...to call past and future to the rescue of the present...
NOIR BLANC et www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com
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LORD MAYOR’S WELCOME TO THE 24th CORK FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL A dhaoine Uaisle, tá rímeád orm an réamhfhocal seo a chur roimh i mbliana. The Cork French Film Festival, now in its 24th year, continues to grow in popularity and in depth. The Festival is unique in its ability to attract local and national audiences and is one of the first major festivals in Cork each year. I would like to commend Nora Callanan, the festival team and volunteers for their excellent work. They are innovative, progressive and this year by mixing the old with new ensure that French films by the best directors are shown in Cork to a local and national audience. I would also like to compliment and commend the Alliance Française de Cork for their continued commitment and dedication to the Festival in addition to the marvellous work they do in promoting French language and culture throughout the year. The festival has joined forces with the Gathering 2013 thus ensuring that Cork reaches out internationally as part of this famous and essential festival in our calendar year. Cork is a welcoming and friendly city and I hope you all have an enjoyable stay here over the course of the
Cork French Film Festival. No matter what weather comes our way, we are in for a cinematic treat over the coming week with such a rich tapestry of films and venues to choose from. Je tiens à ce que le Conseil Municipal de la Ville continue cette collaboration étroite avec le Cork French Film Festival auquel je souhaite un très grand succès. Cllr John Buttimer Lord Mayor of Cork (above)
24TH CORK FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL Under the patronage of Madame Yamina Benguigui French Minister for Francophonie
“Le cinéma est une fenêtre ouverte sur le monde. Il donne à voir, il donne à entendre. Je remercie le Festival du Film Français de Cork de porter la voix de notre cinéma en Irlande et je vous souhaite à toutes et à tous une excellente 24eme édition.” “Cinema is an open window to the world. It gives a view, it gives an understanding. I thank the Cork French Film Festival for bringing the voice of our cinema to Ireland and I wish you all an excellent 24th edition.” Yamina Benguigui French Minister for Francophonie PAGE /
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Bookings / EnQUIRIEs FESTIVAL OFFICE
Phone : 021 4310677 culture@alliancefrancaisecork.com www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com Festival brochures and general information
BALLYMALOE
Gate Cinema
On North Main street Box Office: 021 4279595 www.corkcinemas.com Evening tickets (after 6pm) €9/€8 ‘conc’ Daytime screenings (before 6pm) €6/€5.5 ‘conc’ Festival membership included in the ticket
ENGLISH MARKET
Princes street Bookings: Farmgate Cafe: 021 4278134 Festival Office: 021 4310677 or culture@alliancefrancaisecork.com www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com
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Bishop Street Tickets available at the door Bookings: www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com Festival Office: 021 431 07 77 culture@alliancefrancaisecork.com (Credit card payment accepted)
400 Blows and Persepolis Monday 4th – Thursday 7th March at 11am For all group bookings contact: corkcinemas@eircom.net All bookings must be confirmed in writing by email, with contact details attached. For education pack contact Festival office: culture@alliancefrancaisecork.com
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Wandesford Quay 021 433 5210 Tue - Sat: 10am – 6pm Tickets for screening & launch party available at the door Bookings: www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com Festival Office: 021 4 31 07 77 culture@alliancefrancaisecork.com (Credit card payment accepted)
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Western Road Bookings: Paula Cogan 021 4937712 or paula_cogan@doylecollection.com
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ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE CORK
Nora Callanan Festival Director
Paul Callanan Artistic Director
Vytenė Laučytė
Festival Manager
Susanna Fabris Festival Coordinator
INTRODUCTION Alliance Française de Cork is pleased to present the 24th Cork French Film Festival, a unique cinematic experience that will take you to the very essence of cinema itself. Festival curator Paul Callanan takes us on a timeless journey with an evocative noir et blanc themed programme featuring not just cinema classics but also contemporary black and white films. Time and again black and white cinema somehow captures a mood and a feeling that colour for all its accuracy simply can’t. Perhaps that’s exactly the point: cinema is about so much more than simply rendering what is in front of the camera. Black and white film invites us to look deeper, to see how reality can be composed with the characteristics of poetry and dream. The legacy left by filmmakers such as Carné, Truffaut and Godard shows us that the essential value of black and white cinema is its curious but easily forgotten establishment of a new way of seeing. We pay a special tribute to Chris Marker, who passed away last summer, with a special exhibition based on his seminal science fiction film La Jetée. It features a photographic exhibition of La Jetée stills plus installations from artists such as Agnès Varda, a close friend of Marker’s. There will be a unique live performance at the exhibition launch by electronic duo I Am The Cosmos performing tracks from their debut album aptly titled, Monochrome.
