2009 CANNES LINE-UP
CANNES 2009
62nd International Film Festival & Market
May 13th – 24th 2009
MARKET SCREENINGS
WALLACE LINE (Die Liebe der Kinder)
35 mm – 2009 – Germany – 90 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Franz MULLER
Original language: German
Cast: Marie-Lou Sellem, Alex Brendemühl, Katharina Derr, Tim Hoffmann
Synopsis: Two single parents meet in an Internet chat room and soon decide to move in together. They don’t have a whole lot in common, but the very fact that they are so different gives the relationship its liberated, “adult“ quality.
Produced by Harry Floter (2 PILOTS)
Screening:
Tuesday 19th at 10:00 am in PALAIS G
ALABAKIARA
35 mm – Italy – 93 min – Color – Erotic
Directed by Stefano SALVATI
Original language: Italian
Cast: Raz Degan, Davide Rossi, Laura Gigante, Kelly Potts, Alessandro Haber
Synopsis: Chiara is seventeen, she has a baby face, appears to be the girl next door and her mother believes she is a good daughter…. but she isn’t! “Drug –friendly” and keen practitioner of so-called “gangster nights”, Chiara doesn’t love school but really loves disco and free love (better say free sex!). All that is her everyday routine, while the real transgression in her life is… true love! Despite her attitude, she deeply loves her DJ boyfriend, Nico, who owns an erotic website. When Chiara discovers by accident 200 kilos of cocaine hidden in her basement, she thinks it’s the chance to make big money. But it might also be a way to get killed…
Songs by Vasco Rossi, the biggest Italian rockstar.
Produced by MIKADO FILM, RAI CINEMA, PIXELDNA
Screenings:
Tuesday 19th at 1:30 pm in PALAIS D
Wednesday 20th at 5:30 pm in PALAIS F
DIRTY MONEY, THE INTRUDER (Dirty Money, l’infiltré)
HD – 2009 – Switzerland/ Canada/ France – 107 min & 2 x 52 min – Color – Thriller/ Action
Directed by Dominique OTHENIN-GIRAD
Original language: French
Cast : Antoine Basler, Carlos Leal, Andréa Ferréol, Jean-François Stévenin, Uygar Tamer
Synopsis: Dirty Money is a dark thriller about a Swiss police officer who is infiltrating an international operation of money laundering. More than tens of millions of euros between France and Switzerland are at stake.
Produced by André MARTIN (BOHEMIAN FILMS)
Screening:
Tuesday 19th at 11:30 am in PALAIS D
AH! THE LIBIDO (Ah! La Libido)
HD / 35mm – 2009 – France – 80 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Michèle ROSIER
Original language: French
Cast: Claude Degliame, Audrey Dana, Sarah Grappin, Anna Mihalcea
Synopsis: This is a week of surprising adventures for Paula, Betty, Charlotte, Sandy, women of different ages, who work at the French daily Liberation and relish lunching together at the cafeteria. Betty, the gutsiest one, talks the others into making a date with a toy-boy (or one-shot boy). And on Sunday, the quartet will meet to compare notes. The Libido is not so much about sex, but a portrait of four high-spirited and distinctly different Parisian working women.
Produced by GO-FILMS
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 11:30 am in PALAIS H
BURROWING (Man tänker sitt)
HD / 35 mm – 2009 – Sweden – 76 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Henrik Hellström, Fredrik Wenzel
Original language: Swedish
Cast: Sebastian Eklund, Jörgen Svensson, Hannes Sandahl
Synopsis: Sebastian lives at home with his mother. He is eleven years old. From an elevated spot in the playground, he surveys his neighbourhood. He can see Jimmy who lives with his parents, even though he’s got a child of his own. He can see Anders, who’s just been given planning permission for a new carport. In a hollow where the surface water blends into the brook, Mischa is looking for fish. He came as a guest worker in the seventies but still hasn’t left. Sebastian sees the asphalt rotting. He sees hollyhocks eating their way into the foundations causing fractures in the concrete slabs laid directly on the ground. Weakening confined root space, lack of water and low nutritional values. A break-up can only come through force.
Produced by Produced by Erika Wasserman (Fasad AB).
Screenings:
Sunday 17th at 2:00 pm in PALAIS C
Tuesday 19th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS G
SOUNDLESS WIND CHIME DIGITAL / 35 mm – 2009 – Switzerland/ China – 100 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Kit HUNG
Original languages: Swiss German, English, Mandarin and Cantonese
Cast : Lu Yulai, Bernhard Bulling, Gilles Tschudi
Synopsis: Soundless Wind Chime is the poetic journey of Ricky, searching for the lost soul and the past of his deceased Swiss lover – Pascal. The film shows a battle of love, lust, reality, memory and illusions and the grief everybody bears every day.
Produced by Keep In Touch Company, Das Kollektiv für audiovisuelle Werke GmbH
Screenings:
Sunday 17th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS C
Wednesday 20th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS G
I DREAMT UNDER THE WATER (J’ai rêvé sous l’eau) HD / 35 mm – 2009 – France – 73min – Color – Drama
Directed by HORMOZ
Original language: French
Cast: Hubert Benhamdine, Caroline Ducey, Christine Boisson, HPG
Synopsis: 20-years-old Antonin is secretly in love with Alex his best friend. After Alex's brutal death, Antonin succumbs to an overwhelming sexuality that leads him into prostitution. One day, he meets Juliette. It is love at first sight, but a drug issue starts to interfere between them. After some happy weeks, the young woman decides to run away. Close to despair, Antonin finally finds comfort in the arms of Baptiste, one of his former clients, while Juliette remains in his heart.
Produced by Sebastien Burnet (Triskel Film), Loïc Magneron (WIDE Management), TLA entertainment
Screening:
Monday 18th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS E
GIVE ME YOUR HAND (Donne-moi la main)
35 mm – 2009 – France/Germany – 76min – Color
Directed by Pascal-Alex Vincent
Original language: French
Synopsis: Twin brothers Antoine and Quentin, eighteen years old, leave their house in the North of France and hit the road to go to Spain for the funeral of their mother, whom they barely knew. When the most reserved one reveals his homosexuality, their relationship changes.
Produced by Local Films, Adam Production, Busse & Halberschmidt Filmproduktion
Screening:
Monday 18th at 12:00 am in PALAIS C
TEARS OF APRIL (Käsky)
35 mm – 2009 – Finland/ Germany/ Greece – 115 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Aku LOUHIMIES
Original language: Finnish
Cast: Pihla Viitala, Samuli Vauramo, Eero Aho
Synopsis: 1918, the Finnish civil war. Red socialists and White bourgeois. Prisoner of the Whites, Red guard troop leader Miina Malin, manages to escape only to be recaptured by jaeger Aaro Harjula. Against the general consensus, he does not wish for her senseless murder but for her to have a fair trail. The meeting of Aaro and Miina binds two strong human stories together and sparks an edgy love theme in the midst of the horrors of the civil war.
Produced by Aleksi Bardy (HELSINKI FILMI)
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 1:30 pm in PALAIS H
GARIMPEIRO, THE GOLD FOREST 35 mm – 2009 – France – 93 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Marc BARRAT
Original language: French
Cast : Tony Mpoudja, Julien Courbey, Sara Martins
Synopsis: Rod decides to return to Guiana, his native country, accompanied by Gonz, his childhood friend. In Cayenne, they begin an investigation into Rod’s past. A quest that will lead them right into the heart of the virgin forest, into the camps of the illegal gold prospectors…
Produced by MAT FILM
Screenings:
Thursday 21st at 10:00 am in PALAIS G
Thursday 21st at 3:30 pm PALAIS H
ROBBER GIRLS (Räuberinnen)
HD / 35 mm – 2009 – Switzerland/ Luxemburg – 80 min – Color – Erotic comedy
Directed by Carla LIA MONTI
Original languages: German, Swiss-German, Luxemburg
Cast : Nina Bühlmann, Alexandra Prusa, Myriam Muller, Mathis Künzler, Nils Althaus
Synopsis: Set some time in the undeterminable past: Emily is sent to work and live in his excellency's castle. She manages to escape into the woods, where she meets some lively hookers. Together they become «Robber Girls» taking a stand and fighting the patriarchy.
Produced by DSCHOINT VENTSCHR FILMPRODUKTION, PAUL THILTGES DISTRIBUTIONS
Screenings:
Sunday 17th at 11:30 am in PALAIS D
Monday 18th at 2:00 pm in PALAIS E
THE REBEL, LOUISE MICHEL (La Rebelle, Louise Michel)
HD – 2009 – France – 90 min – Color – Historical drama
Directed by Sólveig ANSPACH
Original language: French
Cast: Sylvie Testud, Nathalie Boutefeu, Coralie André
Synopsis: Louise Michel is a French revolted woman from Paris Commune. Convicted for having fought the troups of Bismark, Louise is sent like thousands of revolutionary men to faraway Noumea, New Caledonia. Teacher, friend of famous Victor Hugo, Louise will there happen to be an incredible show woman, an exemplary resistant admired by all men. Not only does she cheer up all her prison mates but also she makes friends with the island inhabitants called the Kanaks. She teaches them French, learn about their customs, their identity and stands on their side while they rise up against colonial authority, always refusing injustice and discriminations. She will end her detention by teaching in a school gathering in the same classroom Kanak children with others. In Paris as in Noumea, the story of Louise is the story of a rebel.
Produced by FRANCE 2 & JEM PRODUCTIONS
Screening:
Wednesday 20th at 11:30 am in PALAIS F
UNFAILING
Digital – 2009 – France – 90 min – Color – Thriller
Directed by Davy SIHALI
Original language: French
Cast: Frank Truong, Emilie de la Perriere, Pier Gaudin
Synopsis: A secret criminal organization, headed by Mr. Takamura, arranges a tournament in order to find the perfect killer. Ten young people who have nothing to lose, accept the rules and run in this revenge. To spice up the game, Silex, the right arm of Takamura, winner of the last 5 years, was introduced anonymously in the group.
