Discoveries from France World Cinema

A woman becomes distressed by the resemblance between the plot of a film and the reality of her own life. But what is reality: life or film?

The actress Lola Dewaere recounts the film career and traumatic life of celebrated actor Patrick Dewaere, the father she never knew, under the watchful eye of director Alexandre Moix.

A short tribute to Zgougou, Varda’s cat who was given to her by Sabine Mamou.

Laura is still waiting for Prince Charming at the age of 24. So when Sandro appears at a party, exactly like her Prince would in her dreams, she thinks she's found the right one. But then again, when she meets Maxime, Laura starts to wonder if some Princes could be more charming than others? Of course Sandro has problems of his own : his father, Pierre, just bumped into Madam Irma at his father's funeral and this reminded him of the date of his own death which Madame Irma had predicted ages ago. Now Pierre is unable to make any plans, not with his new partner Eleonore, nor with Sandro. And Maxime has his own problems, and so does Eleonore, Marianne, Jacqueline and many others. But don't worry, in the end, they'll all live happily ever after.

Furniture and clutter of one small apartment room become the subject of a moving still life—with Akerman herself staring back. This breakthrough formal experiment is Akerman's first film made in New York.

Two brothers are fighting for a one girl attention...

A woman arrives in Paris with her little girl to look for work. With limited funds and no luck, they end up penniless, homeless and dependent on the rare kindness of strangers.

Louise simultaneously discovers that she is pregnant and that her mother is seriously ill. Happiness and guilt, euphoria and sadness, filial love and love, period. She'll need a good nine months to cope with all this.

An election campaign becomes more interesting when anonymously published photographs depict the wife of a candidate, Dr. Peyrac, attending a sex party. Are the photographs fake or genuine ?

Casti and Trébois, two friends who are workers at the same factory, have developed a common passion for flying. They dream of starting an aviation club. In the meantime they spend all their Sundays restoring an old plane under the supervision of Raf, a former RAF pilot...

In November 2018, the news of the death of a 27-year-old American on the shore of a small island in the Indian Ocean went around the planet. Clash of the culture.

1920. Georges Clémenceau just lost the french presidential elections to the unknown Paul Deschanel, an idealistic who wants to change the country. But, one day, Deschanel falls from a train and disappear. At daybreak, France is looking for its president, a great chance for the « Tiger » Georges Clémenceau.

André Demester secretly and painfully loves Barbe, his childhood friend, accepting from her the little that she gives him. He leaves home to be a soldier in a war in a far off land. Barbarity, camaraderie and fear turn him into a warrior. As the seasons go by, Barbe, alone and wasting away, waits for the soldiers to return. Will Demester’s boundless love for Barbe save him?

An alien race sends cyborgs — made to look like the son of a famous scientist, whom they killed when he landed on their planet — to Earth to help pave the way for an invasion.

Romance and murder walk side by side in this psychological drama from Spain. A serial killer has been plying his grisly trade in a small town in Spain, murdering young girls and leaving their bodies in a nearby forest.

Yvonne loses her mind and confuses her teenage granddaughter, Manon, with her deceased daughter. Manon plays the role of the mother she never knew, reviving her grandmother's years of feminist activism. In this troubled game, Manon will learn to become a woman.

Chantal Akerman followed famous Choreographer Pina Bausch and her company of dancers, The Tanzteater Wuppertal, for five weeks while they were on tour in Germany, Italy and France. Her objective was to capture Pina Bausch's unparalleled art not only on stage by behind the scenes.

During a book signing in Normandy, Annie Ernaux, 70, revisits her memories of the summer of 1958, when she was 17. That summer, she left her hometown to work as a camp counsellor. At the first party, the head counsellor set out to deflower her. Finding him handsome, she lets him do it, as if against her will... Her body becomes a foreign place for her, an offering to be sacrificed.

We follow the life of a man at eight, eighteen and eighty-two years old: in his village, outside the village, in the heat of the sun and the icy snow. The course of his monotonous life seems to be written in advance and meaningless. And yet an invisible force exists in him and in a mysterious way pushes him forward, towards death.

In 1929, Mr. Messier, owner of a small print shop in a village in Quebec became a widower, he lives with his two children, Rachel, 9 years old, and Gaëtan, 7 years old. In this closed universe and in the absence of their mother, a great complicity is established between the children.

This film tells the story of World War II as experienced by the inhabitants of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, at the time a satellite of Moscow. The very rich oil deposits of the region aroused the covetousness of Hitler who needed the oil from Baku to carry out his program of world domination. His entire campaign of 1942-1943 was aimed at seizing them. But the Soviets and the Allies were determined to prevent him from doing so, by all means, including the most radical, even if it meant wiping the city off the map.

A compulsive gambler must steal a suitcase full of money, which is also coveted by Melba, a cabaret singer. A getaway ensues.