We are delighted to bring The Passion of Joan of Arc with live score by Irene Buckley to St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral. This specially commissioned CFFF production is now on international tour and, after an acclaimed sold out performance at Glasgow Cathedral as part of the Glasgow Film Festival, continues to London and Paris. We are delighted to welcome special guest organist James McVinne who has collaborated with composers such as Philip Glass and performed at major events such as the recent royal wedding whilst organist at Westminster Abbey. The festival will be officially launched at the Cork Vision Centre by the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr John Buttimer, together with Aine Adès, President of Ireland Fund of France – our special guest for this year’s celebration of the Gathering. The Festival is honoured to have the patronage of Yamina Benguigui, French Minister for Francophonie. She is herself a filmmaker and has been hugely supportive of the Festival. We express our deep gratitude and appreciation to all our sponsors, venues, festival staff, volunteers and all who have helped to make this festival happen. Most of all, a sincere thanks to you, our loyal public, for supporting the Cork French Film Festival over 24 years! Laissez-vous enchanter par notre XXIVème edition! Nora Callanan Festival Director PAGE /
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FEATURES
OPENING FILM QUAI DES BRUMES (PORT OF SHADOWS)
19.00 Sunday 3rd March / GATE
A marvellously moody thriller, Carné’s newly restored classic of ‘poetic realism’ gave Gabin one of his most iconic roles as an army deserter on the run. In the fog-bound, noir universe of Le Havre, Jean hopes to escape by boat to Venezuela, but his plans run aground when he falls for Nelly (Morgan), the young ward of the lecherous Zabel (Simon). Jacques Prévert’s typically astute script is merely the starting point for one of the most roundly satisfying crime movies of the pre-war years. With its gallery of garrulous low-lifes, magically evocative sets, melancholy mists and shadows, a haunting score and Coco Chanel’s discreet stylish costume designs, the film is a wonder of collaborative artistry. The bittersweet atmosphere of fatalistic romanticism is PAGE /
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brilliantly sustained by Carné and his cast; seldom has the seedy side of life seemed so utterly seductive… Introduced by Tony Tracy, Lecturer in Film, NUI Galway and film critic (RTE Arena). France 1938 | 91 min | B&W Director: Marcel Carné Cast: Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan, Michel Simon, Pierre Brasseur Language: French with English Subtitles
CLOSING FILM LE DERNIER COMBAT (THE LAST BATTLE) 21.00 Sunday 10th March / GATE
Released in 1983, Le Dernier Combat is the first feature film by Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element) and Jean Reno’s (Leon, Roseanna’s Grave) first leading role.
France 1983 | 93 min | B&W Director: Luc Besson Cast: Jean Reno, Pierre Jolivet, Jean Bouise Language: French with English Subtitles
A futuristic tale of survival after a worldwide disaster has left the planet a desolate wasteland and the inhabitants unable to speak. A determined loner arrives at a devastated city and befriends a reclusive doctor as they battle against vicious thugs for food, shelter and life. Beautifully shot in black and white and without any dialogue, Le Dernier Combat is not just a bold post-apocalyptic vision but a striking work of art. PAGE /
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ALPHAVILLE
18.30 Monday 4th March / GATE Private eye Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) is catapulted into space and ends up in Alphaville, a city run by domineering scientist Dr. von Braun (Howard Vernon). After Caution sees his chief contact being killed, he becomes determined to strike at Alphaville’s cold heart: a powerful computer system that stamps out all traces of individuality and emotion in the populace it controls. Godard used contemporary Parisian locations for his offbeat futuristic thriller, whilst Eddie Constantine, as the detective hero, reprised a role he had already played in a number of B-movie policiers. A cockeyed fusion of science fiction, pulp characters, and surrealist poetry, Godard’s irreverent journey to the mysterious Alphaville remains one of the least conventional films of all time.
