03/07/2006

Inside Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Christophe Honoré (see Cannes review) opened the 34th edition of the La Rochelle Festival on Friday evening.

The festival is packed with a rich programme of 160 features and shorts and, running through the morning of July 10, the end of the traditional nuit blanche (24-hour film screenings), the event will present diversity in a non-competitive context that encourages the participation of several guests, including Roman Polanski, all of whose films will be screened at the festival.

With a strong presence at the event, European cinema puts its finest jewels of 2006 on display by screening the prize-winners from Cannes and Berlin: The Wind That Shakes The Barley [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
interview: Rebecca O’Brien
film profile] by Ken Loach (see Focus) and Grbavica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbara Albert
interview: Jasmila Zbanic
film profile] by Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic.

Also from Cannes are Taxidermia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Hungary’s György Pálfi (see interview), the French/Turkish co-production Climates [+see also:
trailer
interview: Zeynep Ozbatur
film profile] by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Bamako [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Abderrahmane Sissako, the Italian co-production Ten Canoes by Australia’s Rolf De Heer and Romanian feature 12:08 East of Bucharest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
interview: Daniel Burlac
film profile] by Corneliu Porumboiu, which won the Europa Cinemas label.

Other noteworthy events include the preview screenings of Windows on Monday by Germany’s Ulrich Köhler, French production La consultation by Hélène de Crécy, Autumn Gardens by Georgia’s Otar Iosseliani and, last but not least, Barakat ! by Djamila Sahraoui (France/Algeria).

The Ici et ailleurs section also features several European films not yet released in France, such as Frozen Land by Finland’s Aku Louhimies, I Don’t Care If Tomorrow Never Comes by Guillaume Malandrin (see interview), An Enemy of the People by Norway’s Erik Skjoldbjaerg and Allez Yallah! by French director Jean-Pierre Thorn.

The selection of children’s films include the Dutch/Belgian co-production Winky’s Horse by Mischa Kamp. Other attractions at the La Rochelle festival include retrospectives on French actress Bulle Ogier and the Quay brothers (US filmmakers who filmed in London), while the Découvertes sidebar will feature several films by Greek director Nikos Panayotopoulos and Dito Tsintsadze, a Georgian filmmaker living in Germany.

(Translated from French)