Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2012 Mar 01 – Mar 11

In person: Mathieu Demy and Chiara Mastroianni!

When thirty-something Martin (played by actor-writer-director Mathieu Demy) travels from Paris to Los Angeles to settle his estranged mother’s estate, the journey dredges up long-submerged emotions...and unexpected revelations about a woman he hardly knew. 

Special Centerpiece Screening!

Positif magazine editor Michel Ciment in person!

A magnificent new restoration of one of the best-loved masterworks of French cinema, Marcel Carné’s classic tale of a notorious actress/courtesan and the four men who pine for her in 1830s Paris.

Audrey Tautou returns with this touching portrait of a woman trying to put her life back together after the loss of her husband, including embarking on an unexpected affair with a co-worker. A charming adult fable about starting over.

Director Fred Louf in person!

As France prepares for a presidential election that will determine the fate of François Mitterand, a young man from the provinces falls head over heels for a bourgeois girl from Paris in this charming and inventive spin on a classic tale of first love.

In person: Director Benoît Jacquot for both screenings!

A brilliant snapshot of the final days of Marie Antoinette, starring a terrific Diane Kruger as the ill-fated Queen and rising star Léa Seydoux (Midnight in Paris) as her quietly ambitious lady-in-waiting. 

In person on March 3: Director Ismael Ferroukhi and star Tahar Rahim!

During the German Occupation of France, an Algerian black marketeer (A Prophet star Tahar Rahim) is coerced into spying on the denizens of the Paris Grand Mosque, whereupon he discovers a clandestine operation to provide North African Jews with fake Muslim IDs.

Based on the autobiography of a real crime boss, A Gang Story follows aging ex-gangster Momon (Gérard Lanvin) as he agrees to break his old partner (Tchéky Karyo) out of prison. A solid return to the gangster genre—in the French style, of course!

A breathtaking, fact-based journey into a Kafka-esque judicial nightmare: a provincial court bailiff (the extraordinary Philippe Torreton) is accused of horrifying crimes against children. Imprisoned, he maintains his innocence, even as his reputation and family life are destroyed.

Benoît Magimel (The Piano Teacher) gives perhaps his greatest performance as a struggling writer who tries to start a new life in the coastal Brittany of his youth after his wife (Audrey Tatou) mysteriously vanishes. Based on Oliver Adam’s best-selling novel.

The brief, tempestuous relationship between a nun and a priest working for the French Resistance is the focus of director Denis’s taut, suspenseful look at closing months of WWII and the transformation of private passion into national politics.

Opening Night! In person: Eric Tolenado, Olivier Nakache and François Cluzet!

A phenomenon in France, where it shattered box-office records to become the second most successful film of all time, The Intouchables tells the fact-based story of the unlikely friendship between a handicapped white millionaire (François Cluzet) and his unconventional Senegalese caretaker (breakout star Omar Sy). 

In person for both screenings: Director Laurent Achard, actor Pascal Cervo and producer Sylvie Pialat!

Cinema Paradiso meets Psycho in a provocative genre film about the dutiful manager/projectionist of a repertory cinema in the French provinces...and the many secrets he holds.  

In a tough, unapologetic work of social realism, director Mennegun observes the daily life of a middle-aged chambermaid (the riveting Corinne Masiero) who lives out of her car while desperately trying to make a fresh start.

In person: Director Nicolas Klotz in person on March 4!

Carmen, a young French student, enters into an intense affair with Hussain, an Afghan poet living illegally in the country, in this bracingly radical movie about the revolt of the human spirit against a heartless, unjust world.

Wonderful things can sometimes come in very small packages, as this prize-winning selection of provocative short films from France amply demonstrates. See tomorrow’s auteurs today!

Family Film!

In Person: Jean-François Laguionie & Annick Le Ray!

A touching, wonderfully inventive animated fable, The Painting takes place within the borders of an unfinished canvas, where the fully drawn and colored creatures lord their privilege over the half-drawn and merely sketched underclasses. In French with English subtitles read aloud.

Roschdy Zem gives a tour-de-force performance as a police commander supervising Paris’s demi-monde of bars, discos and strip clubs in this searing voyage into the City of Light’s darkest corners.

Actor Vincent Lindon in person for both screenings!

France’s most unpredictable filmmaker, Alain Cavalier, teams up with actor Vincent Lindon for a witty, semi-improvised look at men, power and politics, starring Cavalier himself as a fictional French President and Lindon as his newly appointed Prime Minister. 

In person: Director Mathieu Amalric for both screenings!

Commissioned by La Comédie-Française, actor-director Mathieu Amalric’s wildly inventive update of Corneille’s popular 17th century tragicomedy follows a hotel concierge on the trail of a missing young man who seems to have left many a young female heart aflutter. 

Director Muriel Coulin in person for both screenings!

Based on a headline-grabbing incident in the U.S., sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s provocative debut feature follows the fallout in a sleepy French coastal town when a group of teenage girls all decide to become pregnant at the same time. 

Director Rabah Ameur-Zaïméche in person for March 8 screening!

The 18th century folk hero and bandit Louis Mandrin is the inspiration for this strikingly relevant period tale, tracing the efforts of Mandrin’s followers to distribute his songs and stories in the build-up to the French Revolution. 

Actor Jean-Pierre Darroussin in person at the March 10 screening!

When a newly retired union rep is robbed, thwarting a dream vacation to Kenya, he finds himself reflecting on the many compromises and lost ideals of his career. An engaging, affecting drama from one of the cinema’s great observers of the politics of everyday life.

A woman is brutally murdered in front of an apartment building, but all of the residents claim to have seen and heard nothing in this taut, haunting thriller from Rapt director Lucas Belvaux. Inspired by New York’s infamous 1964 Kitty Genovese case.

In person: Carole Bouquet!

In the latest from acclaimed director Téchiné, a blocked mystery novelist (André Dussolier) on vacation in Venice falls for an expat real estate agent (Carole Bouquet). Then jealousy rears its head and the writer puts a detective on the trail of this possibly unfaithful femme. 

In person: Jean-Pierre Daroussin!

Daniel Auteuil, veteran of Marcel Pagnol adaptations Jean de Florette and Manon des sources, returns to Pagnol for his first work as a director, telling moving story of a hardscrabble well digger, his eldest daughter and her passion for the son of a local shopkeeper. 

Family Film!

In this beautiful hand-drawn animation,10-year-old Maki and the orphaned giraffe, Zarafa, go on an epic adventure from the Sudan, where Maki escapes from slave traders, to Alexandria, Marseille and Paris. Ages 7+. In French with English subtitles.