France 1965 | 99 min | B&W Director: Jean-Luc Godard Cast: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff, Howard Vernon Language: French with English Subtitles
BOY MEETS GIRL
21.00 Monday 4th March / GATE The meteoric debut film by Leos Carax (Holy Motors) hurls Alex, an aspiring filmmaker, out of one desperately romantic relationship and into another. On the eve of his departure for military service Alex crashes a party to meet a woman whose boyfriend has just dumped her via an apartment intercom. Lucid, sardonic, cinema-centric asides adorn their all-night tangle of intimacy. The two find themselves unable to resist their mutual neediness and begin a complex relationship that grants them a temporary reprieve. Carax’s highly acclaimed debut feature is an unconventional, moody tone poem with peerless sequences shot on stunning black and white.
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France 1984 | 90 min | B&W Director: Leos Carax Cast: Denis Lavant, Mireille Perrier, Elie Poicard Language: French with English Subtitles
LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD ASCENSEUR POUR L’ÉCHAFAUD 18.30 Tuesday 5th March / GATE
In his mesmerizing debut, director Louis Malle brings together the beauty of Jeanne Moreau, the camerawork of Henri Decaë, and a now legendary score by Miles Davis in a richly atmospheric thriller of murder and mistaken identity. Florence Carala (Moreau) has engineered the perfect murder to escape her stifling marriage but things don’t go exactly to plan. Unfolding over one restless Parisian night, Lift to the Scaffold is an intense, tumultuous portrait of l’amour fou with a nasty sting its tail. France 1957 | 87 min | B&W Director: Louis Malle Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly Language: French with English Subtitles
THE MAN FROM LONDON L’HOMME DE LONDRES
21.00 Tuesday 5th March / GATE Maloin (Miroslav Krobot) leads a simple life as a railway signalman, barely registering the world around him. His life takes a sudden turn when he becomes a witness to a murder and he is forced to confront issues of morality, sin, punishment and the line between innocence and complicity. Exploring themes of desire, greed and man’s indestructible longing for freedom, this hypnotic film bears the distinctive trademarks of Tarr’s universe fluid and stunning monochrome photography, pared-down dialogue and performances (with a striking appearance by Tilda Swinton), and a hauntingly beautiful score by long-time Tarr collaborator Mihály Víg.
France, Germany, Hungary 2009 | 130 min | B&W Director: Béla Tarr Cast: Erika Bot, Janos Derzsi, Miroslav Krobot, Tilda Swinton Language: English & French with English subtitles
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SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER TIREZ SUR LE PIANISTE
18.30 Wednesday 6th March / GATE François Truffaut is drunk on the possibilities of cinema in this, his most playful film. Adapted from an American pulp fiction thriller, Down There by David Goodis, Truffaut’s film is both gentler and more comic than its hard-boiled original. Part thriller, part comedy, part tragedy, Shoot the Piano Player relates the adventures of mild-mannered piano player Charlie as he stumbles into the criminal underworld and a whirlwind love affair. Loaded with gags, guns, clowns, and thugs, this razor-sharp homage to the American gangster film is pure nouvelle vague and Truffaut at his most inventive best. France 1960 | 81 min | B&W Director: François Truffaut Cast: Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger Language: French with English subtitles
PERSEPOLIS
21.00 Wednesday 6th March / GATE Oscar nominated animation based on Marjane Satrapi’s bestselling autobiographical graphic novel set during the Islamic revolution in Iran. When the despotic Shah is overthrown in 1979, Marjane and her family look forward to a new dawn in their beleaguered country. As she grows up, however, Marjane realises that the new fundamentalist rulers are just as brutal as their predecessors. Worried at her inability to stay silent where injustice is concerned, her parents send Marjane to Austria to study for a better life. Alone in a strange land, Marjane encounters suspicion and prejudice but gradually comes to be accepted. When high school is over, though, she finds herself feeling terribly homesick and makes the decision to return to her family in the increasingly repressive Iran.
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France, USA 2007 | 95 min | B&W Director: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi Cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Simon Abkarian Language: French with English subtitles
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JUDEX
18.30 Thursday 7th March / GATE Favraux, a banker, has made his fortune by preying on others far less scrupulous than he. He receives a mysterious letter from someone named Judex threatening him with death unless he returns his ill-gotten gains. Favraux scorns these threats but soon pays the price. Franju’s magical remake of Louis Feuillade’s 1916 action serial featuring cinema’s original caped crusader is as evocative of the silent master’s own work as it is the films of Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dalí. With it’s dreamlike lyricism, Judex reminds us that film is a privileged medium for the expression of poetic magic. Introduced by Tony Tracy, Lecturer in Film, NUI Galway and film critic (RTE Arena).
