French movies in New York

Et voici la sélection des productions cinématographiques françaises à New York. Faites nous part de vos coups de coeur !

>>> Now Playing
	The Thorn in the Heart | L'Epine Dans le Coeur Directed by Michel Gondry, 96 minutes, France, Oscilloscope Pictures, 2009. Academy Award® winner Michel Gondry directs The Thorm in the Heart , which had its world premiere screening in the official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. A documentary with heart, this is a personal look at the life of the Gondry family matriarch, Michel's aunt Suzette Gondry, and her awkward relationship with her son, Jean-Yves. Michel examines Suzette's years as a school teacher and her life in rural France. During the course of filming the documentary, Michel unearths new family stories and uses his camera to explore them in a subtle and sensitive way. Village East Cinema, 181 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003, (800)326-3264 Link
	Blue Beard | Barbe Bleue Directed by Catherine Breillat, 80 minutes, France, Strand Releasing, 2009. With Dominique Thomas, Lola Creton, Daphne Baiwir, Marilou Lopes-Benites, Lola Giovannetti. A bloody, perversely chaste interpretation of the classic fairy tale from the director of The Last Mistress , Fat Girl and Romance , Breillat’s latest is set in motion when two young sisters come across the folk story in a book in the attic. Fascinated, they begin to read the tale of a poor young woman who sets her cap for a frightening, wealthy recluse — despite rumors he’s killed his previous wives. IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10014, (212)924-7771 Link
	A Prophet | Un Prophète Directed by Jacques Audiard, 150 minutes, France/Italy, Sony Pictures Classics, 2009. With Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this exhilarating crime epic from director Jacques Audiard follows an illiterate French-Arab prison inmate’s six-year odyssey from new kid on the cell block to underworld kingpin. Along the way, Malik (remarkable newcomer Tahar Rahim) learns how to read not just books but people, too, as the protégé of a brutal Corsican gang leader (the electrifying Niels Arestrup), until the pupil threatens to overtake the master, playing every one of Paris’ rival gangland factions to his own advantage. Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, Broadway Between 62nd and 63rd, New York, NY 10023, (212) 757-2280 | Angelika Film Center, 18 W. Houston Street, New York, NY 10012,  (800) 326-3264 | Brooklyn Heights Cinema, 70 Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY 11207, (718) 596-7070 | Cedar Lane Cinemas, 503 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ 07666, (201) 836-3334 Link
	The Secret of Kells | Brendan et le Secret de Kells Directed by Tomm Moore, 75 minutes, Ireland/France/Belgium, Gkids, 2009. The new animated masterpiece from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress and The Triplets of Belleville , The Secret of Kells film blends fantasy and mythology to create a richly detailed and striking visual landscape, folding traditionally Celtic influences into a riot of color and detail that dazzle the eyes. Hailed by international critics as one of the most beautiful films of the year and winner of the audience award at the prestigious Annecy Animation Festival, The Secret of Kells has also been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. The Beekman Theatre, 1271 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10021, (212)585-4141 | City Cinemas Village East, 181 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003, (800)326-3264 Link
	Vincere Directed by Marco Bellocchio, 128 minutes, Italy/France, IFC Films, 2009. With Giovanna Mezziogiorno, Filippo Timi, Corrado Invernizzi. Italian master Marco Bellocchio’s stunning political melodrama tells the virtually unknown story of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s (Filippo Timi) secret first marriage. An ambitious and ruthless young man, he woos and then abandons the woman who launched his career—and gave him his first child — as he plots his rise to power. Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, Broadway btw. 62nd and 63rd, New York, NY 10023, (212) 757-2280 | IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10014, (212)924-7771 | Cinemart Cinemas, 106-03 Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Hills, NY 11375, (718) 261-2244 | Northshore Towers Twin Cinemas, 272-40 Grand Central Parkway, Floral Park, NY 11001, (718) 229-7702 Link
