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FESTIVALS / AWARDS France

It’s home from home for young European talent at the Premiers Plans

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- The 34th Angers-based festival will spotlight a myriad of European first films, as well as paying tribute to German filmmaker Christian Petzold

It’s home from home for young European talent at the Premiers Plans
Bruno Reidal by Vincent Le Port

An unmissable event for young and high-quality European cinema, which is once again teasing a jam-packed and highly diverse showcase of works, the 34th Angers Premiers Plans Festival (running 24 – 30 January) is set to kick off on Monday under the aegis of Claude-Eric Poiroux.

The ten feature films battling it out in the international competition will be picked apart by a jury presided over by French actor Melvil Poupaud (flanked by Daphnée Patakia, Fanny Burdino, Manele Labidi and Antoine Barraud). Five films unveiled in Cannes are included in the line-up, namely Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vincent Le Port
film profile
]
by French director Vincent Le PortLibertad [+see also:
film review
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interview: Clara Roquet
film profile
]
by Spain’s Clara Roquet, Unclenching the Fists [+see also:
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film profile
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by Russia’s Kira Kovalenko, Moneyboys [+see also:
film review
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interview: CB Yi
film profile
]
by Chinese-Austrian director C. B. Yi and Women Do Cry [+see also:
film review
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interview: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
film profile
]
by Bulgarian duo Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova. Three titles which turned countless heads in Berlin are also in on the act, entitled What Do We See When We Look at the Sky [+see also:
film review
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interview: Alexandre Koberidze
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]
by Georgia’s Alexandre Koberidze, Ninjababy [+see also:
film review
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interview: Kristine Kujath Thorp
interview: Yngvild Sve Flikke
film profile
]
by Norway’s Yngvild Sve Flikke and The World After Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas
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]
by France’s Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas, and rounding off the line-up, we find the multi-award-winning animated documentary Flee [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile
]
by Denmark’s Jonas Poher Rasmussen (which is opening the festival) and Broadway [+see also:
film review
trailer
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]
by Greek director Christos Massalas.

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The competitive Diagonale section, dedicated to especially audacious works (with a jury led by Anaïs Volpé), will screen two films presented at Venice’s Giornate degli Autori (Romanian film Immaculate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Monica Stan, George Chiper-…
film profile
]
by Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark, and the documentary Three Minutes - A Lengthening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bianca Stigter
film profile
]
by Holland’s Bianca Stiegter), alongside Our Eternal Summer [+see also:
film review
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interview: Émilie Aussel
film profile
]
by French director Émilie Aussel (which won the Special Jury Prize in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente section), Moon, 66 Questions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacqueline Lentzou
film profile
]
by Greece’s Jacqueline Lentzou (unveiled on the Berlinale’s Encounters agenda) and Laure Portier’s French-Belgian documentary Soy Libre [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(coming to the event via Cannes’ ACID line-up).

In addition to the various short film competitions (featuring a main jury presided over by French filmmaker Chloé Mazlo), film schools, animated works and titles for younger audiences, the Angers-based festival - set to be closed by Éric Gravel’s Venice-endorsed work Full Time [+see also:
film review
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interview: Eric Gravel
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]
– will also treat attendees to a new section entitled Vertiges (involving genre film evenings composed of double bills), which will notably play host to Cannes title The Innocents [+see also:
film review
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interview: Eskil Vogt
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]
by Norway’s Eskil Vogt, After Blue [+see also:
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]
by Bertrand Mandico (unveiled in competition in Locarno) and Hatching [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Hanna Bergholm
film profile
]
by Finland’s Hanna Bergholm (currently showcasing at the Sundance Film Festival).

Four Cannes titles stand out in the realm of premières (Zero Fucks Given [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Marre and Julie Le…
film profile
]
by the duo Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lecoustre, Softie [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Samuel Theis
film profile
]
by Samuel Theis, Robust [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Constance Meyer
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]
by Constance Meyer and The Braves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Souheila Yacoub
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]
by Anaïs Volpé), alongside Alice Diop’s documentary We [+see also:
film review
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interview: Alice Diop
film profile
]
(which won multiple trophies in Berlin), Petite Solange [+see also:
film review
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interview: Axelle Ropert
film profile
]
by Axelle Ropert (discovered in competition in Locarno), The Young Lovers [+see also:
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film profile
]
by Carine Tardieu, L’horizon [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Émilie Carpentier, Faithful [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Hélier Cisterne, Icarus and the Minotaur by Carlo Vogele and South Sentinel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mathieu Gérault
film profile
]
by Mathieu Gérault.

Last but not least, the line-up also includes (among a raft of other events) retrospectives dedicated to the German filmmaker Christian Petzold, his Italian counterpart Jonas Carpignano (notably involving A Chiara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jonas Carpignano
film profile
]
) and to Portuguese animation names Regina Pessoa and Abi Feijó; a Q&A session with French actress Laure Calamy, showcasing three works from her back catalogue; the usual script-readings, which this year will include the feature films Faire feu by Lucas Gloppe, Lumière noire by Karim Bensalah and Les tempêtes by Dania Reymond-Boughenou; and the Angers Workshops’ residency involving five selected projects, which Cineuropa will come back to in greater detail at a later date.

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(Translated from French)

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