France 1963 | 94 min | B&W Director: Georges Franju Cast: Channing Pollock, Édith Scob, Francine Bergé, Michel Vitold Language: French with English Subtitles
LES DIABOLIQUES
21.00 Thursday 7th March / GATE Before Psycho, Peeping Tom and Repulsion, there was Les Diabolique. This thriller from HenriGeorges Clouzot, which shocked audiences in Europe and the U.S., is the story of two women the fragile wife and the willful mistress of the sadistic headmaster of a boys’ boarding school who hatch a daring revenge plot. With its unprecedented narrative twists and terrifying images, Diabolique is a heart-grabbing benchmark in horror filmmaking, featuring outstanding performances by Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, and Paul Meurisse. France 1955 | 120 min | B&W Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot Cast: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel Language: French with English Subtitles
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LA VIE DE BOHÈME
18.30 Friday 8th March / GATE Unable to pay the rent Marcel, an impoverished Parisian poet is evicted from his room. While roaming the streets of Paris, he meets Rodolfo, a painter from Albania who is in the country illegally. They quickly discover that they are kindred spirits - sharing the same love for art without much regard for worldly well-being. The two make another friend in Schaunard, an Irish composer who is now renting Marcel’s former room. Freely adapted from Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, this is Kaurismäki’s highly individual take on the story of three bohemian artists set in a timeless Paris. Shifting between heartbreaking drama and hilarious off-beat black humour, the fine cast features cameos from Jean-Pierre Léaud, Sam Fuller and Louis Malle.
France/Finland 1992 | 100 min | B&W Director: Aki Kaurismäki Cast: Matti Pellonpaa, Evelyne Didi, André Wilms, Kari Vaananen Language: French with English subtitles
LA HAINE
21.00 Friday 8th March / GATE Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La Haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low income banlieue districts on the outskirts of Paris. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) - a Jew, an African, and an Arab - give human faces to France’s immigrant populations. Their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmers until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La Haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.
France 1995 | 97 min | B&W Director: Mathieu Kassovitz Cast: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui Language: French with English subtitles
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YOYO (FAMILY SCREENING) 14.00 Saturday 9th March / GATE
A bored millionaire lives in a sumptuous castle, constantly yearning for a lost love. Servants and entertainers do their best to distract him but to little effect. Following the Wall Street crash the ruined millionaire joins a circus performer to lead a life on the road. Their son, Yo Yo grows up to be a famous TV clown but he sees only the glamour of his father’s past life. Filled with dreams of restoring the old family home he risks repeating his father’s mistakes. Extraordinarily beautiful to look at and crammed with wonderful gags, Yoyo is considered by many to be Pierre Étaix’s masterpiece.
France 1965 | 92 min | B&W Director: Pierre Étaix Cast: Pierre Étaix, Claudine Auger, Philippe Dionnet Language: French with English subtitles
MAN BITES DOG C’EST ARRIVÉ PRÈS DE CHEZ VOUS 18.30 Saturday 9th March / GATE
Documentary filmmakers André and Rémy have found an ideal subject in Ben. He is witty, sophisticated, intelligent, well liked - and a serial killer. As André and Rémy document Ben’s routines, they become increasingly entwined in his vicious crimes, sacrificing their objectivity and morality for the sake of their film. Controversial winner of the International Critics’ Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Man Bites Dog stunned audiences worldwide with its unflinching imagery and biting satire of media violence. France 1992 | 96 min | B&W Director: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoit Poelvoorde Cast: Benoit Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Language: French with English Subtitles
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RIFIFI DU RIFIFI CHEZ LES HOMMES 21.00 Saturday 9th March / GATE
A master thief fresh out of jail and suffering from ill health refuses to get involved with crime until he finds his girlfriend shacked up with a rival gangster. With little reason to keep living he plans a final job - robbing the most heavily guarded jewellery store in Paris. After making such American noir classics as The Naked City and Brute Force, blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious heist in the City of Lights. At once naturalistic and expressionistic, this melange of suspense, brutality and dark humor was an international hit, and earned Dassin the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
France 1955 | 120 min | B&W Director: Jules Dassin Cast: Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel, Perlo Vita, Marie Sabouret, Robert Hossein Language: French with English Subtitles
LE DOULOS
14.00 Sunday 10th March / GATE The backstabbing criminals in the shadowy underworld of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Doulos have only one guiding principle: “Lie or die.” A stonefaced Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as enigmatic gangster Silien, who may or may not be responsible for squealing on Faugel (Serge Reggiani), just released from the slammer and already involved in what should have been a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust? Shot and edited with Melville’s trademark cool and featuring masterfully stylised dialogue and performances, Le Doulos (slang for “informant”) is one of the filmmaker’s most gripping crime dramas.
