{"id":15681,"date":"2020-02-16T14:03:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T19:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=15681"},"modified":"2022-01-12T20:54:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T01:54:32","slug":"25th-rendezvous-with-french-cinema-2020-greggwmorris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/25th-rendezvous-with-french-cinema-2020-greggwmorris\/","title":{"rendered":"Film at Lincoln Center & UniFrance Announcement<\/span> <\/strong><\/small>
25th Rendezvous with French Cinema, March 5-15"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The annual French cinema showcase celebrates a quarter century with new work from Bruno Dumont, Quentin Dupieux, Christophe Honor\u00e9, Claude Lelouch, Alice Winocour, Rebecca Zlotowski, and more. <\/span>Opening Night: <\/span><\/b>Hirokazu Kore-eda\u2019s <\/span>The Truth,<\/i><\/span> starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, and Ethan Hawke, with a Binoche-Hawke Q&A in person<\/span>.<\/span><\/b> Festival introduces first ever Air France Audience Award.<\/p>\n

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Caption: Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke in The Truth<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is a great honor to open our 25th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema with Hirokazu Kore-eda\u2019s new film The Truth<\/i> in the presence of French and American film icons Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke,\u201d said the new Executive Director of UniFrance, Daniela Elstner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir presence highlights what French Cinema represents for American audiences today: An alternative voice and vision on world issues and collective consciousness, which is reflected throughout this year\u2019s selection,” he said. “As ever, we are thrilled to introduce American audiences to bold new French voices, this year including Mounia Meddour, St\u00e9phane Batut, Sarah Suco, Nicolas Pariser, and Mehdi Idir, and to present the latest works from returning filmmakers including Christophe Honor\u00e9, Rebecca Zlotowski, Bruno Dumont, Alice Winocour, and Claude Lelouch.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2020 Opening Night selection is the New York premiere of The Truth<\/i>, the first-ever French-language film from Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda. Featuring screen legends Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche as a strained mother-daughter duo, The Truth<\/i> is a dynamic family drama co-starring Ethan Hawke. Binoche and Hawke will appear in person at the festival for opening night, and for a special conversation about their collaboration with Kore-eda. <\/span><\/p>\n

Highlights of the 22-film lineup include a number of prizewinning titles and festival hits, including Christophe Honor\u00e9\u2019s fantastical On a Magical Night<\/i>, for which Chiara Mastroianni won an award in Cannes\u2019s Un Certain Regard section; Quentin Dupieux\u2019s absurdist satire Deerskin <\/i>starring Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and Ad\u00e8le Haenel; Bruno Dumont\u2019s Joan of Arc, <\/i>which received a Cannes Special Jury Mention; Mounia Meddour\u2019s Papicha<\/i>, an unflinching story of young women\u2019s resistance set during the Algerian Civil War.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also included are Alice Winocour\u2019s space drama Proxima<\/i> starring Eva Green; Prix Jean Vigo\u2013winner Burning Ghost<\/i>, a supernatural tale of love and loss from St\u00e9phane Batut; Nicolas Pariser\u2019s sharp political drama Alice and the Mayor; <\/i>Damien Manivel\u2019s transfixing Locarno prizewinner Isadora\u2019s Children; The Specials,<\/i> from the directing duo behind The Intouchables, <\/i>Olivier Nakache and \u00c9ric Toledano, and starring Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb; Ma\u00efmouna Doucour\u00e9\u2019s vibrant hip-hop dance drama Cuties<\/i>, which premieres later this month at Sundance; and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time ever, the festival is introducing an Audience Award, sponsored by Air France, allowing moviegoers the chance to give a prize to their favorite film.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We are so pleased to be celebrating 25 years of partnership with UniFrance, marking a quarter century of bringing the best of French cinema to New York audiences,” said Film at Lincoln Center Associate Director of Programming Florence Almozini. “This year’s edition of Rendez-Vous brings a global perspective to French cinema, with the first French-language film from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda alongside films that explore the traumas of Algerian Civil War, cultural differences and integrations in French suburbia, or environmentalism all the way to the Arctic Circle.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“Rendez-Vous showcases the strength of French cinema today and tomorrow, with exciting new work from returning filmmakers like Pascal Bonitzer, Rebecca Zlotowski, Quentin Dupieux, and Christophe Honor\u00e9; remarkable debut films from St\u00e9phane Batut, Sarah Suco, Mounia Meddour, and Ma\u00efmouna Doucour\u00e9; and stunning performances from some of France’s greatest actresses, including Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, and Eva Green.” <\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s lineup also features a number of new works from returning Rendez-Vous filmmakers, including Claude Lelouch with The Best Years of a Life<\/i>, a sequel to his Palme d\u2019Or\u2013winning classic A Man and a Woman<\/i>, reuniting Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aim\u00e9e; An Easy Girl<\/i>, a sumptuous coming-of-age tale from Rebecca Zlotowski, set on the beaches of Cannes; Safy Nebbou\u2019s catfishing drama Who Do You Think I Am <\/i>starring Juliette Binoche; C\u00e9dric Kahn\u2019s Happy Birthday<\/i>, starring Catherine Deneuve and Emmanuelle Bercot; Lucie Borleteau\u2019s thriller Perfect Nanny; <\/i>almost-romantic drama Someone, Somewhere <\/i>from C\u00e9dric Klapisch; <\/i>and Pascal Bonitzer\u2019s update of a Henry James ghost story, Spellbound. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