	Chloe Directed by Atom Egoyan, 96 minutes, USA/Canada/France, Sony Pictures Classics, 2009. With Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Max Thieriot. Catherine and David, she a doctor, he a professor, are at first glance the perfect couple. Happily married with a talented teenage son, they appear to have an idyllic life. But when David misses a flight and his surprise birthday party, Catherine's long simmering suspicions rise to the surface. Suspecting infidelity, she decides to hire an escort to seduce her husband and test his loyalty. Catherine finds herself 'directing' Chloe's encounters with David, and Chloe's end of the bargain is to report back, the descriptions becoming increasingly graphic as the meetings multiply. AMC Loews Lincoln Square | City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3 | Clearview Chelsea Cinemas | Regal Cinemas Union Square | Brooklyn Heights Cinemas | Cinemart Cinemas | Cedar Lane Cinemas | Northshore Towers Twin Cinemas | Clearview Soundview | CJM Maplewood Sixplex | United Artists Lynbrook | Clearview Beacon Hill 5 | National Amusements All Westchester Saw Mill Multiplex Link
	The Sun Behind the Clouds Directed by Ritu Sari & Tenzing Sonam, 79 minutes, Austria/France/India/ Netherlands/China/USA/UK/Germany, 2010. The Sun Behind the Clouds updates the struggle for Tibetan independence, focusing upon the March 2008 demonstration against Chinese rule, the largest ever since the 1959 take-over of that nation. The Dalai Lama, living in exile in Northern India, is interviewed extensively and given the opportunity to explicate his “middle way,” a compromise position he has to date been unsuccessful in getting the Chinese to accept. Supporters of Tibetan independence who are devoted to the Dalai Lama, but who nonetheless feel “the middle way” is an ineffective solution, appear in the film, detailing their more militant position. Film Forum, 209 W Houston St, New York, NY 10014, (212) 727-8110 Link
	The Ghost Writer Directed by Roman Polanski, 128 minutes, France/Germany/UK, Summit Distribution, 2010. With Ewan McGregor, Jon Bernthal, Kim Cattrall, Pierce Brosnan. Resonating with topical themes, this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller is a story of deceit and betrayal on every level— sexual, political and literary. In a world in which nothing, and no one, is as it seems, The Ghost quickly discovers that the past can be deadly—and that history is decided by whoever stays alive to write it. For showtimes and tickets, click here.
	The White Ribbon | Le Ruban Blanc Directed by Michael Haneke, 144 minutes, Austria/Germany/France/ Italy, Sony Pictures Classics, 2009. With Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Leonie Benesch. Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery. Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011, (212) 255-8800 | Cedar Lane Cinemas, 503 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ 07666, (201) 836-3334 Link
	Green Zone Directed by Paul Greengrass, 115 minutes, France/USA/Spain/UK, Universal Pictures, 2010. With Igal Naor, Said Faraj, Matt Damon. United 93 director Paul Greengrass explores the aftermath of the Iraq invasion in this feature adaptation of author Rajiv Chandrasekaran's literary exposé of the same name. A one-time Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post, Chandrasekaran was present as American forces attempted to set up a provisional government on the grounds surrounding former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's opulent palace. In this fictional thriller set during the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad, director Greengrass and screenwriter Brian Helgeland use Chandrasekaran's novel as the foundation for the story of an officer who joins forces with a senior CIA officer to unearth evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. AMC Loews Lincoln Square | Regal E-Walk 13 | AMC Loews 34th Street | AMC Loews Kips Bay Theatre | United Artists Kaufman Astoria | National Amusements Edgewater | Regal Cinemas Union Square | Regal Cinemas Battery Park | AMC Loews Ridgefield Park | National Amusements Whitestone | Cinemart Forest Hills | AMC Loews Elizabeth | United Artists Yonkers | National Amusements Greenburgh | AMC Loews Port Chester Link
	The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Directed by Terry Gilliam, 122 minutes, UK/Canada/France, Sony Pictures Classics, 2009. With Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present-day. It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a traveling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10003, (212) 924-3363 Link
>>> Revivals, Classics, Festivals…