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France 1962 | 109 min | B&W Director: Jean-Pierre Melville Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Serge Reggiani, Monique Hennessy, Jean Desailly Language: French with English Subtitles
THE ARTIST
16.00 Sunday 10th March / GATE It’s frequently bemoaned that ‘they don’t make ‘em like they used to’. Well, ‘they’ do now! It’s 1927, and George Valentin is a silent movie mega-star whose fame is threatened by the advent of the talkies. He dismisses the advances of technology as a fad while a perky dancer and actress who Valentin had a hand in discovering, is being presented by the studio as the ‘it’ girl for a new era. The Artist is a joyous celebration of 1920’s Tinseltown, period details are lovingly recreated with reverential nods to classics such as Singin’ in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, and Citizen Kane. France 2011 | 100 min | B&W Director: Michel Hazanavicius Cast: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Malcolm McDowell Language: English
GIRL ON THE BRIDGE LA FILLE SUR LE PONT
18.30 Sunday 10th March / GATE A woman’s long history of bad luck starts to change when she puts her life on the line. Adèle (Vanessa Paradis) is a 22-year-old woman whose life seems to have been a long series of miscalculations; she’s never had much luck with love, life, or career, and is standing on a bridge overlooking the Seine one night, contemplating suicide, when she’s approached by a man named Gabor (Daniel Auteuil). Gabor announces he’s a knife-thrower who needs a new human target for his act. Humorous and emotionally uplifting, their relationship grows as they travel around Europe with the new show.
France 1999 | 90 min | B&W Director: Patrice Leconte Cast: Vanessa Paradis, Daniel Auteuil, Frédéric Pfluger Language: French with English Subtitles
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SHORTS BLACK AND WHITE SHORTS FROM RENCONTRES HENRI LANGLOIS FESTIVAL 16.00 Saturday 9th March / GATE
Celebrating young cinema is the motto of Rencontres Henri Langlois. Whether it’s shorts, features, documentaries or animation, the festival selects the best films from film schools all over the world. From over a thousand works submitted annually, only the most accomplished, the most intense, and the most surprising will be chosen, providing a showcase and meeting place for the next generation of filmmakers and an exciting glance into the future of cinema.
It is no accident that some of the awarded films and directors, such as the Cohen brothers, continue to the greatest Film festivals worldwide. A friendship has developed between our two festivals while working to develop educational links for young Irish filmmakers. This programme brings you the crème de la crème of black & white shorts that have featured at the festival over the years. www.rihl.org
EXTRASEZON
SWEAT
The friendship of two teenage girls is put to the test when one day, in a motel room, they realise they have grown up and that nothing in this world is for free.
A beautiful piece of aesthetic work with sweat as a thread. Everyone sweats, but for different reasons.
By Raya al Souleiman 2010 / 16 min / Fiction School: Universitatea Natională de Artă Teatrală şi Cinematografică (UNATC), Romania
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By Hong-jin Na 2007 / 11 min / Experimental School: Korean National University of Arts, School of Film, TV and Multimedia (KNUA) South Korea
MYASO (MEAT)
STAND UP
Love is such a big luxury. This word is used most often in romantic books. Real life is simpler and more terrible. People’s destinies are like pieces of meat in a meat grinder. A little boy is about to become an adult. He must take his father’s place and learn to protect, forgive, and understand.
John J. Jones, a stand up comedian, tries out his routine in front of a merciless audience in a bar. As he starts losing their attention, his body rebels and, behind the jokes, truth comes out of the cracks.
