France

This film in 16mm seeks to unravel the porous relationship between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Pursuing his quest for memory and traces in isolated territories, Piton relies on artisanal film developing methods as well as several experimental devices to conjure up a personal experience from the past that has never faded. “In the house where I grew up, something appeared once upon a time, a shape, a presence, an image that has never ceased to haunt the memory of that place. I search for traces of this apparition as if this image from the past had never left the house.” (Emmanuel Piton)Read More »

A novelist, an actress, and a struggling young singer all attempt to make their mark in modern day Paris in director Marc Fitoussi’s cynical entertainment industry satire. Bertrand is a French literary professor whose students all know that he is shacked up with pretty math teacher Solange despite the couple’s best efforts to keep their relationship under the radar. Though no one in the school much cares for Bertrand’s prose, self-flagellating student Frederic is the one notable exception. Meanwhile, as Bertrand struggles to deliver his second novel, recent big city arrival Cora finds that her fondness for outmoded songwriters may be having an adverse effect on her career trajectory. While Cora struggles to make ends meet by working at a popular chain steakhouse, even this attempt to remain afloat ultimately proves disastrous.Read More »

A strange pilgrim with an army of wolves arrives to a small village in the middle of the night with the curse of the wolf over the baby of a family. Years late Marie grows as a doomed witch with supernatural powers. Very intereting movie in the vein of the Sabbath movies. Witchcraft, superstitions and old European folklore.Read More »

Based on the idea by Roland Topor (screenwriter of Roman Polanski’s The Tenant), this very curious completely silent melodrama tells the story of Mona, who has left her father, the railway gatekeeper, after being raped on the train track. She is kidnapped and taken to a Parisian whorehouse. However, a disinherited prince, Dudu who tries to rescue her, is himself kidnapped and forced to serve as a male prostitute. The two captives meet there and fall in love. They are taken away by different rich people – he to an Arab “harem,” she to a surgeon’s home.Read More »

An ultra-rare two-part documentary made for French TV about Georges Perec, directed by his former partner Catherine Binet (who is mostly known for her only feature film, The Games of Countess Dolingen of Gratz). It features a mixture of archival footage, scenes from Perec’s films and to-camera readings of excerpts from his work by various actors and friends of the author (Michael Lonsdale, Marina Vlady, Alain Cuny, Sami Frey, Edith Scob, Harry Mathews and others). Some consider this to be the best documentary about the author that has been made so far.Read More »

Quote:
Director René Clair insisted that his 1952 production Beauties of the Night (Les Belles du Nuit) was intended as a comic variation on Griffith’s multipart Intolerance (1916). The Clair film deals with a disillusioned music teacher (Gérard Philipe) who dreams of the beautiful women of history, envisioning himself as the central male figure in each dream. The imaginary ladies (including such internationally famous lovelies as Martine Carol and Gina Lollobrigida) begin converging on the hero all at once, much to the delight of both Philipe and the audience. At several junctures, Clair revives a technique from his earliest talkies by having the characters sing their lines and thoughts rather than speaking them. These treasured musical moments are somewhat dissipated when Beauties of the Night is seen in an edited, redubbed American print — which also “fudges” the film’s notorious Gina Lollobrigida nude scene.Read More »

Angelino is one of the thousands of deadbeats living in Dark Meat City, a ruthless megalopolis of California. Following a foolish scooter accident caused by the heavenly vision of a mysterious girl, the young man starts experiencing violent headaches doubled with strange hallucinations involving monstrous creatures lurking throughout the city…Read More »

Jean-René, owner of a chocolate factory, and Angélique, a talented chocolate maker, are too shy to admit their love for each other. Will they come together thanks to their common passion?Read More »

Pierrick has just lost his brother. He accepts the invitation of his best friend Tessa in his family house, to spend there one week only to think about his life. But he discovers upon his arrival Marie’s presence, half sister of Tessa, come recover from a loving wound. After a drinking party and Tessa’s unexpected arrival itself, the situation is going to reveal unexpected revelations…Read More »