French Film Festival UK 2015

5 November – 13 December 2015

The UK’s only country-wide celebration of French and francophone cinema expands its horizons even further this year with more leading independent cinemas on board and a programme (from 5 November to 13 December) that embraces Cannes award-winners, classic masterpieces, a celebration of Gaumont (the world’s oldest film company), new talents, student exchanges, schools screenings and a panoply of guests.

Besides its main venues in London (Ciné Lumiere and Barbican), Edinburgh (Filmhouse and Dominion) and Glasgow (GFT) the French Film Festival UK with the support of Institut français and Creative Scotland will organise screenings in Newcastle, Warwick, Leeds, Hereford, and Belfast as well as Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Kirkcaldy and Hawick.

The 23rd edition opens at Ciné Lumière on 5 November with Jerôme Bonnell’s sixth feature All About Them (A trois on y va!), a fresh twist on a youthful menage à trois, in the presence of the director, and actor Félix Moati. The film, to be distributed through Swipe, will also show in Edinburgh (6), Glasgow (7) and Leeds (8) with the director in attendance as well as Hereford and Inverness.

Other headline titles include Vincent Lindon inciting passion in Léa Seydoux’s servant girl in Benoît Jacquot’s Diary of a Chambermaid (already brought to the screen by Luis Bunuel and Jean Renoir). Post-Nouvelle Vague director Philippe Garrel puts infidelity into sharp focus in In the Shadow of Women (opening film in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight) while Maiwenn looks at the tempestuous marriage between two Parisians played by Emmanuelle Bercot (Cannes shared best actress award) and Vincent Cassel in My King. Bercot goes behind the camera for Standing Tall (opening film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) in which the redoubtable Catherine Deneuve plays a magistrate entangled with the troubles of a youngster (newcomer Rod Paradot who is scheduled to appear).

 A couple who renounce so-called civilisation (Céline Sallette and Matthieu Kassovitz) give another slant to conjugal living in Wild Life by Cédric Kahn. Besides his outing in Benoît Jacquot’s film Vincent Lindon also can be found in The Measure of a Man (a role which gained him a Cannes Best Actor accolade) for his portrayal of an ordinary man faced with impossible circumstances in a title due for release by New Wave. 

There are feel-good treats in Jean-Pierre Améris’s Family for Rent (the director will open the Festival in Aberdeen on 20 November), Memories from Jean-Paul Rouve, Microbe & Gasoline by Michel Gondry, Santa Claus by Alexandre Coffre, and Bruno Podalydès’s The Sweet Escape. Thrills and seat-edge tension can be sampled in The Clearstream Affair set in the world of high-finance and politics, and The Last Diamond by Eric Barbier, a sparkling thriller in true Gallic tradition and featuring Bérénice Béjo (from The Artist). 

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun by Gainsbourg director Joann Sfar oozes style and suspense in an adaptation of Sebastien Japrisot’s crime novel and featuring Skins star Freya Mavor. Both Sfar and Mavor will accompany the film in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Carmen Maura gives an impeccable performance in Lionel Baier’s Vanity from Switzerland (a lighter look at the serious subject of dying on demand). The Swiss director who is head of the Cinema Department at Lausanne Film School, will bring a group of students for an exchange visit with counterparts from Screen Academy Scotland (Edinburgh Napier University) and supported by the cultural department of the Swiss Embassy. Jean-Paul Civeyrac tackles race and class in My Friend Victoria and Isabelle Huppert stars in Samuel Benchetrit’s wacky Macadam Stories (Cannes Film Festival special screening) from a director who grew up in a tough housing scheme.

Tahar Rahim (who made his debut in A Prophet) tries to infiltrate the anarchist community in 1899 Paris in Elie Waterman’s second feature The Anarchists (in a different vein Rahim also appears in Santa Claus) while Pierre Niney (Best Actor César for Yves Saint Laurent) plays an aspiring writer in Yann Gozlan’s A Perfect Man. Louis Garrel makes his mark behind the camera and in front with Two Friends, his directorial debut which opened Cannes Critics’ Week.

Stefan Liberski tackles Amélie Nothomb’s semi-autobiographical novel Tokyo Fiancée for a charming romantic comedy while Belgian compatriot Savina Dellicour delves in to a father-daughter relationship in All Cats Are Grey with Bouli Lanners. With the support of Wallonie Bruxelles both Liberski and Dellicour will be on the guest rota.

In the year of its 120th anniversary the Festival celebrates the legendary studios Gaumont with new copies of Luc Besson’s The Big Blue, Henri-George Clouzot’s The Murderer Lives at 21 and Jean-Pierre Melville’s The Silence of the Sea. A milestone of silent cinema Abel Gance’s J’Accuse will receive a special screening at London’s Barbican Centre with live musical accompaniment by John Sweeney.

Many of the most hotly anticipated titles in the programme have been made available through STUDIOCANAL / French Film First.

Richard Mowe, Festival director and co-founder, said: “We are always pleasantly surprised by the sheer diversity of le cinéma français as reflected in our line-up. The industry remains buoyant with more ticket sales generated outside France than at home while new markets such as China give  a huge boost. French cinema is its own best ambassador. Bon festival!”

The full brochure will be available shortly when www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk will become fully active

Press kits, Images and other press materials available online.

GUESTS

All About Them: Jerôme Bonnell (dir) and Félix Moati (act)

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun: Joann Sfar (dir) and Freya Mavor (act)

Tokyo Fiancée: Stefan Liberski (dir)

All Cats Are Grey: Savina Dellicour (dir)

Vanity: Lionel Baier (dir)

Family For Rent: Jean-Pierre Améris (dir)

Standing Tall: Rod Paradot (act)

Right Man for the Job (short): Wilfried Méance (dir), Philippe du Janerand (act)

Website: frenchfilmfestival.org.uk    Twitter:@lefrenchfilmfes     Facebook: facebook.com/frenchfilmfestivaluk

CONTACTS

French Film Festival 

email: info@frenchfilmfestival.org.uk

Richard Mowe, director

email: richardmowe@mac.com    Mobile: 07710 762 149 

Manon Haag, press enquiries

email: manonhaag@gmail.com    Mobile: 0044 7478 255 254