By Slava Ross 2002 / 14 min / Fiction School: The Russian Federation State Institute of Cinematography, VGIK, Russia
By Joseph Pierce 2008 / 7 min / Animation School: National Film and Television School (NFTS), United Kingdom
JANVIER
DVIER (THE DOOR)
Jeanne, a young woman, lives in Paris with her boyfriend. One day, in the bookshop where she works, she meets a childhood friend, Aurélien, who’s going to leave for a long trip.
Sometimes even the heaviest burden can be lighter than air. One must also hope when one knocks on a door.
By Damien Maestraggi 2005 / 13 min / Fiction School: La fémis, France
By Vladimir Kott 2004 / 19 min / Fiction School: High School for Scriptwriters and Film Directors (Moscow), Russia
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SPECIAL EVENTS
SCÈNES DE FÉERIE – SILENT SHORTS WITH LIVE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT Followed By Four Course Dinner & Wine At River Lee Hotel 19.00 / Tuesday 5th March / River Lee Hotel / Price: €25/person for dinner, wine and screening Once upon a time, during the belle époque in turn-of-the-century Paris, a short-lived film form called scènes de féerie (fairy films) became hugely popular thanks to the Pathé Brothers company. The films recreated the theatrical spectacles of the age with fantastical settings, dancing girls, mythical beasts, supernatural beings and a plethora of stage illusion enhanced by the trickery of the new medium of film. Made to appeal to young and old alike, they offer modern audiences a fascinating glimpse into the magical world of the nineteenth-century theatre.
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Enjoy a unique and unforgettable evening at River Lee Hotel with a selection of these breathtaking short films accompanied by live music from French accordionist Christophe Rohr and local Cork specialities prepared with a French twist. Bookings: Paula Cogan, River Lee Hotel - 021 4937712 or email paula_cogan@doylecollection.com
FANTÔMAS WITH LIVE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT Screening & Supper At The English Market 19.00 / Wednesday 6th March / ENGLISH MARKET / Price: €30 For the arch-criminal Fantômas, no crime is too daring, too adventurous. A master of disguise, he holds Paris to ransom. Inspector Juve is determined to capture Fantômas and end his limitless villainy. Based on the popular French pulp novellas, Louis Feuillade’s outrageous, ambitious series became the gold standard of espionage serials and laid the foundation for film-noir and the suspense thriller. Feuillade creates a dark, dreamlike universe where the elusive villain Fantômas is as much a venomous scourge as a slick debonair hero. A blend of imaginative surreal imagery is combined with a chilling sense of realism, giving the viewer the sensation of a waking nightmare. As Alain Resnais said,
“Feuillade’s cinema is very close to dreams - therefore it’s perhaps the most realistic”. Special guest Zac Gvi, a composer and multiinstrumentalist from London, performs a live soundtrack. With a taste for folk, jazz and contemporary classical, he plays keys (piano, accordion, synthesizer) and winds (saxophone, clarinet, flute). A Belle Époque themed supper at Farmgate Café, with cheese and wine by On The Pig’s Back, will follow the screening. See page 4 for booking details. France 1913 | 54 min | B&W Silent Director: Louis Feuillade PAGE /
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LA JETÉE - EXHIBITION LAUNCH WITH SPECIAL SCREENING AND CONCERT 20.00 / Thursday 7th March / CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery / Price: €10
Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photog- years with his complex queries about time, memory, rapher, editor, and digital multimedia artist, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. challenged audiences, philosophers, and himself for Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made and a mindbending free-form travelogue. Chris Marker (1921-2012) Set in a nuclear-devastated Paris in the near future La Jetée is the story of a man marked by an image from his childhood. Shot in black and white and consisting almost entirely of still photographs, it imaginatively pares cinema down to it’s bare bones and twists our most cherished versions of reality inside out. France 1963 | 27 min | B&W Director: Chris Marker Cast: Davos Hanich, Hélène Chatelain
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CFFF presents an exhibition of La Jetée in tribute to Chris Marker who passed away last year. Co-produced by Julia Fabry from Cine-Tamaris in Paris with the assistance of Argos Films it features a photographic exhibition of stills from La Jetée, and audio and video installations based on the film, including a contribution from Marker’s close friend Agnés Varda.