Between emerging friendships, rivalries and spirit of chivalry, the participants manage the tests. The eliminations are increasing and the losses are heavy. The tournament goes far to the point of no return.
Produced by Loïc Magneron (Wide Management)
Screening / Last Cut:
Wednesday 20th at 1: 30 pm in PALAIS B
14-18 THE NOISE AND THE FURY (14-18, Le Bruit et la Fureur)
DIGITAL – 2009 – France/ Belgium – 100 / 2x52min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Jean-François DELASSUS
Original language: French
Synopsis: Not everything has been told about World War One. This documentary tries to explain te inexplicable: how tens of millions of men could have suffered the unbelievable toughness of life in trenches during 4 years, season after season, day after day, night after night? How could they have accepted the idea of a sure death or injury while they could not even tell the exact reason why they were fighting?
What you are about to see can seem crazy: WW1 was maintained by a general consent.
14 – 18, the Great War is a documentary based on rare archives for the first time colorized, restored and sonorized as never before. It has the 3rd best audience (5,9 millions) for a Prime-Time documentary broadcasted on France 2 since 2006
Produced by PROGRAM 33, ECPAD, IOTA PRODUCTIONS, RTBF
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 3:30 pm in PALAIS B
THAT SHOULD NOT BE (Nos Enfants Nous Accuseront)
HD / 35 mm – 112/ 2x52min – 2009 – France – Color – Documentary
Directed by Jean-Paul JAUD
Original languages: French and English
Synopsis:
In Europe every year 100,000 children die of diseases caused by the environment.
In Europe 70% of cancers are linked to the environment: 30% to pollution and 40% to food.
In Europe cases of cancer in children have been increasing by 1.1% yearly for 30 years.
In France the number of cancers in males has increased by 93% in 25 years.
In a little French community at the foot of the Cévennes Mountains, the mayor has decided to take a stance by making the school canteen organic. Here as everywhere, people are confronted with the anxiety of the dangers of industrial and agro-chemical pollution. It’s the start of a fight against a process that could become irreversible, a fight to stop our children accusing us in the future.
Produced by J + B SEQUENCES (Jean-Paul Jaud & Béatrice Jaud)
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 10:00 am in PALAIS E
HIGHLIGHTS
GIGOLA Pre-Sales
2010 – France – Color – Erotic – In Production
Directed by Laure CHARPENTIER
Original language: French
Cast:Lou Doillon, Eduardo Noriega, Marisa Paredes, Marisa Berenson (Credits are not contractual)
Synopsis: “GIGOLA” is the story of George, a charismatic and adventurous young woman, born from an old, catholic family, who, in her teens, falls in love with a female teacher named Sybil. Devastated by her lover’s eventual suicide, some years later, George embarks on an exciting and reckless journey to the depths of Pigalle’s nightlife, circa 1960. After an encounter with a very wealthy, still attractive, but older woman, Odette, who offers her money and gifts in return for sexual favours, George becomes Gigola, a kind of gigolo for women only.
Based on the controversial Best Seller novel “Gigola” by Laure Charpentier. The book was first printed in 1972 but immediately retrieved by the censorship. 30 years after “Gigola” became one of the most fascinating character of the 60’s nightlife in Pigalle.
Produced by :
Denise Petitdidier (MARIE AMELIE PRODUCTION)
LA VIDA LOCA
HD / 35 mm – 2008 – France/Spain/Mexico – 90 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Christian POVEDA
Original language: Spanish
Synopsis: In Central America, they are called Maras, these groups of youngsters who have modeled themselves on the Los Angeles youth gangs. They are extremely violent and are propagating terror in El Salvador and elsewhere. This is a study, through photography and the personal stories of these gang members, of a violent phenomenon that has been imported from the USA.
Produced by Carole Solive (La Femme Endormie), Luis Bellaba (Aquelarre), Emilio Maillé and Gustavo Angel (El Caiman)
FRANCAISE 35 mm – 2008 – France/Morocco – 84 min – Color
Directed by Souad EL BOUHATI
Original languages: French, Arabic
Cast: Hafsia Herzi, Farida Khelfa, Maher Kamoun, Alexandra Martinez, Amal Ayouch
Synopsis: Sofia, born in France of Maghrebian parents, spends a happy childhood in the countryside. Her father missing his country, she ends up in a farm in Morocco. She is only ten years old. She swears she’ll pass her degree in order to return to France at the age of eighteen. But life always arranges to disrupt our plans ...
Produced by Jacques Kirsner (JEM Productions)
COMME UNE ETOILE DANS LA NUIT
HD / 35 mm – 2008 – France – 90 min – Color -Drama
Directed by René FERET
Original language: French
Cast: Salomé Stévenin, Nicolas Giraud, Jean-François Stévenin, Maryline Canto
Synopsis: When Anne and Marc decide to have a child, Marc discovers he has Hodgkin disease. Fighting to preserve their love from fear, death and sadness, they will both live a senseless joy…
Produced by Fabienne Camara (Les FILMS ALYNE)
STRAIGHT TO THE HEART (En plein coeur) HD / 35 mm – 2009 – Canada – 105 min – Color – Romance -Drama
Directed by Stéphane GEHAMI
Original language: French
Cast: Julie Deslauriers, Pierre Rivard, Bénédicte Décary, Patrice Godin
Synopsis: Benoît, a 32 year old teenager, talented car stealer who falls in love compulsively, roams from girl to girl. Jimi, a little man of 13, supports his depressive mother earning money teaming up with Benoît. From stolen Jeep to stolen Jeep, with their fists, with their guts and with their hearts, those two are launched into a story which will turn around Benoît’s life.
Produced by Stéphane Géhami (PRODUCTIONS FILM PLEIN COEUR)
FIRAAQ A mesmerizing social tale
35 mm – 2008 – India – 101 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Nandita DAS
Original languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati
Cast: Naseruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Raghuveer Yadav, Deepti Naval, Sanjay Suri
Synopsis: "Firaaq" is an Urdu word that means both separation and quest.
The story is set over a 24-hour period, one month after a carnage that took place in Gujarat, India in 2002. Firaaq is a work of fiction, based on a thousand true stories. It traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people - some who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently. It is an ensemble film that follows multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and at times discrete. What unites them is their spatial and emotional context.
Produced by PERCEPT PICTURES COMPANY
THREE WISE MEN (Kolme viisasta miestä)
HD / 35 mm – 2008 – Finland – 95 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Mika KAURISMAKI
Original language: Finnish
Cast: Kari Heiskanen, Pertti Sveholm, Timo Torikka
Synopsis: Matti (51), a police inspector, Erkki (51), photographer and Rauno (51), actor, are childhood friends, who haven't seen each other for a long time. They meet coincidentally in a Christmas Eve in Helsinki and spend the night together in a karaoke bar. Between drinking and singing they tell about the joys and sorrows of their lives, revealing some painfull experiences and taking even their friendship apart. The events take a dramatic turn, when a mysterious woman enters the bar.
Produced by Mika Kaurismäki (Marianna Films Oy)
BLINDSPOT Erotic / Psychological thriller
HD – 2009 – Netherlands – 80 min – Color/ B&W – Drama
Directed by Ad BOL
Original languages: Dutch, German, English
Cast: Jango Edwards, Micky Hoogendijl, Johnny Melville, Hugo Metsers, Maike Moeller
Synopsis: A young woman, Anya, dons a blindfold to dance mysteriously in her private atelier. It is rhythmic but also tragic, melancholic and gripping. Suddenly, Anya awakes screaming. Her husband tries to comfort her: yet another nightmare... He begs her to see a specialist but she just shrugs off the idea. Anya enters a warehouse under the watchful eye of a distinguished middle-aged man. In his hand a Colt revolver. Upstairs in the studio Anya preens herself in some sexy underwear. A knock at the door startles her. She opens and the man barges in, holding the gun to her head…
Produced by Eager Films B.V., Maximum Films
ANOTHER MAN (Un autre homme)
35 mm – 2008 – Suisse – 89 min – Black & White – Drama
Directed by Lionel BAIER
Original language: Suisse
Cast: Robin Harsch, Natacha Koutchoumov, Elodie Weber, Bulle Ogier
Synopsis: François and his girlfriend have settled in the country. Although he is not a journalist, he contributes to a small local weekly, describing the life of the region’s inhabitants and the films shown at the valley’s only movie theatre. Since he is no film critic, he doesn’t know what to make of the films he’s supposed to write about. So he ends up copying word for word the reviews in “Travelling”, a highly specialized cinema review. Very quickly, movies become his passion, and he sets off for Lausanne to view the press screenings. Here he meets Rosa, a critic for a benchmark-setting daily. A kinky relationship develops between the two of them, leading François to discover the inner workings of desire: desire of a woman and of a critic.
Until the day his cheating is discovered...
Produced by Robert Boner (SAGA Production)
LOLA MONTES HD REMASTERED & 35 mm – 1955/2008 – France – 105 min – Color – Drama/Historical Directed by Max OPHULS
Original language: French
Based on the book by Cecil St. Laurent
Cast: Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook
Synopsis: Reduced to a state the total degeneration, Lola Montès, under the big top of a gigantic circus, is forced to reinact her dramatic past. The life story of a 19th century courtesan told via flashbacks while being exhibited in a stylised circus somewhere in America. Lola Montes pantomimes her own image, caught between being a caged animal and a femme fatale, she travels around the world creating a caricature of her decline until the tragic conclusion during a show : a leap into the void...
Produced by Les Films du Jeudi
LEA (a Soliloquy) DIGITAL – 2009 – USA – 87 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Jacques ZANETTI
Original language: English
Cast: Diahnne Abbott, Drena De Niro, Carson Grant, Marcus Naylor
Synopsis: Struggling with her inner past demons and prisoner of her adolescent memories, Leah roams New York City seeking peace and reconciliation for herself, her daughter and her life relationships; and gains a renewed strength through reevaluations of her traumatic childhood.