The writer Louis Gardel remembers his youth in Algeria. In 1955, Louis is 15 years old and lives with his grandmother Zoé. Zoé is friend with president Steiger, leader of the French settlers but also with the old Arab Bouarab. One night looking at the Bay of Algiers, Louis is convinced that the world in which he has grown will disappear. The first events of the War of Independence have begun. The young boys and young girls have a good time at the seaside: swimming, dancing, flirting. But, little by little, the war becomes part of their daily life.

To sleep forever is what Rémi dreams of. An insomniac for the past eight years, his life has become an unbearable nightmare. By booking a room in the highly sought-after Judith Hotel, he's offering himself the chance to start anew.

"Gerboise bleue", the first French atomic test carried out on February 13, 1960 in the Algerian Sahara, is the starting point of France's nuclear power. These are powerful radioactive aerial shots carried out in areas belonging to the French army. Underground tests will follow, even after the independence of Algeria. From 1960 to 1978, 30,000 people were exposed in the Sahara. The French army was recognized recognized nine irradiations. No complaint against the army or the Atomic Energy Commission has resulted. Three requests for a commission of inquiry were rejected by the National Defense Commission. For the first time, the last survivors bear witness to their fight for the recognition of their illnesses, and revealed to themselves in what conditions the shootings took place. The director goes to the zero point of "Gerboise Bleue", forbidden access for 47 years by the Algerian authorities

The struggles of a small business owner come to light in this film by director André Cayatte. The proprietor of a fabric shop, M. Baudu faces stiff competition when a department store moves in across the street, the first of its kind in 1860s Paris. On top of the stresses associated with the rival retailer, Baudu’s niece and two nephews take up residence with him after recently being orphaned. The niece, Denise Baudu, sees the writing on the wall for her uncle’s business so she takes a job as a shop girl with his competitor and despite her success the decision does not register well with the family.

François Berthier’s life is a series of unfortunate events. One day, however, a miracle occurs for François and his expected misfortune is changed to never-ending luck.

Harald lives alone in a small cabin. On earth, humanity, animals and vegetation have disappeared. He decides to leave his cabin to search for the remains of humanity. He comes across a curious ghost town. He settles in the city, determined to get it up and running again. But soon strange phenomena will upset this new life.

How, thanks to what's known as the "Butterfly theory" (a random series of unlinked events), can a young woman and a young man meet?

In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a powerful and timelessness novel which eternal theme is nothing other than man's quest for the secret of life. Since then, the Creature became a pop culture icon, overshadowing the novel and Doctor Frankenstein himself.

Three young Soviet women encounter a French filmmaker who is planning the first erotic film since the October Revolution.

Poor Bastards is a sketch film, written by twelve authors. Mirror or projection, poor bastards have fun with everyday facts and do not tell a story, but stories. Through these short and bitter stories, are revealed all the cracks of the human race, which, in a movement of globalization and neoliberalism more and more assertive, can lead the ordinary man to be a monster of cowardice, cruelty, indifference or hypocrisy. Poor bastards from an odd angle, transcribe reality provocatively or not, always with the same ambition: to react.

Whenever people are released from their society's constraints, there is the possibility that they will behave badly, at least according to the rules of the society they have left behind. This seems to have been particularly the case for Europeans living in colonial establishments in Africa and Asia. In this drama, based on a story by Stefan Zweig, Dr. Steiner (Andrzej Seweryn) was caught with his fingers in the till at a German hospital. Rather than prosecute him, they gave him the option of emigrating elsewhere. He chose to serve at a clinic in a remote part of Portuguese Goa. He has been on his best behavior for years, but when the beautiful wife (Fanny Ardant) of a diplomat comes to him asking for an abortion, he is tempted to ask for sexual favors in return, and his life swiftly goes out of control.

Show recorded at the Zénith in Strasbourg on January 19 and 20, 2014 for the benefit of the Restos du Coeur.

Lepetit, an ambitious and determined man, is named the new CEO of a department store. His mission is to improve the store's financial position. He decides that the human factor will be his catchword and introduces new methods, which he also applied to himself. But tensions slowly arise between members of the staff.

A French couple burnt out by the routine of their daily family life decides after much hesitation to travel to Sicily for a short holiday.

Following a rare accident, Paul Sneijder opened his eyes to the reality of his life as a "senior manager" in Montreal: his work no longer interested him, his wife annoyed him and deceived him, his two sons despised him ... How can we continue to live under these conditions? Starting with a change of profession: dog walker for example! Will his relatives accept this change that will turn him into a free man?

A young French couple deals with ramifications of world events on their relationship as Saddam Hussein threatens to launch SCUD missiles on Israel.

In Paris, a seductive lesbian couple lures a naive British exchange student into their world of art, lust, and manipulation. What begins as a passionate threesome soon spirals into a deadly game of emotional control and criminal escalation. As love turns to obsession, the trio descends into a web of betrayal, seduction, and murder.

For decades, pupils at the children's village of Riaumont, in northern France, run by Catholic monks and priests, were abused: until 2019, thousands of children suffered beatings, forced labor and sexual violence.