“Since forming in 2010, Dublin-based duo I Am The Cosmos has quickly added another vital strand to the critical musical mass aggregating in Ireland over the last several years. As hypnotic as it is beautiful, their debut full-length Monochrome finds I Am The Cosmos making a bold push for one of the best albums of 2013.” Vice Magazine I am the Cosmos
There will be a special presentation of the film at the exhibition launch with complimentary drinks and exclusive live performances including Dublin based electronic duo I Am The Cosmos (www.soundcloud.com/iamthecosmos). Tickets available at the door or book in advance online: www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com Exhibition continues free of charge from Friday 8th to Saturday 30th March. Gallery opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday 10am-6pm
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Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland Ph: +353 21 4652531 Fax: +353 21 4652021 res@ballymaloe.ie www.ballymaloe.ie
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE) Candlelit Supper With Live French Music At Ballymaloe Grain Store
18.00 / Friday 8th March / Ballymaloe / Price: €40 or €15 for screening only (at 20.30) To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Jean Cocteau’s death, Cork French Film Festival presents his timeless classic Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête). Ballymaloe Grain Store will host ‘Cocteau Coq Au Vin’ - a romantic candlelit supper with live music from French musician Christophe Rohr, followed by a screening of Cocteau’s enchanting classic at The Grain Store. Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy-tale masterpiece in which the pure love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast - is a landmark of
motion picture fantasy, with unforgettably romantic performances by Jean Marais and Josette Day. The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death in Beauty and the Beast have become timeless icons of cinematic wonder. Bookings: Ballymaloe Grain Store - 021 465 2531 or thegrainstore@ballymaloe.com France 1946 | 93 min | B&W Director: Jean Cocteau Cast: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély
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THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC WITH LIVE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT Cine-Concert At St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral 20.00 / Saturday 9th March / St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral / Price €16/€14 ‘conc’ Renée Falconetti gives one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film, as the young maiden who died for God and France. Based on the actual trial records, Joan endures the taunting and deceit of the English-backed church court. Forced to confess to witchcraft and sorcery it is only through her unwavering faith that she can endure and rise above her tormentors, although even she has her moment of doubt. Dreyer’s masterpiece is a visual hymn to the triumph of the soul over life. Composer Irene Buckley has used the text and the structure of the Requiem Mass to create an evocative work scored for soprano (Molly Lynch), church organ (James McVinnie) and electronics. With its raw emotional power, evocative setting and haunting score, The Passion of Joan of Arc is an awe-inspiring evening of music and film.
This CFFF production is now touring internationally - after an acclaimed performance in Glasgow Cathedral as part of the Glasgow Film Festival, it will travel to London and Paris. CFFF is delighted to welcome special guest James McVinnie who pursues a diverse career as an organist. He has performed at major events such as the recent royal wedding at Westminster Abbey and has collaborated with composers such as Philip Glass and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire. Tickets available at the door or book in advance online: www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com France 1928 | 90 min | B&W Director: Carl Dreyer Cast: Renée Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, Antonin Artaud
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EDUCATION & SCHOOL SCREENINGS Study Guides available from Festival Office culture@alliancefrancaisecork.com
PERSEPOLIS
11.00 Mon 4th - Thurs 7th March / GATE See page 11 for film info.
400 BLOWS LES QUATRE CENTS COUPS
11.00 Mon 4th - Thurs 7th March / GATE Antoine Doinel is a 13 year old constantly in trouble, justifiably or otherwise, with his neglectful parents and repressive teachers. Drifting into truancy and petty theft, he soon finds himself at odds with the less sympathetic figures of adult authority. Beautifully shot on the streets of Paris, the film exudes an emotional authenticity born of the semiautobiographical story, and displays real compassion as it charts a seemingly unstoppable path towards delinquency. Great credit goes to the young actor Léaud, whose engaging performance is a miracle of naturalism. The film that launched the French New Wave is universally regarded as one of the all-time great coming-of-age movies.