Produced by Diahnne Copeland, Adam Lipsius, Jacques Zanetti
THE JOURNEY, THE GREEK AMERICAN DREAM HD – 2009 – Greece/ United States – 87min – Colour /B&W – Documentary
Directed by Maria Iliou
Historian: Alexander Kitroeff
Original language: English
Synopsis: While conducting research on a feature film "A Friendship in Smyrna," filmmaker Maria Iliou discovered a wealth of previously unseen archival photographic and film footage from over fifty public and private collections which tell the fascinating history of Greek immigrants to the United States. Along with historian Alexander Kitroeff and several scholars and guests, she brings these stories and photographs to life in order to explore and document a very special story from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Produced by PROTEUS
SONGS OF LIVES (Eletek éneke) DIGITAL – 2009 – Hungary – 100 min/ 9 x 25/35 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Bereczki CSABA
Original language: Hungarian
Synopsis: This documentary is about real music, real performers, real stories, though the dramatic composition of the storyline may give viewers the impression of being drawn into the world of a dream-like ballade. We take a journey through the lives of some of the older musicians in funeral bands, for whom music is not only their profession, but it's their own identity: it belongs to their hands, their heart, or their throat.
Produced by Tamás TOLMÁR
SOUTH COAST DIGITAL – 2009 – UK – 85 / 60 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Will JEWELL
Original language: English
Featuring: Norman Cook, Beardyman, Buzz, Monkey Sons, Evil Ed and many more!
Synopsis: Think hip hop’s just about MTV videos, gangsta posing and bling? Think again – this ain’t East Coast, this ain’t West Coast.. this is South Coast! This character documentary charts how hip hop has found a quintessentially English voice in the most unlikely of locations – the south coast seaside towns.
South Coast seeks answers to questions such as why 30 years after hip hop arrived there’s no global UK artists? Why teenagers ignore home grown hip hop in favour of violent tales from 15000 miles away? and can you really rap about guns and bling when you’re on the dole in Eastbourne?
Produced by FRACTURED FILMS LTD
MEGUNICA DIGITAL – 2009 – Italy – 80/52 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Lorenzo FONDA
Original languages: Spanish, Italian
Synopsis: The film is about mural artist Blu at work. It follows him at work in MExico, GUatemala, NIcaragua, Costarica and Argentina, hence the acronym "Megunica". The creative development of an artist is what makes him unique and different from the others. The idea of the film was to see how his art would react to the inputs that these places offer him.
Produced by MERCURIO CINEMATOGRAFICA
SAM PECKINPAH (Sam Peckinpah, un portrait) DIGITAL – 2008 – France/Italy – 78 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Michelangelo DALTO & Umberto BERLENGHINI
Original languages: English, French
Synopsis: Director Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) is one of the most famous, passionate and inspiring American western movie icons. Filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, John Woo or Oliver Stone were influenced by “the Peckinpah’s touch” made out of violence and sense of the epic in master pieces like Major Dundee, Straw Dogs, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and of course The Wild Bunch.
Produced by LES FILMS DU TAMARIN, EOS COMM, FILMOBLIC
BIBLIOBURRO, THE DONKEY LIBRARY DIGITAL – 2009 – France/ Colombia/ Belgium – (90 min in progress) 52 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Carlos RENDON ZIPAGAUTA
Original language: Spanish
Synopsis: Each week-end, Luis Humberto Soriano, a teacher living in the remote hamlet of La Gloria in the north of Colombia, brings, with the help of his two donkeys « ALPHA » and « BET », the written word and knowledge to communes as secluded as Nueva Granada. With the kids - who ever their parents are peasants or members of
FARC, paramilitaries, drug cartels - Luis gives lectures and private tutoring, organizes puppet shows and board game sessions…
Produced by Grenade Productions (France) in coproduction with Imaginaria Films (Colombia) & Iota Production (Belgium)
STATES OF MIND (Gli Stati della mente) HDV – 2009 – Germany / Italy – 77 / 52 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Elisa MISHTO
Original language: Italian
Synopsis: A nurse and three mental patients take turns playing the lead roles in four stories told over four seasons. Their world within the rooms and hallways of the psychiatric clinic is at once brutally honest, tragic, and poetic. Moving through summer, autumn, winter, and spring, we are presented with the stories of four individuals moving through crisis, waiting, normalization, and adjustment. Elements of their previous lives and of their current daily adventures are told with the lightness of a fairy tale or the playfulness of a game, but without omitting the harshest and most melancholic aspects of their existence.
Produced by ANACONDINO FILM
HER NAME IS SABINE (Elle s’appelle Sabine)
35 mm – 2008 – France – 85 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Sandrine BONNAIRE
Original language: French
Cast: Sabine Bonnaire
Synopsis: A sensitive portrait of Sabine Bonnaire, a 38-year-old autistic woman, filmed by her closest sister. The film tells her story through personal footage filmed by the actress over a period of 25 years, and her life today in a suitable facility. After a tragic five-year stay in a psychiatric hospital, Sabine found a new lease on life-even if these capacities remain altered-in a home in the Charente region. The film exposes the penury of specialized institutions and the dramatic consequences they can lead to.
Produced by Thomas Schmitt (Mosaique Films)
BALLERINA DIGITAL – France – 77 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Bertrand NORMAND
Original language: Russian
Synopsis: Ballerina. Fascinating, enthralling, shrouded in mystery. Hers is a rare art. Her craft as demanding as an athlete. Her dancing life as brief as a butterfly. All to a vision of fragile beauty. A vision of what it is to be a woman. And Russia, land of absolutes, of the cult of beauty, of immensities and of nostalgia where that feminine ideal is celebrated and held dear. Russia is par excellence the land of the Ballerina. This film follows the destinies of five female dancers of the Kirov Ballet in Saint-Petersburg. Their lives weave together to tell the story of the Russian Ballerina of our time, from her beginnings as a child in dance school to the peak of her glory on the world stages. In this intimate gaze at the lives, the courage, the disappointments and triumphs of these women, this film unveils the vitality and uniqueness of the Russian Ballerina today. We come to understand her lasting allure as we begin the 21st century. Ballerina, as old as Russian history, as new as today.
Produced by Frédéric Podetti (Adesif Productions), Yann Brolli (Les Films du Tamarin)
MUSIC : FEATURES & DOCUMENTARIES
REDEMPTION SONG
HD – 2009 – France – 90 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Markus HANSEN, Jean-Marie BOULET
Original languages: English, Vietnamese
Synopsis: In March 1967, Billy Bang was conscripted to fight in Vietnam, an experience that left him emotionally desolate and profoundly confused about his American identity. Upon his return, he tried to forget his nightmares through alcohol, drugs and music. Forty years later, he decides that the only way he will be able to repair his emotions and find some closure to his trauma, is to return to Vietnam, this time with his violin. This film is about the desire to overcome and transcend the trauma of war through music and art.
Produced by Loïc Magneron (WIDE Management)
MUSIC: MUSICAL DOCUMENTARIES
A gathering of documentaries about worldwide music including:
SOUTH COAST seeks answers to questions such as why 30 years after hip hop arrived there’s no global UK artists? Why teenagers ignore home grown hip hop in favour of violent tales from 15000 miles away? and can you really rap about guns and bling when you’re on the dole in Eastbourne?
by Will JEWEL Digital - UK – 85 / 60 min
SONG OF LIVES is about real music, real performers, real stories, though the dramatic composition of the storyline may give viewers the impression of being drawn into the world of a dream-like ballade. We take a journey through the lives of some of the older musicians in funeral bands, for whom music is not only their profession, but it's their own identity: it belongs to their hands, their heart, or their throat.
by Bereczki CSABA - Digital - 2009 – Hungary – 100 min or 9 x 25/35 min
IMMATERIAL TREASURE talks about an African American violinist in Vietnam, when musical encounters and creation overcome nationalism, traditions, borders and sorrows. A violin road movie.
by Markus HANSEN, Jean-Marie BOULET - HD - 2009 – France – 52 min
SONIC MIRROR tells how music is for most people a marvelous experience and part of their life whether or not they play an instrument themselves. They understand music and rhythm as a fundamental communication tool of mankind. A surprising and emotional dive into the world of rhythm - an extraordinary trip to discover the magic relationship between Life and Rhythm. Drum legend Billy Cobham takes us from the bandstands of the Western world to the primal music of African origin with kids in a Brazilian community and on to the completely secluded world of musical experiences of autists.
by Mika KAURISMAKI - 2007 – Switzerland/Finland/Germany – 79 min
BRASILEIRINHO is about Choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music. Back in the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian musicians started to blend European melodies, Afro - Brazilian rhythms and the melancholic interpretation of the Brazilian Indians' music to create Choro. Choro is credited as being the first musical expression of Brazil's melting pot and had a prominent place in the development of Brazil's cultural identity. Choro remained a major popular music style until the 1920s, leading directly into Samba and later to Bossa Nova. After a slight decline in popularity, Choro music has made a remarkable comeback over the past few decades.
by Mika KAURISMAKI - 2005 – Switzerland/Finland/Brazil – 52 min
RETURN TO GOREE is a road-movie telling of African singer Youssou N’Dour’s epic journey following the trail left by the blacks slaves and the jazz music they invented. Youssou N’Dour’s challenge is to bring back to Africa a jazz repertoire and to sing those tunes in Gorée, the island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to commemorates its victims. Guided in his travel by pianist Moncef Genoud, N’Dour travels across the United States and Europe. Accompanied by some of the world’s most exceptional musicians, they meet people and well known figures, and create, through concerts, encounters and debates, music which transcends cultural division.
by Pierre-Yves BORGEAUD - 2007 – Switzerland/Luxembourg – 112 min
THE ORCHESTRA OF PIAZZA VITTORIO A film account of the creation of the famous Piazza Vittorio Orchestra, L'Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio combines music, interviews, a sense of solidarity and the human comedy. Created at the instigation of Mario Tronco, a film score composer and pianist with the Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel and the collective Apollo 11, this musical group has its roots in a working-class district of Rome where the Italians are «an ethnic minority». Shot over a five-year period, from the birth of the orchestra to its recent successes, this documentary brings together thirty street and professional musicians of various nationalities (some of them illegals), five cameramen, and three sound engineers. The film highlights and echoes aspects of contemporary Italy, representatative of a varied sociological and cultural mix. The result is an extraordinary alliance of sounds, harmony and life stories.
