email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

FESTIVALS / AWARDS France

Premiers Plans still on a mission to fight for the future of cinema

by 

- Young European talents are firmly in the spotlight at the 32nd edition of the Angers-based festival, which unspools from 17-26 January with Juliette Binoche chairing the main jury

Premiers Plans still on a mission to fight for the future of cinema
Giraffe by Anna Sofie Hartmann

Today marks the start of the 32nd Premiers Plans – Angers Film Festival (unspooling from 17-26 January), a trailblazing event showing off the most promising talents that Europe has to offer, headed up by the energetic Claude-Eric Poiroux, and which has this year selected around 100 works.

The eight features duking it out in the international competition will be weighed up by a jury chaired by Juliette Binoche (who will also be giving a master class and who is being backed up by filmmakers Sarah Suco, Lukas Dhont and Franco Lolli as well as by Swiss musician Sophie Hunger). Three films that were first unveiled at Locarno will be locking horns: Giraffe [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Germany’s Anna Sofie Hartmann, Ivana the Terrible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ada Solomon
film profile
]
by Romania’s Ivana Mladenović and the Belgian documentary Overseas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yoon Sung-A
film profile
]
by Sung A Yoon. The line-up also includes A Thief’s Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Belén Funes
film profile
]
by Spaniard Belén Funes (revealed in competition at San Sebastián, with Greta Fernández scooping the Best Actress Award to boot), the German production Oray [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
film profile
]
 by Turkey’s Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay (crowned Best First Feature at the 2019 Berlinale), A White, White Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile
]
by Iceland’s Hlynur Pálmason (Rising Star Award for actor Ingvar E Sigurðsson in the Cannes Critics’ Week), Psychobitch [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Norway’s Martin Lund (which recently won the Audience Award at the ArteKinoFestival) and the documentary That Which Does Not Kill [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile
]
by Belgium’s Alexe Poukine (winner of the Jury Prize for Most Innovative Film at Visions du Réel).

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The competitive section dedicated to French feature debuts comprises four movies, with Two of Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Filippo Meneghetti
film profile
]
 by Filippo Meneghetti (world sales of which have been skyrocketing since its premiere at Toronto), My Days of Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoine de Bary
film profile
]
 by Antoine de Bary (premiered at Venice, in the Orizzonti section) and two documentaries: Retiens la nuit by Simon Depardon, Baptiste Drouillac and Arthur Verret, and Des hommes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Alice Odiot and Jean-Robert Viallet (unveiled at Cannes, on the ACID programme).

Besides the competitions for shorts, student films, animated works and titles for young audiences, the Angers-based festival, which will open with Stéphane Demoustier’s The Girl With a Bracelet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile
]
(which was premiered at Locarno) and will be brought to a close by Olivier AssayasWasp Network [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
(presented in competition at Venice), will screen three feature-length documentaries in its competitive Diagonales section: Animus Animalis (A Story About People, Animals and Things) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aistė Žegulytė
film profile
]
by Lithuania’s Aistė Žegulytė, Sad Song [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Louise Narboni, and the Swiss production Bird Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maya Kosa and Sérgio da Costa
film profile
]
by Maya Kosa and Sergio Da Costa.

Among the premiere screenings are How to Be a Good Wife [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile
]
by Martin Provost, Small Country: an African Childhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Éric Barbier, Rocks [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sarah Gavron
film profile
]
by Brit Sarah Gavron, the Cannes titles Litigante [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Franco Lolli and Abou Leila [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Amin Sidi-Boumédiène, and the documentary Autonomes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by François Bégaudeau. It is also worth noting that The Bare Necessity [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erwan Le Duc
film profile
]
by Erwan Le Duc will be shown as a special screening.

Lastly, the programme also includes (among myriad other events) tributes and retrospectives dedicated to the duo of French documentarians Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret (who will also give a master class), Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr, and Irish animators Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey (in the presence of the former). Thematic sidebars entitled "Sicilia!" and "Profession: Reporter" (including the excellent titles Collective [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Romania’s Alexander Nanau and the Oscar-nominated For Sama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
film profile
]
by Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts, among others) will also be available for audiences to explore. And that’s not to mention the screenplay readings of The Braves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Souheila Yacoub
film profile
]
by Anaïs Volpé, Olga [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elie Grappe
film profile
]
by Elie Grappe and Slumlord [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Steve Achiepo.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy