44TH EDITION OF THE FESTIVAL DES 3 CONTINENTS

The Festival – dedicated to films from Africa, Latin America, and Asia – will be held in Nantes and in partner cinemas throughout the Loire-Atlantique region from November 18 to 27, 2022.

Driven by the conviction that cinematic experience is also one of sharing, Artistic Director Jérôme Baron and the Festival team are delighted to welcome audiences in person once again:

“We hope that the rich and varied programme of the 44th Festival des 3 Continents will draw large audiences to movie theatres, as was the case last year. If we can contribute to this trend, we will be delighted.

The number of cinemas that have partnered with the event is, in itself, a testimony to our common belief that audiences should experience movies on the big screen. Many previously unscreened or extremely rare works are featured in the 2022 selection, which means there are many discoveries in store for audiences. The core principle is: stay curious!”

Over the course of 10 days bookended by two weekends, the Festival will give audiences the opportunity to discover 90 films, with 240 screenings organised in 10 cities in the Loire-Atlantique region.

In addition to the International Competition and Special Screenings, audiences can enjoy a host of other events including an homage to renowned Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, in attendance at this year’s edition and whose documentary works are still little known; a voyage through Indian cinema from 1970 to 1990; and for the first time ever, a complete retrospective of the works of Mike De Leon, a master figure in Filipino film. Festivalgoers will also have an opportunity to dive headfirst into the prolific and marginal work of Argentinian filmmaker Raúl Perrone and to enjoy the A Family Resemblance programme.

THE FILMS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

A selection of 10 French and European Premiere films:

• Goodbye, Captain directed by Vincent CARELLI and Tatiana ALMEIDA, documentary (Brazil), French Premiere
• Autobiography directed by Makbul MUBARAK, drama (Indonesia), French Premiere - First Feature Film
• Glorious Ashes directed by BUI THAC Chuyên, drama (Vietnam, France, Singapore), European Premiere
• Day After… directed by Kamar Ahmad SIMON, documentary (Bangladesh, Norway, France), French Premiere
• The Winter Within directed by Aamir BASHIR, drama (India, France, Qatar), European Premiere
• Jet Lag directed by ZHENG LU Xinyuan, documentary (Austria, Switzerland), French Premiere
• Love Life directed by Kôji FUKADA, drama (Japan), French Premiere
• Rule 34 directed by Júlia MURAT, drama (Brazil), French Premiere
• Scent of Wind directed by Hadi MOHAGHEGH, drama (Iran), European Premiere
• Shivamma directed by Jaishankar ARYAR, drama (India) European Premiere – First Feature Film

JURY MEMBERS AND AWARDS

The members of this year’s jury of industry professionals who will determine the winners of the Montgolfière d’Or and Montgolfière d’Argent awards are:

• Stéphane BATUT - director (France)
• Renato BERTA - director of photography (Switzerland)
• Moustapha MBENGUE - musician and actor (Senegal-Italy)
• Vimala PONS - artist (France)
• Axelle ROPERT - director (France)

Two additional awards, the Audience Award sponsored by Magmaa Food Hall Nantes, and the Young Jury Award sponsored by Le Damier – Corporate Foundation of the Brémond Group, will also be attributed to films in the International Competition.

FILMS IN SPECIAL SCREENINGS

A selection of eight films, including many previously unscreened works.

Opening Ceremony at the Angers Nantes Opera House

Dirty Difficult Dangerous directed by Wissam CHARAF (Lebanon) will be screened as the opening film of the Festival, in the presence of the director.

Other Special Screenings

• We, Students! directed by Rafiki FARIALA, documentary (Central African Republic, France), Premiere, First Feature Film
• Our Choices directed by Karim SERJIEH, documentary (Syria, France, Qatar) French Premiere
• Profound Desires of the Gods directed by Shohei IMAMURA, drama (Japan) French Premiere of the restored version
• Rewind & Play directed by Alain GOMIS, documentary (France, Germany)
• The Novelist’s Film directed by HONG Sang-soo, drama (South Korea), French Premiere
• Sambizanga directed by Sarah MALDOROR, drama (Angola, France), Restored version
• Suzhou River directed by LOU Ye, drama (Germany, France, China) French Premiere of the restored version