by Agostino FERRENTE - 2006 – Italy – 93 min
HIP HOP REVOLUTION looks at the integration of hip-hop culture with state of emergency politics in the 1980’s, and it’s role as a tool in revolution in post-apartheid South Africa. The film is fast-paced, vibrant, with cutting-edge visual montages. Given, the culture of repression in South Africa at the time, the hip-hop sub-culture was a form of ventilation to youth on the Cape Flats and elsewhere in the country. Hip-hop also politically informed many young people in South Africa. Hip-hop Revolution, also reflects the voice of contemporary South African hip-hop.
by Weeam WILLIAMS - 2006 – South Africa – 48 min
WRITERS Paris 1983, they are between 14 and 18 years old, and they write their name on the city walls. Inspired by he New York phenomenon, they don’t just copy existing forms, but have created their own style, imposed their own signatures and inspired a whole generation. They communicate through the letters of their name. They are called “Writers”
by Marc - Aurèle VECCHIONE - WITH VOICE OVER BY VINCENT CASSEL - 2004 – France – 90 min
COLLECTIONS:
Erotic Titles Collection From the 60’s to 2009 – Dramas
More than 37 feature film, art house, high quality, from the 60’s to today. A full erotic classic collection including recent festival favorite’s film and classic masterpieces.
The collection includes :
Ah! The Libido (Ah! La Libido) by Michèle ROSIER, Robber Girls by Carla LIA MONTI, AlbaKiara by Stefano SALVATI, Blind Spot by Ad BOL, Cold Blood (Sang Froid), Maladolescenza (Puppy Love), Gradiva (C’est Gradiva qui vous appelle) by Alain Robbe-Grillet, Honey Baby by Mika Kaurismaki, Melancoly Baby with Jane Birkin, Vivante by Sandrine Ray, Wild Camp with Isilde Lebesco, Honey Suckle by Claude Faraldo, Serieux Comme Le Plaisir by Robert BENAYOUN, Le Diable au Coeur by Bernard QUEYSANNE, The Secret (Le secret) Directed by Virginie WAGON, Alive ! (Vivante) by Antoine SANTANA, A Song of Innocence (La Ravisseuse) by Antoine SANTANA, Snow White by Samir, Clemence (Clémence) by Franck Buchter and many more…
And the newly HD restored “Jean-Francois Davy Collection”, which includes more than 15 features from the 70’s.
As Exhibition, Exhibition 2, Q, Exhibition 79, Le Desir, Q, The Hell Of Prostitution, Get On The line Like Everyone Else, Mechanical Banana, Trick Socks,The Pornocrasts, and Melancoly Baby by Clarissse Gabus
MORE THAN 2590 HOURS OF PROGRAMME
HD MATERIAL AVAILABLE FOR SEVERAL FILM
Mika Kaurismaki Collection HD & 35 mm
Mika Kaurismäki’s first film The Liar (1980) was an overnight sensation, when first shown in Finland; it marked the beginning of the cinema of the Kaurismäki brothers and started a new era in the Finnish cinema. After the high school Mika Kaurismäki used to work as a painter of houses and apartments in a small town of Kuusankoski in the Southeastern part of Finland. In the autumn of 1976, when the winter was coming and the annual high season for painting houses was over, he thought of doing something else in life. Mika Kaurismaki studied cinema in Munich, Germany, (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen) 1977-1981 and made his diplom film The Liar in 1980 in Finland. His younger brother Aki Kaurismäki, then a student of journalism, played the main role and also co-wrote the screenplay. After the success of The Liar, Mika Kaurismäki decided to stay in Finland and together with his brother and some friends he founded the production company Villealfa Filmproductions.
During the active Villealfa years, Mika co-founded the legendary Midnight Sun Film Festival (1986) and the distribution company Senso Films (1987) and the Andorra cinemas in Helsinki. The 90’s meant a gradual disappearance of the Villealfa spirit and both Mika and Aki started to produce their films through their own production companies. In 1994 Mika returned to the Brazilian jungle with Samuel Fuller and Jim Jarmusch and made the feature length documentary Tigrero – a film that was never made. The film was awarded the International Critics’ Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1994. In the course of the 90’s Mika established his base and second home in Rio de Janeiro and started to concentrate more in international co-productions. In 1996 in Philadelphia he directed the no-budget thriller Condition Red with James Russo, Cynda Williams and Paul Calderon. His biggest production so far is the comedy LA without a map (1998), with David Tennant, July Delpy, Vincent Gallo, Johnny Depp, James Le Gros, Anouk Aimee, Joe Dallesandro.
In 2003 he directed Honey Baby, a road movie between Germany and Russia, starring Henry Thomas, Irina Björklund and Helmut Berger. Brasileirinho, a film about Brazilian choro music, premiered at the Berlinale 2005 and Sonic Mirror.
Three Wise Men (Kolme viisasta miestä), Sonic Mirror, Brasileirinho, Honey Baby, Moro No Brasil, Highway Society, Condition Red (Jatkuva hälytystila), Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (Tigrero - Elokuva, joka ei valmistunut), The Last Border (Viimeisellä rajalla), Zombie and the Ghost Train (Zombie ja Kummitusjuna), Amazon, Paper Star (Paperitähti), Cha Cha Cha, Helsinki Naples All Night Long, Rosso, The Clan Tale of the Frogs (Klaani), The Worthless (Arvottomat), Jackpot 2, The Liar (Valehtelija)…
MORE THAN 30 HOURS OF PROGRAMS.
HD masters available for the first films
Renét Ferét Collection HD & 35 mm
After studies in Lille, he took classes at the Actor school of the TNS of Strasbourg. Script, writer, producer, director, TV director, actor, and teacher, René Feret has been involved in more than 40 features films and documentaries from 1975 to nowadays. Some of his film has been selected in competition for major festivals worldwide, such as La Communion Solennelle (Official selection in Cannes FF in 1977) and Mystere Alexina (Un certain regard in Cannes 1985).
Directed by : Comme une etoile dans la nuit, But Once Mom Had Gone... (Il a suffit que Maman s’en aille), L’enfant du pays, Rue du retrait, Les frères Gravet, La place d’un autre, Promenades d’été, Baptême, Mystère Alexina, Fernand, La communion solenelle, Histoire de Paul
Comme une étoile dans la nuit – Montreal 2008 : Focus on World Cinema – Official Selection
MORE THAN 27 HOURS OF PROGRAMS.
Asian Cinema Collection
DIGITAL 2008 – France – Documentary
Produced by Yann Brolli (Les Films du Tamarin) and Hubert Niogret (Filmoblic)
A remarkable collection of documentaries about the Asian Cinema including:
CHINESE CINEMA, YESTERDAY AND TODAY, a documentary film by Hubert Niogret, 59', 2008
There are few film industries in the world today so dependent upon the fortunes and vicissitudes of political power, and its sometimes incomprehensible policy reversals.
The best way to understand the history of the People’s Republic during the past two decades is to study its movies.
THE NINE LEAVES OF KOREAN CINEMA, a documentary film by Hubert Niogret, 61', 2008
The Korean cinema, North and South, though weighed down since birth by propaganda theories on the one side and tempted for a time by Hollywood machinery on the other, has succeeded in expressing the identity of one and the same people, however contradictory or conflicting the currents of thought which run through it.
THAI CINEMA, YESTERDAY AND TODAY, a film by Hubert Niogret, 55', 2008
After 1970’s emergence of new film directors more and more in osmosis with Thai reality, Thai cinema developed throughout commercial direction -due to precise genre film- and also throughout classic frescos by Chatreechalerm Yukol and more innovative films by a new generation of filmmakers that mostly appears during the end of the 90’s under director-producer Nonzee Nimibur’s influence.
INDIAN CINEMAS, a film by Hubert Niogret, 3 X 55', 2008
A look into 3 Indian cinemas: Bengali cinema, Hindi cinema and Southern India cinema.
CINEXOTIC, a documentary film by Benoît Garel, 53', 2008
A dive into oriental and asian cinema produced in India, China, à Hong-Kong, Turkey and Egypt, first for 1960’s immigrants settled in France and afterwards for every French cinema-goer. The lattest audience being aware and greedy of this cinema thanks to the medias, films critics and DVD industry.
INDIAN CINEMAS, 3 documentary films by Hubert Niogret:
DIGITAL2008 – France – 3 x 55 min – Color – Documentary
Produced by Yann Broli (LES FILMS DU TAMARIN)
Synopsis:
1 Bengali cinema
Bengali cinema was not the earliest regional film-industry to develop in India. Most of their films deal with questions related to their cultural identity and are shot in the Bengali language. At times, however, like their elders before them, they will opt for the use of Hindi in their large-scale productions, hoping to reach a wider audience. The bulk of the rest of Bengali cinema comprises auteur films with a social realist slant, and comedies.
2 Hindi cinema
Too often identified by Westerners with Bollywood, the Hindi cinema is much broader than that name would imply. The commercial and industrial foundations of the modern Hindi cinema were laid at the end of the forties and the beginning at the fifties, largely revolving around widely loved stars. A new generation of film-makers has recently appeared.
3 Southern India cinema
In the Northeast and the South, cinema has a more artisanal character, in contrast with the heavy industry of Mumbai. In the South, with different languages, state structures, political functioning, notions as to the goals of film-making prevail in societies governed by democratically elected communists and where authorities are determined to promote progress through education. The Tamils, on the other hand, have carried on the Hindi tradition of entertainment films, and Madras is the second largest production centre after Mumbai. In these predominantly poor, rural areas, the industry developped later than the Hindi cinema.