France 1959 | 99 min | B&W Director: François Truffaut Cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy Language: French with English subtitles
FILM CONFERENCE: CHRIS MARKER
17:00 Thursday 7th March / Conn A, Connolly Building UCC, Western Road / Admission free CFFF and UCC present Chris Marker: Entre Poétique et Politique, a one hour conference by Jonathan Broda, lecturer in Film History at La Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. From his groundbreaking work in film to his episodic photographic essays, Marker turned a defiant curiosity toward images into lyrical journeys about the human condition and the
desire to create history. Marker’s creative use of sound, imagery and text in his poetic, political and philosophical films made him one of the most inventive and influential of French film-makers. This lecture precedes the launch of a special exhibition at Wandesford Quay Gallery celebrating his essential film La Jetée (See pages 24-25). PAGE /
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WE WISH TO THANK THE FOLLOWING VENUES:
GRANT AIDED BY:
MAIN SPONSORS:
SPONSORS:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Cllr John Buttimer, Lord Mayor of Cork, Madame Yamina Benguigui, Ministre chargée de la Francophonie, David Kirwin (MD Bord Gáis), Una McCarthy (Arts Council), Liz Meaney and Maeve Dineen (Cork City Council), Jean-Pierre de Launoit (Président Fondation Alliance Française), Áine Adès (Ireland Fund of France), John Mullins (Chairman Port of Cork), André Cointreau (Cordon Bleu), Failte Ireland, Valerie Mouroux (Institut Français), Julia Fabry (Cine-Tamaris), Agnès Varda (CineTamaris), Argos Films, Brian Mac Domhnaill, Mark Corless (CAVS), Unifrance, Tony Tracy (Huston Film School), Maximilian Le Cain (Cork Film Centre), Arnaud Genestine and Noël Canty (TV5 Monde), IFI, Eoin O’Connor (Carlton Screen Advertising), Cork Chamber of Commerce, Prof. Paddy O’Donovan, Dr. Paul Hegarty (UCC), Orla Flynn (CIT), Margaret Green (Gate Cinema), Martin Dier and Malcolm Wisener (St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral), Yvonne McCahill (Aerlingus), Niamh Sweeney (Alliance Française de Cork), John X Miller
(Cork Vision Centre), Rory, Hazel and Myrtle Allen (The Grain Store), Michael Carr and Linda Plover (Blue Monkey PR) 96FM, Liz Casey (Bord Gáis Energy), Andrew Roche (Iarnrod Eireann), Kevin Cullinane (Cork Airport), Mark O’Sullivan and Aidan Forde (Irish Examiner), PJ Gibbons (Social and Personal), Peter Beatty (design), Alexandra McHenry, Etienne Van Vrede (Hayfield Manor), Joe Kennedy (Imperial Hotel), Steven McInerney (Hackney Film Festival), Paula Cogan (The River Lee Hotel), Zuzana Lukacova (The Clarion), Kay Harte (Farmgate), Claire Nash (Nash 19), Catherine Ryan (Isaacs Restaurant), Mags O’Connor (The Cornstore), Ernest Cantillon (Electric), Neil O’Connor (Somadrone), Jonathan Broda (Sorbonne Nouvelle), Irene Buckley, James McVinnie, Molly Lynch, Christophe Rohr, Claire Guerin, Gerard McCarthy Photography, Isabelle Sheridan (On the Pig’s Back), national and local media, our wonderful team of volunteers, and all who have helped us to make this Festival happen. Merci à toutes et à tous! PAGE /
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GATE
SUN 3RD
MON 4TH Education & School Screenings
11.00
TUE 5TH
WED 6TH
Education & School Screenings
Education & School Screenings
THURS 7TH
FRI 8TH
SAT 9TH
SUN 10TH
Education & School Screenings
14.00
Yoyo
Les Doulos
16.00
Shorts
The Artist
Lift To Alphaville The Scaffold
Judex
Shoot The Pianist
La Vie De Boheme
Man Bites Dog
La Fille Sur La Pont
Boy The Man Meets Girl From London
Persepolis
Les Diaboliques
La Haine
Rififi
Le Dernier Combat
18.30 19.00
Quai Des Brumes
21.00 RIVER LEE HOTEL
19.00
Scènes Des Féerie Concert
ENGLISH MARKET
19.00
Fantômas Concert
CIT WANDESFORD QUAY GALLERY
20.00
La Jetée Launch Party
BALLYMALOE GRAIN STORE
19.00
Beauty And The Beast
ST. FIN BARRE’S CATHEDRAL
20.00
The Passion Of Joan Of Arc Concert