An experimental music ensemble is recording an album. They want a very specific sound: the sound of thick air. The sound engineer struggles to understand and to find that sound. A tale of sleepless nights and loud music, a noise-injected collage composed of diaristic footage, a found narrative (memories of a popular 60s band), original music and field recordings.

Despite the disagreement of their mother, the sons of old Taras Bulba are taken to the Dnieper camp on their return from a Kiev seminary, to teach them how to become real Cossacks.

In 1892 Diane arrives in Paris to search for her missing sister. To learn the fate of her sister she auditions for the quadrille at Moulin rouge.

Stefan Borba was a member of a spy ring during the war but after the end of the conflict he opted out. Now he is a miner in Belgium and lives happily there with his wife Denise. Unfortunately for him, his past catches up with him. One day indeed, Milan, a secret agent with whom he used to work, resurfaces and forces him back into action...

Bertille is an old woman who lives in the countryside. Her relatives reunite there with her as she is about selling the property. They don't take long to out their true intentions which are merely material on her estate. Also, Bertille is afflicted by her youngest son who has been in prison for a decade. Decades of fighting over Einstein's stick of truth has made Bertille very frail and easy to come down on.

Mario, a star ladies' hairdresser, has Nicolas as a friend and Gisèle as his mistress, who is coveted by Nicolas. To boost the salon's finances, Nicolas takes advantage of a billionaire, Madame Alvarez, by selling her a pseudo-rejuvenation serum invented by Mario. Mario suddenly falls in love with a provincial girl, Gabrielle, and pursues her to the South of France, where everyone meets up to finish the film in song.

Edouard and Félix work in a real estate agency. One day, they are threatened with dismissal if they don't manage to sell a very isolated house to an elderly, silver and somewhat unusual Englishwoman. In the house, they discover a corpse. The visit is spent dragging the corpse from room to room, cupboard to chest, so as not to frighten the otherwise impressed buyer. But the corpse disappears. He has to be found before the deed can be signed. The two salesmen become detectives, tracking down the dead man's many female acquaintances. All the seducer's conquests are sifted through, to find the one who left her jewels at the scene of the crime.

Captain Palmer's daughter, Maria, is neglected by her husband, the cynical Leo, who lives with the beautiful Sylvia. To defeat his son-in-law, Palmer has the idea of ​​putting Sylvia back in the presence of Pierre, her first love. Leo takes revenge by creating many difficulties for Palmer who retaliates by starting a violent fight where Leo is killed. Everything seems to point to Pierre, but...

French artist and author Jean Giraud is one of the most famous and influential comic strip illustrators and authors of all time. He achieved his greatest fame as Moebius - not so much a pseudonym as an alter ego. With his triple-split personality - Jean Giraud, Moebius, Gir - he succeeded in making his work accessible in popular comic strip series like Blueberry, in metaphysical fantasies like John Difool and, not least, to a broad public, with set designs for films such as The Fifth Element. In Moebius Redux - A Life in Pictures an exceptional artist tells his life's and work's story. Extraordinary views on Paris, Los Angeles and the Mexican desert build a visual link between his life and his artistic universe, accompanied by the electronic soundtrack composed by "Kraftwerk" legend Karl Bartos.

We follow how four ordinary little girls learn about life, love and all that sort of things.

In a cemetery on the ocean shore, teenager Aïda follows her desire to bring to life her long dead father.

Yacine is the veterinarian of the only zoo remaining in the Palestinian West Bank. He lives alone with his 10-year old son, Ziad. The kid has a special bond with the two giraffes in the zoo. He seems to be the only one to communicate with them. After an air raid in the region the male giraffe dies. His mate, Rita, won’t survive unless the veterinarian finds her a new companion. The only zoo that might provide this animal is located in Tel Aviv ...

Detective Nestor Burma begins an investigation into the corrupt drug-ridden punk rock music world.

In 1917, the old rivalry between a prosecutor and a judge resurfaces during a police investigation into the murder of a child.

Two middle-class notions dealers live happily with their girl, but an inheritance turns these nice people into snob Nouveaux Riches. Although the aristocracy invites them, the 'Tout-Paris' laughs behind their back. When they invite their would be new friends for a ball in their desirable new mansion, their daughter, sick and tired of being abandoned by her once loving parents, throws the invitations into the Seine.

Catherine is left unmarried and pregnant when her mobster sweetheart is killed in this gangster comedy. With the help of another unmarried mother-to-be, Catherine goes looking for the stash of cash buried by her lover before his death. Soon other thugs and her suspicious neighbors are following their every move in an attempt to recover the lost loot...

West Germany, 1978. The publication of a harrowing book chronicling the miserable lives of young drug addicts living and dying in train stations and public toilets across the country causes a brutal social shock: the story of Christiane F., a thirteen-year-old girl who prostitutes herself to buy heroin, and the children at the Berlin Zoo station.

A Boston school teacher fights with a group of impoverished Frenchmen for possession of an inherited château. Elizabeth Rockwell is indignant when she finds her château filled with squatters, a widower with five messy children, who have no regard for private property rights.