62nd International Film Festival & Market
May 13th – 24th 2009
MARKET SCREENINGS
WALLACE LINE (Die Liebe der Kinder)
35 mm – 2009 – Germany – 90 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Franz MULLER
Original language: German
Cast: Marie-Lou Sellem, Alex Brendemühl, Katharina Derr, Tim Hoffmann
Synopsis: Two single parents meet in an Internet chat room and soon decide to move in together. They don’t have a whole lot in common, but the very fact that they are so different gives the relationship its liberated, “adult“ quality.
Produced by Harry Floter (2 PILOTS)
Screening:
Tuesday 19th at 10:00 am in PALAIS G
ALABAKIARA
35 mm – Italy – 93 min – Color – Erotic
Directed by Stefano SALVATI
Original language: Italian
Cast: Raz Degan, Davide Rossi, Laura Gigante, Kelly Potts, Alessandro Haber
Synopsis: Chiara is seventeen, she has a baby face, appears to be the girl next door and her mother believes she is a good daughter…. but she isn’t! “Drug –friendly” and keen practitioner of so-called “gangster nights”, Chiara doesn’t love school but really loves disco and free love (better say free sex!). All that is her everyday routine, while the real transgression in her life is… true love! Despite her attitude, she deeply loves her DJ boyfriend, Nico, who owns an erotic website. When Chiara discovers by accident 200 kilos of cocaine hidden in her basement, she thinks it’s the chance to make big money. But it might also be a way to get killed…
Songs by Vasco Rossi, the biggest Italian rockstar.
Produced by MIKADO FILM, RAI CINEMA, PIXELDNA
Screenings:
Tuesday 19th at 1:30 pm in PALAIS D
Wednesday 20th at 5:30 pm in PALAIS F
DIRTY MONEY, THE INTRUDER (Dirty Money, l’infiltré)
HD – 2009 – Switzerland/ Canada/ France – 107 min & 2 x 52 min – Color – Thriller/ Action
Directed by Dominique OTHENIN-GIRAD
Original language: French
Cast : Antoine Basler, Carlos Leal, Andréa Ferréol, Jean-François Stévenin, Uygar Tamer
Synopsis: Dirty Money is a dark thriller about a Swiss police officer who is infiltrating an international operation of money laundering. More than tens of millions of euros between France and Switzerland are at stake.
Produced by André MARTIN (BOHEMIAN FILMS)
Screening:
Tuesday 19th at 11:30 am in PALAIS D
AH! THE LIBIDO (Ah! La Libido)
HD / 35mm – 2009 – France – 80 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Michèle ROSIER
Original language: French
Cast: Claude Degliame, Audrey Dana, Sarah Grappin, Anna Mihalcea
Synopsis: This is a week of surprising adventures for Paula, Betty, Charlotte, Sandy, women of different ages, who work at the French daily Liberation and relish lunching together at the cafeteria. Betty, the gutsiest one, talks the others into making a date with a toy-boy (or one-shot boy). And on Sunday, the quartet will meet to compare notes. The Libido is not so much about sex, but a portrait of four high-spirited and distinctly different Parisian working women.
Produced by GO-FILMS
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 11:30 am in PALAIS H
BURROWING (Man tänker sitt)
HD / 35 mm – 2009 – Sweden – 76 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Henrik Hellström, Fredrik Wenzel
Original language: Swedish
Cast: Sebastian Eklund, Jörgen Svensson, Hannes Sandahl
Synopsis: Sebastian lives at home with his mother. He is eleven years old. From an elevated spot in the playground, he surveys his neighbourhood. He can see Jimmy who lives with his parents, even though he’s got a child of his own. He can see Anders, who’s just been given planning permission for a new carport. In a hollow where the surface water blends into the brook, Mischa is looking for fish. He came as a guest worker in the seventies but still hasn’t left. Sebastian sees the asphalt rotting. He sees hollyhocks eating their way into the foundations causing fractures in the concrete slabs laid directly on the ground. Weakening confined root space, lack of water and low nutritional values. A break-up can only come through force.
Produced by Produced by Erika Wasserman (Fasad AB).
Screenings:
Sunday 17th at 2:00 pm in PALAIS C
Tuesday 19th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS G
SOUNDLESS WIND CHIME DIGITAL / 35 mm – 2009 – Switzerland/ China – 100 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Kit HUNG
Original languages: Swiss German, English, Mandarin and Cantonese
Cast : Lu Yulai, Bernhard Bulling, Gilles Tschudi
Synopsis: Soundless Wind Chime is the poetic journey of Ricky, searching for the lost soul and the past of his deceased Swiss lover – Pascal. The film shows a battle of love, lust, reality, memory and illusions and the grief everybody bears every day.
Produced by Keep In Touch Company, Das Kollektiv für audiovisuelle Werke GmbH
Screenings:
Sunday 17th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS C
Wednesday 20th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS G
I DREAMT UNDER THE WATER (J’ai rêvé sous l’eau) HD / 35 mm – 2009 – France – 73min – Color – Drama
Directed by HORMOZ
Original language: French
Cast: Hubert Benhamdine, Caroline Ducey, Christine Boisson, HPG
Synopsis: 20-years-old Antonin is secretly in love with Alex his best friend. After Alex's brutal death, Antonin succumbs to an overwhelming sexuality that leads him into prostitution. One day, he meets Juliette. It is love at first sight, but a drug issue starts to interfere between them. After some happy weeks, the young woman decides to run away. Close to despair, Antonin finally finds comfort in the arms of Baptiste, one of his former clients, while Juliette remains in his heart.
Produced by Sebastien Burnet (Triskel Film), Loïc Magneron (WIDE Management), TLA entertainment
Screening:
Monday 18th at 4:00 pm in PALAIS E
GIVE ME YOUR HAND (Donne-moi la main)
35 mm – 2009 – France/Germany – 76min – Color
Directed by Pascal-Alex Vincent
Original language: French
Synopsis: Twin brothers Antoine and Quentin, eighteen years old, leave their house in the North of France and hit the road to go to Spain for the funeral of their mother, whom they barely knew. When the most reserved one reveals his homosexuality, their relationship changes.
Produced by Local Films, Adam Production, Busse & Halberschmidt Filmproduktion
Screening:
Monday 18th at 12:00 am in PALAIS C
TEARS OF APRIL (Käsky)
35 mm – 2009 – Finland/ Germany/ Greece – 115 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Aku LOUHIMIES
Original language: Finnish
Cast: Pihla Viitala, Samuli Vauramo, Eero Aho
Synopsis: 1918, the Finnish civil war. Red socialists and White bourgeois. Prisoner of the Whites, Red guard troop leader Miina Malin, manages to escape only to be recaptured by jaeger Aaro Harjula. Against the general consensus, he does not wish for her senseless murder but for her to have a fair trail. The meeting of Aaro and Miina binds two strong human stories together and sparks an edgy love theme in the midst of the horrors of the civil war.
Produced by Aleksi Bardy (HELSINKI FILMI)
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 1:30 pm in PALAIS H
GARIMPEIRO, THE GOLD FOREST 35 mm – 2009 – France – 93 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Marc BARRAT
Original language: French
Cast : Tony Mpoudja, Julien Courbey, Sara Martins
Synopsis: Rod decides to return to Guiana, his native country, accompanied by Gonz, his childhood friend. In Cayenne, they begin an investigation into Rod’s past. A quest that will lead them right into the heart of the virgin forest, into the camps of the illegal gold prospectors…
Produced by MAT FILM
Screenings:
Thursday 21st at 10:00 am in PALAIS G
Thursday 21st at 3:30 pm PALAIS H
ROBBER GIRLS (Räuberinnen)
HD / 35 mm – 2009 – Switzerland/ Luxemburg – 80 min – Color – Erotic comedy
Directed by Carla LIA MONTI
Original languages: German, Swiss-German, Luxemburg
Cast : Nina Bühlmann, Alexandra Prusa, Myriam Muller, Mathis Künzler, Nils Althaus
Synopsis: Set some time in the undeterminable past: Emily is sent to work and live in his excellency's castle. She manages to escape into the woods, where she meets some lively hookers. Together they become «Robber Girls» taking a stand and fighting the patriarchy.
Produced by DSCHOINT VENTSCHR FILMPRODUKTION, PAUL THILTGES DISTRIBUTIONS
Screenings:
Sunday 17th at 11:30 am in PALAIS D
Monday 18th at 2:00 pm in PALAIS E
THE REBEL, LOUISE MICHEL (La Rebelle, Louise Michel)
HD – 2009 – France – 90 min – Color – Historical drama
Directed by Sólveig ANSPACH
Original language: French
Cast: Sylvie Testud, Nathalie Boutefeu, Coralie André
Synopsis: Louise Michel is a French revolted woman from Paris Commune. Convicted for having fought the troups of Bismark, Louise is sent like thousands of revolutionary men to faraway Noumea, New Caledonia. Teacher, friend of famous Victor Hugo, Louise will there happen to be an incredible show woman, an exemplary resistant admired by all men. Not only does she cheer up all her prison mates but also she makes friends with the island inhabitants called the Kanaks. She teaches them French, learn about their customs, their identity and stands on their side while they rise up against colonial authority, always refusing injustice and discriminations. She will end her detention by teaching in a school gathering in the same classroom Kanak children with others. In Paris as in Noumea, the story of Louise is the story of a rebel.
Produced by FRANCE 2 & JEM PRODUCTIONS
Screening:
Wednesday 20th at 11:30 am in PALAIS F
UNFAILING
Digital – 2009 – France – 90 min – Color – Thriller
Directed by Davy SIHALI
Original language: French
Cast: Frank Truong, Emilie de la Perriere, Pier Gaudin
Synopsis: A secret criminal organization, headed by Mr. Takamura, arranges a tournament in order to find the perfect killer. Ten young people who have nothing to lose, accept the rules and run in this revenge. To spice up the game, Silex, the right arm of Takamura, winner of the last 5 years, was introduced anonymously in the group.
