French cinema crosses the Rhine
As the 23d Munich Filmfest (25 June – 2 July), which dedicates this year, for the second time, a section to 'New French Cinema', is ending, the French Film Week is about to start in Berlin.
For the French film section of the Munich Filmfest, Robert Fisher selected two national premieres (Holy Lola by Bertrand Tavernier, distributed by Prokino starting on 8/18, and Les soeurs fâchées, by Alexandra Leclère, which Arsenal Filmverleih will launch on 8/25) and six films never screened in Germany before: Le cou de la girafe by Safy Nebbou, Kings and Queen by Arnaud Desplechin, Mon ange by Serge Frydman, Douches froides by Antony Cordier, La petite Chartreuse by Jean-Pierre Denis, and Zim and co. by Pierre Jolivet —the last three directors are also among this year's guests.
The 5th French Film Week in Berlin (1-6 July), also designed for the public to discover French cinema, consists of a selection of twelve films produced in the past two years. The Cinema Paris and the Filmtheater am Friedrichshain will screen films of all genres, such as two very feminine comedies (Les Sœurs fâchées, starring Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Frot, and Cause toujours ! by Jeanne Labrune, a sarcastic film played by Sylvie Testud and Victoria Abril), a road movie about a father and a son Le grand voyage , by Ismaël Ferroukhi, the French/Lebanese film In the Battllefields by Danielle Arbid (a first film presented in Cannes last year), as well as Clean, by Olivier Assayas, which earned Maggie Cheung the Palm as Best Actress 2004 in Cannes.
Asia is the main focus of two of the films selected this year, Holy Lola and Chok Dee by Xavier Durringer. The public will also discover the screen adaptations of two French classics (Un fil à la patte by Michel Deville, adapted from a play by Feydeau, and Vipère au poing, the last work of the late Philippe de Broca, who died last November) and three intimate dramas which show the regional side of France: Le silence by Orso Miret (shot in Corsica and interpreted by Mathieu Demy, the son of Jacques), L'ennemi naturel by Pierre-Erwan Guillaume (an investigation which takes place in Britanny), and Adieu by Arnaud des Pallières.
The French Film Week is organised by the French embassy and the Bureau du Film.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