Hirokazu Kore-eda, A COUNTRY AT HEART

French audiences first discovered the work of Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda in the mid-90s. Maborosi (Maboroshi no hikari,1995) and After Life (Wandarafu raifu,1998) were screened in their year of release at the Festival des 3 Continents, the latter earning a Montgolfière d’Or award and establishing the filmmaker’s renown. Shortly thereafter, Distance (2001) and Nobody Knows (Dare mo Shiranai, 2004) were selected for the International Competition of the Cannes Film Festival. With the release of each new film, French audiences developed an increasingly strong loyalty to the filmmaker, whose works paint a subtle portrait of Japanese society. This connection grew even stronger with the release of Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku, 2018), which won the Palme d’or at Cannes that year. As we await the release of Broker (December 7, 2022), we will have the pleasure of seeing his little-known – if not unknown – documentary work. Hirokazu Kore-eda will be present in Nantes from November 25 to 27.

Awards Ceremony at Stereolux

The Awards Ceremony will take place after the Premiere screening of Broker (South Korea), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, in the presence of the filmmaker.

Indian Autumn

Autumn, the most clement season in India, is the perfect time to take a tour of Indian cinema from 1970 to 1990 through films that are unknown, forgotten, or overlooked. Fourteen films pay tribute to the aesthetic diversity of a filmmaking industry that is too often reduced to Bollywood. Filmed in a range of languages including Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, and Gujarati, the films in this programme speak of the immensity of a country whose cinema industry is rich and multifaceted. And if dances, songs and love stories are part of these films, what truly excites us is the profound desire of moviemaking that they emanate.

Selection made in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation.

Mike de Leon: A Life in (Moving) Pictures

Those who attended the recent theatrical releases of the works of Lino Brocka, the biggest name in Filipino cinema, may recall having seen Mike de Leon’s name in the credits of Manila in the Claws of Light (Maynila sa mga kuko ng liwanag, 1975). A little-known and thus noteworthy fact is that Mike de Leon was both producer and director of photography for the film. Before the commercial distribution of his films in France in 2023, this world-premiere retrospective reveals a lifetime dedicated to cinema, like his family before him. Psychological thrillers, film noir, love stories, realistic films and fantasies: Mike de Leon’s films avoid being pigeonholed and, as if emerging from the darkness (of his native country), bring to light works imbued with remarkable stylistic power. 

Raúl Perrone: The Straight Shooter from Ituzaingó

For the past 30 years, and with nearly 60 films to his credit, Raúl Perrone has been a giant in Argentine cinema, albeit surprisingly on its fringe. Independent even of his country’s independent film scene, Perrone is bound exclusively through his life and his work to his birthplace of Ituzaingó (in Corrientes, an hour from Buenos Aires), which he only ever leaves for brief periods. He seeks neither fame nor recognition: he simply makes films. These can be compared to unpredictable subjective drawings as precise in their depiction of the reality of the people around him as they are open to the influence of unpredictable imaginary forces; and to conversing freely with other films, painting, and literature…

A Family Resemblance

Cinema, like literature before it, is in its element when it comes to family. Laboratories exploring personal passions by giving free rein to the excesses of imagination, other people’s families are always a bit like our own: perhaps far removed from our actual experiences, yet they couldn’t be more… familiar. From a clash between two very different families in Parasite, to the burden of tradition in Sofia; a story of adoption in Gran Torino; and a retake on personal memories in La Ciénaga, while clear differences exist between the films in this programme, they are all part of the same extended family and any resemblance between them is no coincidence.

This programme is suited to all audiences. However, in addition, the Festival has compiled an educational booklet for secondary-school teachers, as this programme is our invitation to their students to attend.

First Steps Towards the 3 Continents

First Steps Towards the 3 Continents offers a selection of films for children aged 3 and up and their families. This year features avant-première screenings of films with age-specific programmes for pre-school and primary-school children.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

The press pack https://www.3continents.com/en/presse-pros/presse-communication/.

Visual resources to illustrate the programming:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y8x1x37BdteGpxEdG_nua1C8nUUD49M-?usp=share_link

Requests for professional accreditations (press and industry) can be done on the festival website until November 3^rd included.

The latest information on the programming can be found on the website www.3continents.com.

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The Festival des 3 Continents has been held every year since 1979 in the city of Nantes in late November. Through a unique selection of drama and documentary films from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, the Festival provides fresh perspectives on cinema and the wider world. Under the 1901 associations law in France, Les 3 Continents is a not-for-profit organisation eligible for corporate sponsorship. The Festival is committed to accessibility for disabled audiences, sustainable development (Réseau REEVE), and supporting equality and diversity in the film industry. WWW.3CONTINENTS.COM

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