Between emerging friendships, rivalries and spirit of chivalry, the participants manage the tests. The eliminations are increasing and the losses are heavy. The tournament goes far to the point of no return.
Produced by Loïc Magneron (Wide Management)
Screening / Last Cut:
Wednesday 20th at 1: 30 pm in PALAIS B
14-18 THE NOISE AND THE FURY (14-18, Le Bruit et la Fureur)
DIGITAL – 2009 – France/ Belgium – 100 / 2x52min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Jean-François DELASSUS
Original language: French
Synopsis: Not everything has been told about World War One. This documentary tries to explain te inexplicable: how tens of millions of men could have suffered the unbelievable toughness of life in trenches during 4 years, season after season, day after day, night after night? How could they have accepted the idea of a sure death or injury while they could not even tell the exact reason why they were fighting?
What you are about to see can seem crazy: WW1 was maintained by a general consent.
14 – 18, the Great War is a documentary based on rare archives for the first time colorized, restored and sonorized as never before. It has the 3rd best audience (5,9 millions) for a Prime-Time documentary broadcasted on France 2 since 2006
Produced by PROGRAM 33, ECPAD, IOTA PRODUCTIONS, RTBF
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 3:30 pm in PALAIS B
THAT SHOULD NOT BE (Nos Enfants Nous Accuseront)
HD / 35 mm – 112/ 2x52min – 2009 – France – Color – Documentary
Directed by Jean-Paul JAUD
Original languages: French and English
Synopsis:
In Europe every year 100,000 children die of diseases caused by the environment.
In Europe 70% of cancers are linked to the environment: 30% to pollution and 40% to food.
In Europe cases of cancer in children have been increasing by 1.1% yearly for 30 years.
In France the number of cancers in males has increased by 93% in 25 years.
In a little French community at the foot of the Cévennes Mountains, the mayor has decided to take a stance by making the school canteen organic. Here as everywhere, people are confronted with the anxiety of the dangers of industrial and agro-chemical pollution. It’s the start of a fight against a process that could become irreversible, a fight to stop our children accusing us in the future.
Produced by J + B SEQUENCES (Jean-Paul Jaud & Béatrice Jaud)
Screening:
Saturday 16th at 10:00 am in PALAIS E
HIGHLIGHTS
GIGOLA Pre-Sales
2010 – France – Color – Erotic – In Production
Directed by Laure CHARPENTIER
Original language: French
Cast:Lou Doillon, Eduardo Noriega, Marisa Paredes, Marisa Berenson (Credits are not contractual)
Synopsis: “GIGOLA” is the story of George, a charismatic and adventurous young woman, born from an old, catholic family, who, in her teens, falls in love with a female teacher named Sybil. Devastated by her lover’s eventual suicide, some years later, George embarks on an exciting and reckless journey to the depths of Pigalle’s nightlife, circa 1960. After an encounter with a very wealthy, still attractive, but older woman, Odette, who offers her money and gifts in return for sexual favours, George becomes Gigola, a kind of gigolo for women only.
Based on the controversial Best Seller novel “Gigola” by Laure Charpentier. The book was first printed in 1972 but immediately retrieved by the censorship. 30 years after “Gigola” became one of the most fascinating character of the 60’s nightlife in Pigalle.
Produced by :
Denise Petitdidier (MARIE AMELIE PRODUCTION)
LA VIDA LOCA
HD / 35 mm – 2008 – France/Spain/Mexico – 90 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Christian POVEDA
Original language: Spanish
Synopsis: In Central America, they are called Maras, these groups of youngsters who have modeled themselves on the Los Angeles youth gangs. They are extremely violent and are propagating terror in El Salvador and elsewhere. This is a study, through photography and the personal stories of these gang members, of a violent phenomenon that has been imported from the USA.
Produced by Carole Solive (La Femme Endormie), Luis Bellaba (Aquelarre), Emilio Maillé and Gustavo Angel (El Caiman)
FRANCAISE 35 mm – 2008 – France/Morocco – 84 min – Color
Directed by Souad EL BOUHATI
Original languages: French, Arabic
Cast: Hafsia Herzi, Farida Khelfa, Maher Kamoun, Alexandra Martinez, Amal Ayouch
Synopsis: Sofia, born in France of Maghrebian parents, spends a happy childhood in the countryside. Her father missing his country, she ends up in a farm in Morocco. She is only ten years old. She swears she’ll pass her degree in order to return to France at the age of eighteen. But life always arranges to disrupt our plans ...
Produced by Jacques Kirsner (JEM Productions)
COMME UNE ETOILE DANS LA NUIT
HD / 35 mm – 2008 – France – 90 min – Color -Drama
Directed by René FERET
Original language: French
Cast: Salomé Stévenin, Nicolas Giraud, Jean-François Stévenin, Maryline Canto
Synopsis: When Anne and Marc decide to have a child, Marc discovers he has Hodgkin disease. Fighting to preserve their love from fear, death and sadness, they will both live a senseless joy…
Produced by Fabienne Camara (Les FILMS ALYNE)
STRAIGHT TO THE HEART (En plein coeur) HD / 35 mm – 2009 – Canada – 105 min – Color – Romance -Drama
Directed by Stéphane GEHAMI
Original language: French
Cast: Julie Deslauriers, Pierre Rivard, Bénédicte Décary, Patrice Godin
Synopsis: Benoît, a 32 year old teenager, talented car stealer who falls in love compulsively, roams from girl to girl. Jimi, a little man of 13, supports his depressive mother earning money teaming up with Benoît. From stolen Jeep to stolen Jeep, with their fists, with their guts and with their hearts, those two are launched into a story which will turn around Benoît’s life.
Produced by Stéphane Géhami (PRODUCTIONS FILM PLEIN COEUR)
FIRAAQ A mesmerizing social tale
35 mm – 2008 – India – 101 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Nandita DAS
Original languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati
Cast: Naseruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Raghuveer Yadav, Deepti Naval, Sanjay Suri
Synopsis: "Firaaq" is an Urdu word that means both separation and quest.
The story is set over a 24-hour period, one month after a carnage that took place in Gujarat, India in 2002. Firaaq is a work of fiction, based on a thousand true stories. It traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people - some who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently. It is an ensemble film that follows multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and at times discrete. What unites them is their spatial and emotional context.
Produced by PERCEPT PICTURES COMPANY
THREE WISE MEN (Kolme viisasta miestä)
HD / 35 mm – 2008 – Finland – 95 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Mika KAURISMAKI
Original language: Finnish
Cast: Kari Heiskanen, Pertti Sveholm, Timo Torikka
Synopsis: Matti (51), a police inspector, Erkki (51), photographer and Rauno (51), actor, are childhood friends, who haven't seen each other for a long time. They meet coincidentally in a Christmas Eve in Helsinki and spend the night together in a karaoke bar. Between drinking and singing they tell about the joys and sorrows of their lives, revealing some painfull experiences and taking even their friendship apart. The events take a dramatic turn, when a mysterious woman enters the bar.
Produced by Mika Kaurismäki (Marianna Films Oy)
BLINDSPOT Erotic / Psychological thriller
HD – 2009 – Netherlands – 80 min – Color/ B&W – Drama
Directed by Ad BOL
Original languages: Dutch, German, English
Cast: Jango Edwards, Micky Hoogendijl, Johnny Melville, Hugo Metsers, Maike Moeller
Synopsis: A young woman, Anya, dons a blindfold to dance mysteriously in her private atelier. It is rhythmic but also tragic, melancholic and gripping. Suddenly, Anya awakes screaming. Her husband tries to comfort her: yet another nightmare... He begs her to see a specialist but she just shrugs off the idea. Anya enters a warehouse under the watchful eye of a distinguished middle-aged man. In his hand a Colt revolver. Upstairs in the studio Anya preens herself in some sexy underwear. A knock at the door startles her. She opens and the man barges in, holding the gun to her head…
Produced by Eager Films B.V., Maximum Films
ANOTHER MAN (Un autre homme)
35 mm – 2008 – Suisse – 89 min – Black & White – Drama
Directed by Lionel BAIER
Original language: Suisse
Cast: Robin Harsch, Natacha Koutchoumov, Elodie Weber, Bulle Ogier
Synopsis: François and his girlfriend have settled in the country. Although he is not a journalist, he contributes to a small local weekly, describing the life of the region’s inhabitants and the films shown at the valley’s only movie theatre. Since he is no film critic, he doesn’t know what to make of the films he’s supposed to write about. So he ends up copying word for word the reviews in “Travelling”, a highly specialized cinema review. Very quickly, movies become his passion, and he sets off for Lausanne to view the press screenings. Here he meets Rosa, a critic for a benchmark-setting daily. A kinky relationship develops between the two of them, leading François to discover the inner workings of desire: desire of a woman and of a critic.
Until the day his cheating is discovered...
Produced by Robert Boner (SAGA Production)
LOLA MONTES HD REMASTERED & 35 mm – 1955/2008 – France – 105 min – Color – Drama/Historical Directed by Max OPHULS
Original language: French
Based on the book by Cecil St. Laurent
Cast: Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook
Synopsis: Reduced to a state the total degeneration, Lola Montès, under the big top of a gigantic circus, is forced to reinact her dramatic past. The life story of a 19th century courtesan told via flashbacks while being exhibited in a stylised circus somewhere in America. Lola Montes pantomimes her own image, caught between being a caged animal and a femme fatale, she travels around the world creating a caricature of her decline until the tragic conclusion during a show : a leap into the void...
Produced by Les Films du Jeudi
LEA (a Soliloquy) DIGITAL – 2009 – USA – 87 min – Color – Drama
Directed by Jacques ZANETTI
Original language: English
Cast: Diahnne Abbott, Drena De Niro, Carson Grant, Marcus Naylor
Synopsis: Struggling with her inner past demons and prisoner of her adolescent memories, Leah roams New York City seeking peace and reconciliation for herself, her daughter and her life relationships; and gains a renewed strength through reevaluations of her traumatic childhood.
Produced by Diahnne Copeland, Adam Lipsius, Jacques Zanetti
THE JOURNEY, THE GREEK AMERICAN DREAM HD – 2009 – Greece/ United States – 87min – Colour /B&W – Documentary
Directed by Maria Iliou
Historian: Alexander Kitroeff
Original language: English
Synopsis: While conducting research on a feature film "A Friendship in Smyrna," filmmaker Maria Iliou discovered a wealth of previously unseen archival photographic and film footage from over fifty public and private collections which tell the fascinating history of Greek immigrants to the United States. Along with historian Alexander Kitroeff and several scholars and guests, she brings these stories and photographs to life in order to explore and document a very special story from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Produced by PROTEUS
SONGS OF LIVES (Eletek éneke) DIGITAL – 2009 – Hungary – 100 min/ 9 x 25/35 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Bereczki CSABA
Original language: Hungarian
Synopsis: This documentary is about real music, real performers, real stories, though the dramatic composition of the storyline may give viewers the impression of being drawn into the world of a dream-like ballade. We take a journey through the lives of some of the older musicians in funeral bands, for whom music is not only their profession, but it's their own identity: it belongs to their hands, their heart, or their throat.
Produced by Tamás TOLMÁR
SOUTH COAST DIGITAL – 2009 – UK – 85 / 60 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Will JEWELL
Original language: English
Featuring: Norman Cook, Beardyman, Buzz, Monkey Sons, Evil Ed and many more!
Synopsis: Think hip hop’s just about MTV videos, gangsta posing and bling? Think again – this ain’t East Coast, this ain’t West Coast.. this is South Coast! This character documentary charts how hip hop has found a quintessentially English voice in the most unlikely of locations – the south coast seaside towns.
South Coast seeks answers to questions such as why 30 years after hip hop arrived there’s no global UK artists? Why teenagers ignore home grown hip hop in favour of violent tales from 15000 miles away? and can you really rap about guns and bling when you’re on the dole in Eastbourne?
Produced by FRACTURED FILMS LTD
MEGUNICA DIGITAL – 2009 – Italy – 80/52 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Lorenzo FONDA
Original languages: Spanish, Italian
Synopsis: The film is about mural artist Blu at work. It follows him at work in MExico, GUatemala, NIcaragua, Costarica and Argentina, hence the acronym "Megunica". The creative development of an artist is what makes him unique and different from the others. The idea of the film was to see how his art would react to the inputs that these places offer him.
Produced by MERCURIO CINEMATOGRAFICA
SAM PECKINPAH (Sam Peckinpah, un portrait) DIGITAL – 2008 – France/Italy – 78 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Michelangelo DALTO & Umberto BERLENGHINI
Original languages: English, French
Synopsis: Director Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) is one of the most famous, passionate and inspiring American western movie icons. Filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, John Woo or Oliver Stone were influenced by “the Peckinpah’s touch” made out of violence and sense of the epic in master pieces like Major Dundee, Straw Dogs, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and of course The Wild Bunch.
Produced by LES FILMS DU TAMARIN, EOS COMM, FILMOBLIC
BIBLIOBURRO, THE DONKEY LIBRARY DIGITAL – 2009 – France/ Colombia/ Belgium – (90 min in progress) 52 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Carlos RENDON ZIPAGAUTA
Original language: Spanish
Synopsis: Each week-end, Luis Humberto Soriano, a teacher living in the remote hamlet of La Gloria in the north of Colombia, brings, with the help of his two donkeys « ALPHA » and « BET », the written word and knowledge to communes as secluded as Nueva Granada. With the kids - who ever their parents are peasants or members of
FARC, paramilitaries, drug cartels - Luis gives lectures and private tutoring, organizes puppet shows and board game sessions…
Produced by Grenade Productions (France) in coproduction with Imaginaria Films (Colombia) & Iota Production (Belgium)
STATES OF MIND (Gli Stati della mente) HDV – 2009 – Germany / Italy – 77 / 52 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Elisa MISHTO
Original language: Italian
Synopsis: A nurse and three mental patients take turns playing the lead roles in four stories told over four seasons. Their world within the rooms and hallways of the psychiatric clinic is at once brutally honest, tragic, and poetic. Moving through summer, autumn, winter, and spring, we are presented with the stories of four individuals moving through crisis, waiting, normalization, and adjustment. Elements of their previous lives and of their current daily adventures are told with the lightness of a fairy tale or the playfulness of a game, but without omitting the harshest and most melancholic aspects of their existence.
Produced by ANACONDINO FILM
HER NAME IS SABINE (Elle s’appelle Sabine)
35 mm – 2008 – France – 85 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Sandrine BONNAIRE
Original language: French
Cast: Sabine Bonnaire
Synopsis: A sensitive portrait of Sabine Bonnaire, a 38-year-old autistic woman, filmed by her closest sister. The film tells her story through personal footage filmed by the actress over a period of 25 years, and her life today in a suitable facility. After a tragic five-year stay in a psychiatric hospital, Sabine found a new lease on life-even if these capacities remain altered-in a home in the Charente region. The film exposes the penury of specialized institutions and the dramatic consequences they can lead to.
Produced by Thomas Schmitt (Mosaique Films)
BALLERINA DIGITAL – France – 77 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Bertrand NORMAND
Original language: Russian
Synopsis: Ballerina. Fascinating, enthralling, shrouded in mystery. Hers is a rare art. Her craft as demanding as an athlete. Her dancing life as brief as a butterfly. All to a vision of fragile beauty. A vision of what it is to be a woman. And Russia, land of absolutes, of the cult of beauty, of immensities and of nostalgia where that feminine ideal is celebrated and held dear. Russia is par excellence the land of the Ballerina. This film follows the destinies of five female dancers of the Kirov Ballet in Saint-Petersburg. Their lives weave together to tell the story of the Russian Ballerina of our time, from her beginnings as a child in dance school to the peak of her glory on the world stages. In this intimate gaze at the lives, the courage, the disappointments and triumphs of these women, this film unveils the vitality and uniqueness of the Russian Ballerina today. We come to understand her lasting allure as we begin the 21st century. Ballerina, as old as Russian history, as new as today.
Produced by Frédéric Podetti (Adesif Productions), Yann Brolli (Les Films du Tamarin)
MUSIC : FEATURES & DOCUMENTARIES
REDEMPTION SONG
HD – 2009 – France – 90 min – Color – Documentary
Directed by Markus HANSEN, Jean-Marie BOULET
Original languages: English, Vietnamese
Synopsis: In March 1967, Billy Bang was conscripted to fight in Vietnam, an experience that left him emotionally desolate and profoundly confused about his American identity. Upon his return, he tried to forget his nightmares through alcohol, drugs and music. Forty years later, he decides that the only way he will be able to repair his emotions and find some closure to his trauma, is to return to Vietnam, this time with his violin. This film is about the desire to overcome and transcend the trauma of war through music and art.
Produced by Loïc Magneron (WIDE Management)
MUSIC: MUSICAL DOCUMENTARIES
A gathering of documentaries about worldwide music including:
SOUTH COAST seeks answers to questions such as why 30 years after hip hop arrived there’s no global UK artists? Why teenagers ignore home grown hip hop in favour of violent tales from 15000 miles away? and can you really rap about guns and bling when you’re on the dole in Eastbourne?
by Will JEWEL Digital - UK – 85 / 60 min
SONG OF LIVES is about real music, real performers, real stories, though the dramatic composition of the storyline may give viewers the impression of being drawn into the world of a dream-like ballade. We take a journey through the lives of some of the older musicians in funeral bands, for whom music is not only their profession, but it's their own identity: it belongs to their hands, their heart, or their throat.
by Bereczki CSABA - Digital - 2009 – Hungary – 100 min or 9 x 25/35 min
IMMATERIAL TREASURE talks about an African American violinist in Vietnam, when musical encounters and creation overcome nationalism, traditions, borders and sorrows. A violin road movie.
by Markus HANSEN, Jean-Marie BOULET - HD - 2009 – France – 52 min
SONIC MIRROR tells how music is for most people a marvelous experience and part of their life whether or not they play an instrument themselves. They understand music and rhythm as a fundamental communication tool of mankind. A surprising and emotional dive into the world of rhythm - an extraordinary trip to discover the magic relationship between Life and Rhythm. Drum legend Billy Cobham takes us from the bandstands of the Western world to the primal music of African origin with kids in a Brazilian community and on to the completely secluded world of musical experiences of autists.
by Mika KAURISMAKI - 2007 – Switzerland/Finland/Germany – 79 min
BRASILEIRINHO is about Choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music. Back in the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian musicians started to blend European melodies, Afro - Brazilian rhythms and the melancholic interpretation of the Brazilian Indians' music to create Choro. Choro is credited as being the first musical expression of Brazil's melting pot and had a prominent place in the development of Brazil's cultural identity. Choro remained a major popular music style until the 1920s, leading directly into Samba and later to Bossa Nova. After a slight decline in popularity, Choro music has made a remarkable comeback over the past few decades.
by Mika KAURISMAKI - 2005 – Switzerland/Finland/Brazil – 52 min
RETURN TO GOREE is a road-movie telling of African singer Youssou N’Dour’s epic journey following the trail left by the blacks slaves and the jazz music they invented. Youssou N’Dour’s challenge is to bring back to Africa a jazz repertoire and to sing those tunes in Gorée, the island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to commemorates its victims. Guided in his travel by pianist Moncef Genoud, N’Dour travels across the United States and Europe. Accompanied by some of the world’s most exceptional musicians, they meet people and well known figures, and create, through concerts, encounters and debates, music which transcends cultural division.
by Pierre-Yves BORGEAUD - 2007 – Switzerland/Luxembourg – 112 min
THE ORCHESTRA OF PIAZZA VITTORIO A film account of the creation of the famous Piazza Vittorio Orchestra, L'Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio combines music, interviews, a sense of solidarity and the human comedy. Created at the instigation of Mario Tronco, a film score composer and pianist with the Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel and the collective Apollo 11, this musical group has its roots in a working-class district of Rome where the Italians are «an ethnic minority». Shot over a five-year period, from the birth of the orchestra to its recent successes, this documentary brings together thirty street and professional musicians of various nationalities (some of them illegals), five cameramen, and three sound engineers. The film highlights and echoes aspects of contemporary Italy, representatative of a varied sociological and cultural mix. The result is an extraordinary alliance of sounds, harmony and life stories.
