this year’s selections. Short Cuts 36 – 37 remained in ensuring that arthouse titles We pay tribute to the legendary film were nurtured and could find their place studios Gaumont with a trio of restored alongside the blockbusters. “There are still Timetables 39 – 41 classics and join forces with French Film many opportunities to take le cinéma First and STUDIOCANAL to provide français to the next level,” he said. Guests 41 premiere showings of some of this year’s Cinema is one of the few places where most hotly anticipated titles. Directorial people despite all their differences talents on offer in Panorama Horizons Tickets & Booking 44 – 45 (particularly pertinent in these difcult include Jerôme Bonnell, Jean-Pierre times) can come together for a shared Améris, Benoît Jacquot, Philippe Garrel, experience. Hot Tickets 47 Joann Sfar, Samuel Benchetrit, Stephane Our team of sponsors, advertisers, Brizé, Michel Gondry, Arnaud Desplechin, Cast & Crew 48 – 49 Cédric Kahn, Lionel Baier, and Maiwenn. supporters, colleagues, volunteers, funding In Discovery Horizons new film-makers bodies, film companies, sales agents and Stefan Liberski and Savina Dellicour are in distributors are all FORMIDABLE! And it Sponsors & Funders 50 the spotlight beside Louis Garrel (son of goes almost without saying that applies to Philippe) making the transition from actor audiences everywhere to whom we wish: to behind the camera. BON FESTIVAL! RICHARD MOWE, Director, French Film Festival UK ILONA MORISON, Co-Director, French Film Festival UK Cover image: Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Bercot in Mon Roi/My King courtesy of STUDIOCANAL. Bercot also directed Standing Tall. Certificates in this brochure are advisory FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2015 3 french film 2015.qxp_french film 14/10/2015 17:23 Page 4 AT A G L A N C E what’s on where 40-love / Terre battue (p.26) Chorus (p.12) J’Accuse (p.10) Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse London Barbican Centre The Clearstream Affair / All About Them/À trois on y va (p.12) The Lady in the Car with L’Enquête (p.13) Glasses and a Gun / Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse La dame dans l’auto… (p.15) Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre Warwick Arts Centre Glasgow Film Theatre Hereford Courtyard Centre for the Arts Inverness Eden Court Inverness Eden Court Diary of a Chambermaid / Leeds International Film Festival Journal d'une femme de chambre The Last Diamond / (p.13) London Ciné Lumière Le Dernier Diamant (p.15) Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse All Cats Are Grey / Edinburgh Dominion Dundee Contemporary Arts Tous les chats sont gris (p.26) Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Inverness Eden Court Inverness Eden Court Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Kirkcaldy Adam Smith Theatre London Ciné Lumière Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Macadam Stories / Asphalte (p.17) Dundee Contemporary Arts The Anarchists / Les Anarchistes Family for Rent / (p.27) Une famille à louer (p.14) Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Dominion Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Dominion Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Hereford Courtyard Centre for the Arts The Measure Of A Man / London Ciné Lumière La Loi du marché (p.17) The Big Blue / Le Grand Bleu (p.8) Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Edinburgh Filmhouse Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Warwick Arts Centre Glasgow Film Theatre Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre Human (p.31) Leeds International Film Festival Dundee Contemporary Arts Edinburgh Filmhouse Memories / Les souvenirs (p.18) Edinburgh Filmhouse London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Inverness Eden Court In the Shadow of Women / London Ciné Lumière Leeds International Film Festival L’Ombre des femmes (p.14) Dundee Contemporary Arts London Ciné Lumière Edinburgh Filmhouse Manchester Home Cinema Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Newcastle Tyneside Cinema FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2015 4 french film 2015.qxp_french film 14/10/2015 17:23 Page 5 AT A G L A N C E what’s on where Microbe and Gasoline / A Perfect Man / Un homme idéal (p.27) The Sweet Escape / Microbe et Gasoil (p.18) Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Comme un avion (p.23) Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Dominion Dundee Contemporary Arts Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Dominion Edinburgh Dominion Kirkcaldy Adam Smith Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre London Ciné Lumière Heart of Hawick Arts Centre Kirkcaldy Adam Smith Theatre Newcastle Tyneside Cinema London Ciné Lumière London Ciné Lumière The Murderer Lives At 21 / Santa Claus! / Le Père Noël (p.22) Tokyo Fiancée (p.29) L’Assassin habite au 21 (p.8) Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Filmhouse Dundee Contemporary Art Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Edinburgh Filmhouse London Ciné Lumière London Ciné Lumière Glasgow Film Theatre Two Friends / Les deux amis (p.30) My Friend Victoria / Shorts (p.36) Edinburgh Filmhouse Mon amie Victoria (p.19) Edinburgh Filmhouse London Ciné Lumière Dundee Contemporary Arts The Silence of the Sea / Vanity / La Vanité (p.35) Edinburgh Filmhouse Le Silence de la Mer (p.9) Edinburgh Dominion Dundee Contemporary Arts My Golden Days / Edinburgh Filmhouse Trois souvenirs… (p.19) Wild Life / Vie sauvage (p.23) Leeds International Film Festival Hereford Courtyard Centre for the Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts London Ciné Lumière Edinburgh Filmhouse Manchester Home Cinema My King / Mon Roi (p.21) Glasgow Film Theatre Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre SK1 / L’Affaire SK1 (p.29) Hereford Courtyard Centre for the Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts Aberdeen Belmont Filmhouse Warwick Arts Centre Edinburgh Dominion Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre Young Tiger / Bébé Tigre (p.33) Inverness Eden Court Edinburgh Filmhouse London Ciné Lumière Standing Tall / La Tête haute (p.30) + schools screenings Warwick Arts Centre Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre Dundee Contemporary Arts Zarafa (p.33) The Night Watchman / Edinburgh Filmhouse Edinburgh Dominion Jamais de la vie (p.21) Glasgow Film Theatre + schools screenings Edinburgh Dominion London Ciné Lumière Newcastle Tyneside Cinema Newcastle Tyneside Cinema FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK 2015 5 french film 2015.qxp_french film 14/10/2015 17:23 Page 6 T R I B U T E The glories of Gaumont A celebration of the world’s oldest film company By RICHARD MOWE Léon Gaumont… set up studios and laboratories throughout Europe and the United States. Gaumont, which celebrated its 120th anniversary this year, has Films in the archives include rare products of the silent screen by survived as the world’s oldest film company operating across such relatively unknown directors as Emile Cohl (who combined the board in production, distribution and exhibition. live action and animation some 80 years before Who Framed The company's founder, Léon Gaumont, set up studios and Roger Rabbit) and Durand, whose bizarre Calino Hardens His laboratories throughout Europe and the United States around the Face (1910) features a protagonist who encourages people to hit turn of the century and in 1910 transformed a Parisian race track him in the face with sledgehammers and cement blocks. into the world's largest cinema, with 5000 seats. Film historians Great silent classics such as Carl Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc credit the company for its early emphasis on location shooting, as well as Louis Feuillade's ten-episode serial, Les Vampires, and a feature that continues to mark French cinema. his 12-episode classic Judex, are among the jewels.