	The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College presents : FOCUS ON FRENCH CINEMA > > > April 9th - 11th 12 films, 5 US premieres, bursting with emotion — touching family moments, big laughs, countless heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat scenes and, for the first time, a selection of Shorts and a Saturday late-night chilling animated anthology. Don't miss this great weekend of French and francophone film! Link
.	Sisters | Gamines Directed by Eléonore Faucher, 107 minutes, France, Ex Nihilo, 2009. With Lubna Azabal, Marc Barbé, Amira Casar, Sylvie Testud. Sibylle, Corinne, and Georgette are sisters growing up in Lyon in the early 1970’s, raised by their single Italian mother. Sibylle is the only blonde in her family, a physical trait she owes to the father who abandoned them. Struggling with an increasing sense of estrangement, she yearns for the day when she might meet her French father. Cutting back and forth between Adult Sybille’s present-day and the years of her childhood, the film narrates delicately her difficult process of coming to terms with parental abandonment. Friday, April 9th at 7:15p.m. US premiere in the presence of actress Sylvie Testud! Link
.	The Villain | Le Vilain Directed by Albert Dupontel, 86 minutes, France, ADCB Films, 2009. With Albert Dupontel, Catherine Frot, Bouli Lanners. Fleeing gun-toting rivals, a bank robber seeks refuge in his quiet childhood neighborhood where his mother, Maniette, still lives leading a valiant resistance against an unscrupulous property developer, much to her son’s dismay. Discovering her son’s Machiavellian nature, Maniette engages in a pitiless and often hilarious battle with him in order to set him on the right path. Saturday, April 10th at 12:30p.m. US premiere! Link
.	The Mark of an Angel | L'Emprunte de l'Ange Directed by Safy Nebbou, 95 minutes, France, Diaphana Films, 2008. With Catherine Frot, Sandrine Bonnaire, Wladimir Yordanoff. Catherine Frot and Sandrine Bonnaire co-star brilliantly in this chilling thriller directed by Safy Nebbou. Frot plays Elsa, a troubled woman who becomes increasingly convinced that the young daughter of a wealthy family friend, Claire (Bonnaire), is in fact the child she lost in a hospital fire seven years ago. Elsa descends dangerously into obsession and the film offers a character study of her psychological disintegration as well as something of a sociological observation of French upper-middle class attitudes. Saturday, April 10th at 2:30p.m. US premiere! Link
.	Versailles Directed by Pierre Schöller, 113 minutes, France, Les Films Pelléas, 2008. With Guillaume Depardieu, Max Baissette de Malglaive, Judith Chemla, Aure Atika. A young homeless mother Nina and her son Enzo encounter a man named Damien who lives reclusively in the forest of Versailles. After taking refuge with him overnight, the next morning Nina appears to have disappeared. As seasons pass, Damien and Enzo grow more deeply attached to one another and Damien begins to search for a safer way to provide for them. Saturday, April 10th at 8p.m. Link
.	Fear(s) of the Dark | Peur(s) du Noir Directed by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou & 3 others, 85 minutes, France, Diaphana Films, 2007. Six different graphic artists, six different drawings and animation styles : six visionary tales of fear. “Think of it as the history of fear.” (Rotten Tomatoes) Saturday, April 10th at 10:35p.m. Link
.	Meet the Elisabethz | La Première Etoile Directed by Lucien Jean-Baptiste, 90 minutes, France, Vendredi Film, 2009. With Lucien Jean-Baptiste, Anne Consigny, Firmine Richard. Jean-Gabriel is married and the father of three children, but can’t seem to hold a job and instead spends most of his time and money gambling. After over hastily promising his daughter to take the whole family on a skiing holiday, his wife threatens to leave him unless, this time, he follows through on his promise. Sunday, April 11th at 12p.m. Link
.	The Hedgehog | Le Hérisson Directed by Mona Achache, 100 minutes, France, Les Films des Tournelles, 2009. With Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa. Paloma is a precociously smart, if darkly brooding 11-year old who intends to kill herself on her twelfth birthday. But as the fated appointment nears, Paloma encounters kindred spirits in her building's frumpy and disillusioned concierge and her new mysterious neighbor, both of whom inspire her to reevaluate her cynical existential outlook. Sunday, April 11th at 2p.m. Link
.	Sex, Okra and Salted Butter | Sexe, Gombo et Beurre Salé Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 81 minutes, France, 2008. With Marius Yelolo, Mata Gabin, Aïssa Maïga. Hortense, a forty year old nurse of African origins leaves Bordeaux and her family to live with her lover Jean-Paul, an oyster farmer in the bassin of Arcachon. For Malik, her husband, the choc is overwhelming. He must henceforth raise his two sons alone. A few days later, his life is once again thrown upside down as he discovers his eldest's son's homosexuality. Sunday, April 11th at 2:15p.m. Link
.	Ensemble, C'est trop Directed by Léa Fazer, 96 minutes, France/Switzerland, 2010. With Nathalie Baye, Pierre Arditi, Jocelyn Quivrin, Aïsai Maïga, Jacques Weber, Eric Cantona. Clémentine and Sébastien are young parents who can barely keep it together between raising their children and the demands of their careers. When Sébastien’s mother, Marie-France moves in with them after uncovering her husband’s affair with a younger woman and learns of his mistress’ pregnancy, she upsets the young couple’s fragile equilibrium. The birth of Sébastien’s half brother and his parents’ increasing regression into juvenile behavior complicate relationships further in this family comedy where generational roles are blurred leaving everyone clueless in the wake of modern pressures. Sunday, April 11th at 4:15p.m. Link
.	Rapt Directed by Lucas Belvaux, 125 minutes, France/Belgium, 2009. With Yvan Attal, Anne Consigny, André Marcon, Françoise Fabian. Inspired by a 1978 kidnapping, Rapt tells the story of a French industry captain who is held hostage for ransom and suffers the torture of his abductors but especially, on the outside, the tortures of an equally merciless corporate world and unforgiving press. An incisive investigation of the value we place on human life when fortune and reputation are at stake. Sunday, April 11th at 6:30p.m. Link
	BAM presents a JEAN RENOIR series > > > April 9th - May 11th Cinema’s consummate humanist and one of its greatest artists, Jean Renoir directed over 40 films that explore enduring themes of individual liberty and universal fraternity. His poetic visual style, a graceful blend of naturalism and artifice, and incalculable influence on world cinema led Orson Welles to declare him “the greatest of all directors.” This 21-film retrospective includes every film Jean Renoir directed in Hollywood exile as well as his early masterpieces and late Technicolor spectacles. Link
.	Toni Directed by Jean Renoir, 81 minutes, France, Pathé Contemporary Films, 1935. With Charles Blavette, Celia Montalvan, Edouard Delmont. Renoir laid the foundations for the neo-realist movement with this naturalistic drama about a young Italian laborer living in France and caught between two women. The film's groundbreaking style ("The characters drink a glass of wine or die in the same manner," observed François Truffaut) resonated with assistant director Luchino Visconti who took the lessons he learned from Renoir to become one of the leading exponents of Italian neo-realism. Friday, April 9th at 6:50 & 9:15p.m. Link
.	The Human Beast | La Bête Humaine Directed by Jean Renoir, 100 minutes, France, 1938. With Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Fernand Ledoux. Renoir's adaptation of an Émile Zola novel has a surprisingly dark heart. Jean Gabin plays an epileptic train engineer who lusts after his coworker's wife while harboring a deep-seated compulsion to kill. The film's propulsive, exciting sequences of steam trains have been described as a "plunge into the materiality of the world" (Cahiers du Cinéma) and, alternately, a "metaphor for the blind, immutable forces that drive human passions to destruction" (Time Out New York). Saturday, April 10th at 2, 4:30, 6:50 & 9:15p.m. Link
.	The River | Le Fleuve Directed by Jean Renoir, 99 minutes, France/India/USA, United Artists, 1951. With Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields. The greatest of Renoir’s late-period films and arguably one of the greatest color films ever made, The River takes its story from Rumer Godden’s book about two children growing up in India in the waning years of British colonialism. Into this framework Renoir finds the perfect expression for his lyrical humanism around the central metaphor of constantly flowing water. Also on show is the stunning Technicolor cinematography by Renoir’s nephew Claude, a longtime collaborator. Sunday, April 11th at 2, 4:30, 6:50 & 9:15p.m. Link
.	The Bitch | La Chienne Directed by Jean Renoir, 95 minutes, France, Ajay Film Company, 1931. With Michel Simon, Janie Marèse, Georges Flamant. Renoir's first sound film, and an early masterpiece, is an edgy psychological drama about a nebbish banker seduced and led down a path of destruction by a prostitute, elevated by the director's painterly style and the deep and abiding sense of humanism that would come to flourish in his later masterpieces. A stunning technical achievement and so controversial that it wasn't released stateside until 1975, it was later remade by Fritz Lang as Scarlet Street . Tuesday, Aprl 13th at 6:50 & 9:15p.m. Link
.	Nana Directed by Jean Renoir, 150 minutes, France, Audio Brandon Films, 1926. With Catherine Hessling, Jean Angelo, Werner Krauss. Described by the director as "my first film worth talking about," Renoir's second feature is a lavish adaptation of Émile Zola's novel starring the director's wife, Catherine Hessling, as a femme fatale who becomes the ruin of a government official. The sumptuous costumes and sets made it the most expensive French production of its day but nothing in this spectacular drama overshadows Hessling's offbeat, bravura performance. Wednesday, April 14th at 7p.m. Link
	FIAF presents  " CINEMA ACCORDING TO V É RA BELMONT " > > > Tuesdays in April FIAF is proud and honored to welcome the heralded film producer and filmmaker Véra Belmont, a true force in French cinema. The series is dedicated to the many hats that Belmont wears, and is divided by themes to showcase her varied talents as both a producer and filmmaker. She is a great supporter and creator of film and through the years has sought out new talent, producing the first films by Maurice Pialat and André Téchiné. Link
	Quest for Fire | La Guerre du Feu Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, 100 minutes, France/Canada/USA, 20th Century Fox, 1981. With Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nicholas Kadi, Rae Dawn Chong. Set 80,000 years ago, the Oscar-winning Quest for Fire chronicles the loss of fire by a tribe and their search to reclaim it. Annaud, whose films are never less than beautiful, creates some of his most magical, breathtaking visions here. Tuesday, April 13th at 12:30, 4 & 7:30p.m. The 7:30pm screening will be introduced by series co-curator and filmmaker Jackie Raynal , who was on-set for this film. Link
	The New York Czech Center presents: " DISAPPEARING ACT II : a showcase of current European cinema" > > > April 8th -17th Following the success of the first edition of Disappearing Act, in 2009, and highlighting the vitality of European cinema, this year's program presents 17 contemporary European films that have made a name for themselves on the festival circuit and with critics, but are largely unknown to American audiences. Link
.	The Secret of the Grain | La Graine et le Mulet Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, 151 minutes, France, IFC Films, 2007. With Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache. At the port of Sète Mr. Slimani, a tired sixty year old, drags himself towards a shipyard job which has become more and more difficult to cope with as the years go by. He is going through a delicate period in his life and recently, everything seems to make him feel useless; a failure. He wants to escape from it all and set up his own restaurant. However it appears to be an unreachable dream given his meagre, irregular salary which is not anywhere near enough to supply what he needs to realise his ambition. Saturday, April 10th at 3p.m. Link
.	God's Offices | Les Bureaux de Dieu Directed by Claire Simon, 122 minutes, France/Belgium, Synkronized, 2008. With Anne Alvaro, Nathalie Baye, Michel Boujenah, Rachida Brakni. A group of women struggling with their sexuality speak openly with the female counselors who wonder if such a thing as "sexual freedom" is truly possible in this tale of the incredible hidden in mundane, everyday events. Tuesday, April 13th at 6:15p.m. Link
	The Film Society of Lincoln Center presents: " 17th NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL " > > > April 7th - 13th The annual festival returns with the celebratory theme of Independent Africa. Marking 50 years of African independence from colonial rule, the handpicked selection showcases contemporary and classic cinema straight from the continent’s own vibrant voices. Link
.	Beyond the Ocean | Après l'Océan Directed by Eliane de Latour, 106 minutes, France/Ivory Coast, 2006. With Fraser James, Djédjé Apali, Marie-Josée Croze. In a Spanish port, Shad sells crack and Otho drives a cab without a license. Both dream of one day returning to their Ivory Coast homeland as triumphant benefactors and heroes. But a police raid separates their fates. Otho, deported, returns empty-handed. Shad runs from the authorities, and, in England, Shad comes across Tango, a “white and a white little sister” with whom he pursues his conquest of Europe. After wanderings and misadventures, he returns home apparently successful. But the day of the big wedding to his Ivorian fiancée, a duel with Otho breaks out. Friday, April 9th at 8p.m. Sunday, April 11th at 7:45p.m. Link
.	The Return of an Adventurer | Le Retour de l'Aventurier Directed by Moustapha Alassane, 34 minutes, Niger/France, 1966. With Harouna Diarra, Djingarey Malga, Boubakar Souna. A young African returns home to Niger from the States with cowboy outfits in his suitcase for his closest friends. Soon, the friends—Black Cooper, Billy Walter, Queen Christine, and the rest—are out riding the range, rustling the village chief’s cattle (and some giraffes!), getting drunk, fighting, and playing poker. A hilarious take on the classic motif of the African who leaves Africa for the West and returns home a changed man—quite literally, Westernized! Saturday, April 10th at 4p.m. The screening will be followed by an animated shorts program (total length: 55 minutes). Link
.	The Absence | L'Absence Directed by Mama Keïta, 82 minutes, France/Senegal, 2009. With Mouss Diouf, Brahima Mbaye, William Nadylam. Adama is a successful scientist living in Paris. After 15 years away, he travels to his hometown in Senegal to visit his aged grandmother and his semi-deaf mute sister, Aicha. Aicha is still traumatized by their mother’s death, who died as she was giving birth to her. But the true extent of Aicha’s mental state only becomes apparent when Adama discovers she is working as a prostitute in a seedy underworld of gangsters, drugs, and crime. Adama’s discovery leads to a gripping thriller as he struggles to free Aicha from the sinister world into which she has descended. Tuesday, April 13th at 7:30p.m. Link
	The Film Society of Lincoln Center presents  : " BEARING WITNESS : THE FILMS OF BAHMAN GHOBADI " > > > April 14-15th In person: Bahman Ghobadi and his co-writer, journalist Roxana Saberi, at the Walter Reade Theater for a mid-career retrospective of Ghobadi's work. Link
.	Half Moon Directed by Bahman Ghobadi, 107 minutes, Austria/France/Iraq/Iran, Strand Releasing, 2006. With Golshifteh Farahani, Ismail Ghaffari, Allah-Morad Rashtian. In this fantastical, musical road movie, a famous Kurdish musician and his ten mustachioed sons pile into a minibus for a concert in Iraq. Against a spectacular backdrop of mountains and flatlands, Ghobadi blends colorful traditions and contemporary political realities, working with the fanciful sensibility of folk tales and the liberating power of music. Thursday, April 15th at 1 & 9:15p.m. Link
	MoMA presents : " AN AUTEURIST HISTORY OF FILM " > > > Ongoing This two-year screening cycle is intended to serve as both an exploration of the richness of the Museum’s film collection and a basic introduction to the emergence of cinema as the predominant art form of the twentieth century. The auteurist approach to film—articulated by the critics of Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s and brought to America by Andrew Sarris—contends that, despite the collaborative nature of the medium, the director is the primary force behind the creation of a film. This exhibition takes this theory as its point of departure, charting the careers of several key figures not in order to establish a formal canon, but to develop one picture of cinematic history. Link
	The Passion of Joan of Arc | La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, 82 minutes, France, 1928. With Melle Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley. Dreyer (1889–1968) had already made eight quality films in the decade preceding Joan of Arc , but nothing could have prepared audiences for the stunning intensity of his imagery and the emotional depth of Falconetti’s performance. Those who would argue for the unrivaled artistry of silent film prior to the “bastardization” of sound typically point to The Passion of Joan of Arc as the medium’s crowning achievement. Friday, April 9th at 1:30p.m. Link
	The French Avant-Garde of the 20s Featuring : - Le Retour à la Maison (Directed by Man Ray, 2 minutes, France, 1923) - Ballet Mécanique (Directed by Fernand Léger, 11 minutes, France, 1924) - Entr'acte (Directed by René Clair, 15 minutes, France, 1924) and more... Running parallel to the development of narrative cinema and actuality filmmaking was an experimental track. Influenced by the trick cinema of Georges Méliès and his rivals, it was particularly prominent in France during the Surrealist period. Many of the experimenters gradually moved into mainstream commercial cinema, while other artists ceased dabbling in the movies at all. This program provides a sampler of their work. Wednesday, April 14th at 1:30p.m. Thursday, April 15th at 1:30p.m. Link

Information fournie par : Cultural Services, French Embassy. www.frenchculture.org
--
N'oubliez pas notre jeu concours pour gagner des places pour la Dame aux Camélias .

///// Vous avez aimé cet article ? Pensez à souscrire au feed rss pour recevoir les mises à jour par email. Vous souhaitez communiquer vos infos ou écrire une chronique sur The FCC ? Ecrivez-nous ou rejoignez-nous sur Facebook et Twitter