by Agostino FERRENTE - 2006 – Italy – 93 min
HIP HOP REVOLUTION looks at the integration of hip-hop culture with state of emergency politics in the 1980’s, and it’s role as a tool in revolution in post-apartheid South Africa. The film is fast-paced, vibrant, with cutting-edge visual montages. Given, the culture of repression in South Africa at the time, the hip-hop sub-culture was a form of ventilation to youth on the Cape Flats and elsewhere in the country. Hip-hop also politically informed many young people in South Africa. Hip-hop Revolution, also reflects the voice of contemporary South African hip-hop.
by Weeam WILLIAMS - 2006 – South Africa – 48 min
WRITERS Paris 1983, they are between 14 and 18 years old, and they write their name on the city walls. Inspired by he New York phenomenon, they don’t just copy existing forms, but have created their own style, imposed their own signatures and inspired a whole generation. They communicate through the letters of their name. They are called “Writers”
by Marc - Aurèle VECCHIONE - WITH VOICE OVER BY VINCENT CASSEL - 2004 – France – 90 min
COLLECTIONS:
Erotic Titles Collection From the 60’s to 2009 – Dramas
More than 37 feature film, art house, high quality, from the 60’s to today. A full erotic classic collection including recent festival favorite’s film and classic masterpieces.
The collection includes :
Ah! The Libido (Ah! La Libido) by Michèle ROSIER, Robber Girls by Carla LIA MONTI, AlbaKiara by Stefano SALVATI, Blind Spot by Ad BOL, Cold Blood (Sang Froid), Maladolescenza (Puppy Love), Gradiva (C’est Gradiva qui vous appelle) by Alain Robbe-Grillet, Honey Baby by Mika Kaurismaki, Melancoly Baby with Jane Birkin, Vivante by Sandrine Ray, Wild Camp with Isilde Lebesco, Honey Suckle by Claude Faraldo, Serieux Comme Le Plaisir by Robert BENAYOUN, Le Diable au Coeur by Bernard QUEYSANNE, The Secret (Le secret) Directed by Virginie WAGON, Alive ! (Vivante) by Antoine SANTANA, A Song of Innocence (La Ravisseuse) by Antoine SANTANA, Snow White by Samir, Clemence (Clémence) by Franck Buchter and many more…
And the newly HD restored “Jean-Francois Davy Collection”, which includes more than 15 features from the 70’s.
As Exhibition, Exhibition 2, Q, Exhibition 79, Le Desir, Q, The Hell Of Prostitution, Get On The line Like Everyone Else, Mechanical Banana, Trick Socks,The Pornocrasts, and Melancoly Baby by Clarissse Gabus
MORE THAN 2590 HOURS OF PROGRAMME
HD MATERIAL AVAILABLE FOR SEVERAL FILM
Mika Kaurismaki Collection HD & 35 mm
Mika Kaurismäki’s first film The Liar (1980) was an overnight sensation, when first shown in Finland; it marked the beginning of the cinema of the Kaurismäki brothers and started a new era in the Finnish cinema. After the high school Mika Kaurismäki used to work as a painter of houses and apartments in a small town of Kuusankoski in the Southeastern part of Finland. In the autumn of 1976, when the winter was coming and the annual high season for painting houses was over, he thought of doing something else in life. Mika Kaurismaki studied cinema in Munich, Germany, (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen) 1977-1981 and made his diplom film The Liar in 1980 in Finland. His younger brother Aki Kaurismäki, then a student of journalism, played the main role and also co-wrote the screenplay. After the success of The Liar, Mika Kaurismäki decided to stay in Finland and together with his brother and some friends he founded the production company Villealfa Filmproductions.
During the active Villealfa years, Mika co-founded the legendary Midnight Sun Film Festival (1986) and the distribution company Senso Films (1987) and the Andorra cinemas in Helsinki. The 90’s meant a gradual disappearance of the Villealfa spirit and both Mika and Aki started to produce their films through their own production companies. In 1994 Mika returned to the Brazilian jungle with Samuel Fuller and Jim Jarmusch and made the feature length documentary Tigrero – a film that was never made. The film was awarded the International Critics’ Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1994. In the course of the 90’s Mika established his base and second home in Rio de Janeiro and started to concentrate more in international co-productions. In 1996 in Philadelphia he directed the no-budget thriller Condition Red with James Russo, Cynda Williams and Paul Calderon. His biggest production so far is the comedy LA without a map (1998), with David Tennant, July Delpy, Vincent Gallo, Johnny Depp, James Le Gros, Anouk Aimee, Joe Dallesandro.
In 2003 he directed Honey Baby, a road movie between Germany and Russia, starring Henry Thomas, Irina Björklund and Helmut Berger. Brasileirinho, a film about Brazilian choro music, premiered at the Berlinale 2005 and Sonic Mirror.
Three Wise Men (Kolme viisasta miestä), Sonic Mirror, Brasileirinho, Honey Baby, Moro No Brasil, Highway Society, Condition Red (Jatkuva hälytystila), Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (Tigrero - Elokuva, joka ei valmistunut), The Last Border (Viimeisellä rajalla), Zombie and the Ghost Train (Zombie ja Kummitusjuna), Amazon, Paper Star (Paperitähti), Cha Cha Cha, Helsinki Naples All Night Long, Rosso, The Clan Tale of the Frogs (Klaani), The Worthless (Arvottomat), Jackpot 2, The Liar (Valehtelija)…
MORE THAN 30 HOURS OF PROGRAMS.
HD masters available for the first films
Renét Ferét Collection HD & 35 mm
After studies in Lille, he took classes at the Actor school of the TNS of Strasbourg. Script, writer, producer, director, TV director, actor, and teacher, René Feret has been involved in more than 40 features films and documentaries from 1975 to nowadays. Some of his film has been selected in competition for major festivals worldwide, such as La Communion Solennelle (Official selection in Cannes FF in 1977) and Mystere Alexina (Un certain regard in Cannes 1985).
Directed by : Comme une etoile dans la nuit, But Once Mom Had Gone... (Il a suffit que Maman s’en aille), L’enfant du pays, Rue du retrait, Les frères Gravet, La place d’un autre, Promenades d’été, Baptême, Mystère Alexina, Fernand, La communion solenelle, Histoire de Paul
Comme une étoile dans la nuit – Montreal 2008 : Focus on World Cinema – Official Selection
MORE THAN 27 HOURS OF PROGRAMS.
Asian Cinema Collection
DIGITAL 2008 – France – Documentary
Produced by Yann Brolli (Les Films du Tamarin) and Hubert Niogret (Filmoblic)
A remarkable collection of documentaries about the Asian Cinema including:
CHINESE CINEMA, YESTERDAY AND TODAY, a documentary film by Hubert Niogret, 59', 2008
There are few film industries in the world today so dependent upon the fortunes and vicissitudes of political power, and its sometimes incomprehensible policy reversals.
The best way to understand the history of the People’s Republic during the past two decades is to study its movies.
THE NINE LEAVES OF KOREAN CINEMA, a documentary film by Hubert Niogret, 61', 2008
The Korean cinema, North and South, though weighed down since birth by propaganda theories on the one side and tempted for a time by Hollywood machinery on the other, has succeeded in expressing the identity of one and the same people, however contradictory or conflicting the currents of thought which run through it.
THAI CINEMA, YESTERDAY AND TODAY, a film by Hubert Niogret, 55', 2008
After 1970’s emergence of new film directors more and more in osmosis with Thai reality, Thai cinema developed throughout commercial direction -due to precise genre film- and also throughout classic frescos by Chatreechalerm Yukol and more innovative films by a new generation of filmmakers that mostly appears during the end of the 90’s under director-producer Nonzee Nimibur’s influence.
INDIAN CINEMAS, a film by Hubert Niogret, 3 X 55', 2008
A look into 3 Indian cinemas: Bengali cinema, Hindi cinema and Southern India cinema.
CINEXOTIC, a documentary film by Benoît Garel, 53', 2008
A dive into oriental and asian cinema produced in India, China, à Hong-Kong, Turkey and Egypt, first for 1960’s immigrants settled in France and afterwards for every French cinema-goer. The lattest audience being aware and greedy of this cinema thanks to the medias, films critics and DVD industry.
INDIAN CINEMAS, 3 documentary films by Hubert Niogret:
DIGITAL2008 – France – 3 x 55 min – Color – Documentary
Produced by Yann Broli (LES FILMS DU TAMARIN)
Synopsis:
1 Bengali cinema
Bengali cinema was not the earliest regional film-industry to develop in India. Most of their films deal with questions related to their cultural identity and are shot in the Bengali language. At times, however, like their elders before them, they will opt for the use of Hindi in their large-scale productions, hoping to reach a wider audience. The bulk of the rest of Bengali cinema comprises auteur films with a social realist slant, and comedies.
2 Hindi cinema
Too often identified by Westerners with Bollywood, the Hindi cinema is much broader than that name would imply. The commercial and industrial foundations of the modern Hindi cinema were laid at the end of the forties and the beginning at the fifties, largely revolving around widely loved stars. A new generation of film-makers has recently appeared.
3 Southern India cinema
In the Northeast and the South, cinema has a more artisanal character, in contrast with the heavy industry of Mumbai. In the South, with different languages, state structures, political functioning, notions as to the goals of film-making prevail in societies governed by democratically elected communists and where authorities are determined to promote progress through education. The Tamils, on the other hand, have carried on the Hindi tradition of entertainment films, and Madras is the second largest production centre after Mumbai. In these predominantly poor, rural areas, the industry developped later than the Hindi cinema.
posted by Wide Management at 2:36 AM
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