A this year’s fest: St\u00e9phane Batut, Juliette Binoche, Pascal Bonitzer, Lucie Borleteau, Ma\u00efmouna Doucour\u00e9, Bruno Dumont, Ethan Hawke, Mehdi Idir, C\u00e9dric Klapisch, Claude Lelouch, Chiara Mastroianni, Mounia Meddour, Safy Nebbou, Nicolas Pariser, Sarah Suco, Alice Winocour, and Rebecca Zlotowski. <\/span><\/p>\n

Special events and free talks include a rare opening day conversation between Binoche and Hawke on March 5; Alice Winocour in conversation with a surprise guest about exploring space on film; a discussion and book signing with UniFrance President Serge Toubiana upon the release of his new book on the legendary cinema figure Helen Scott; and a filmmaker panel focusing on adapting literature to the screen in partnership with French in Motion and IFP. <\/span><\/p>\n

The 2020 festival, as always, places a focus on young people, with school screenings of School Life<\/i> and Spread Your Wings <\/i>for middle and high schoolers, as well as college students. In conjunction, the festival is holding a contest for cinephiles under 30: interested writers can submit a review of a Rendez-Vous film of their choice, and the best critique will win a round-trip flight to Paris and <\/span>a free one-year subscription to TV5MONDE.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit filmlinc.org<\/a> in the coming weeks for more information. Additionally, the festival is expanding its industry-facing events with a day-long networking event to bring together French sales agents, French producers, and key American industry players on Friday, March 6. <\/span><\/p>\n

Press screenings will take place the week of February 18 and will be announced in the coming days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Organized by Florence Almozini with UniFrance.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 20, with early access for Film at Lincoln Center members beginning Tuesday, February 18. Tickets are $17; $12 for members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities; Opening Night tickets are $25; $20 for members and students. Learn more at filmlinc.org<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS<\/b><\/u><\/h2>\n
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All screenings take place at the Walter Reade Theater (165 W 65th St) unless otherwise noted.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Opening Night
\n<\/span><\/b>The Truth \/ La v\u00e9rit\u00e9
\n<\/span><\/b>Hirokazu Kore-eda, France\/Japan, 2019, 106m
\n<\/span><\/b>French and English with English subtitles
\nNew York Premiere
\n<\/span><\/b>In his follow-up to the Palme d\u2019Or\u2013winning Shoplifters<\/i>, Hirokazu Kore-eda casts two titans of French cinema, Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, in a film structured around the rippling tensions underlying a family gathering. With controlled intensity, Deneuve plays Fabienne, a screen icon preparing to publish her memoirs. The version of her life as presented on the page, however, is critiqued by her daughter Lumir (Binoche), visiting Fabienne\u2019s secluded home with her American TV actor husband (Ethan Hawke) and their young daughter.<\/p>\n

Resentments seep out\u2014and eventually explode\u2014as Fabienne and Lumir confront the reality of their dynamic; meanwhile, their drama begins to affect Fabienne\u2019s next project, in which she uneasily shares the screen with a rising young actress (Manon Clavel). Kore-eda deftly grapples with aging, memory, and guilt, while locating a tenderness that can thaw even the deepest-rooted conflicts. An IFC Films release.
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