Young French Cinéma

American Cinémathèque presents a series of young French filmmakers at the AERO in Santa Monica

A monthly series of high-profile independent films and quirky discoveries from emerging French talent. Presented by Unifrance Films with the support of the French Film & TV Office, French Consulate.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

MACARONI AND CHEESE

LES COQUILLETTES

2012, Ecce Films, 75 min, France, Dir: Sophie Letourneur

 

 

                

This sly comedy, unspooling in flashbacks, takes viewers into the eye of a film festival hurricane - much of it was shot guerrilla-style at the 2011 Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Writer-director Letourneur stars as a self-absorbed Parisian filmmaker who, with her two gal pals (Carole Le Page and Camille Genaud), pursues movies and men, not necessarily in that order, during their Swiss sojourn. “Consistently amusing and often blissfully silly.” - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times.

In French, Italian and English with English subtitles.

Discussion between films with writer-director-actress Sophie Letourneur.


PARTY GIRL
2014, Distrib Films, 95 min, France, Dir: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis

 

 

                 

Angélique (a marvelous Angélique Litzenburger) works as a bar hostess at a cabaret on the French-German border. At 60, she still enjoys the nightlife, though fewer men are attracted to her – except for Michel (Joseph Bour), a retired miner who surprises her with a marriage proposal. Winner of the Caméra d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

In French with English subtitles.









THURSDAY, JULY 16 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

THE RENDEZ-VOUS OF DÉJÀ VU

LA FILLE DU 14 JUILLET

2013, Shellac Distribution, 88 min, France, Dir: Antonin Peretjatko

 

 

                

From the Bastille Day parade that opens director Antonin Peretjatko’s feature debut, this film has a joie de vivre that recalls the freewheeling spirit of the ’60s French New Wave. An acrobat (Vimala Pons), her Louvre security-guard lover (Grégoire Tashnakian) and their friends take a beach vacation that gets interrupted by a government economic mandate. “Peretjatko’s film is a loopy and audacious comedy with an explicitly political setting and gleefully unleashes the brazen energy of youth.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker.

In French with English subtitles.





APACHES

LES APACHES

2013, Film Movement, 82 min, France, Dir: Thierry de Peretti

 

 

                

At the center of this nuanced look at class and racial friction is Aziz (Aziz El Hadachi), one of a group of Arab teens living on the island of Corsica. He invites his friends to party at a vacation home that his father takes care of, but when the homeowners arrive, they find several items missing – including an expensive hunting rifle that gets put to deadly use. In French and Arabic with English subtitles.










WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

GRAND CENTRAL

2013, Ad Vitam Distribution, 94 min, France, Austria, Dir: Rebecca Zlotowski

 

 

  

 

 

                 

Gary (Tahar Rahim) gets a maintenance job at a nuclear power plant in the French countryside – risky work made even riskier when he falls for a coworker’s fiancée (Léa Seydoux of BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR). “A love triangle so intense it’s practically radioactive foregrounds GRAND CENTRAL, an engrossing, superbly acted working-class melodrama.” – Scott Foundas, Variety. In French with English subtitles.






DOMESTIC LIFE
LA VIE DOMESTIQUE     

2013, Films Distribution, 94 min, France, Dir: Isabelle Czajka

 

 

 

 

 

                 

This piercing adaptation of British writer Rachel Cusk’s Arlington Park shows how restrictive gender roles can be even in supposedly progressive households. Juliette (Emmanuelle Devos), husband Thomas (Laurent Poitrenaux) and their two kids move to a wealthy Paris suburb, where a pompous businessman at a dinner party and an old classmate remind Juliette that women’s aspirations are still treated as subservient to men’s. In French with English subtitles.





WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28 at 7:30 PM - Double Feature!

AGE OF PANIC

LA BATAILLE DE SOLFERINO

2013, Shellac Distribution, 94 min, France, Dir: Justine Triet

 

 

 

 

 

                 

May 6, 2012 becomes a hectic day for news correspondent Laetitia (Laetitia Dosch) - as she covers Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande’s victory, her unstable ex-husband (Vincent Macaigne) shows up at her apartment demanding to see their kids. The strong lead performances and scenes shot in Paris streets during Election Day add sparks to this indie dramedy. In French with English subtitles.







TONNERRE

2013, Wild Bunch, 102 min, France, Dir: Guillaume Brac

 

 

 

 

 

                

The little town of Tonnerre in Burgundy provides refuge to Maxime (Vincent Macaigne), a musician a bit past his prime. Things start looking up for him when he meets younger journalist Mélodie (Solène Rigot), until she suddenly breaks off their relationship, sending Maxime off the rails. As the film shifts from character study to thriller, Macaigne’s intense performance shows why he is among France’s most in-demand actors. In French with English subtitles.