Discoveries from France World Cinema

A man has to announce an unspeakable news to his girlfriend, freshly awoken from an accident induced coma. He has trouble finding the courage.

While there are more than 3,000 wine growers in France, less than 3 percent of them are working in bio, biodynamic or natural methods of wine production. WINE CALLING showcases some of the most exciting new French wine makers, leaders of a rising global movement calling for superior taste and sustainability.

When a famous American film director, Rudolph Grichenberg, comes to Paris to cast a Yiddish version of 'The Merchant of Venice,' Maurice Kurtz and his friends try out for the role of Shylock. Thinking he has finally been cast in an important film role after years of obscurity, Maurice rushes home to tell his beloved wife, Perla. Later, Maurice discovers the part has gone to a famous American star, but he must play the role of his life to be sure Perla, who has become very ill with cancer, doesn't find out.

The kidnapping of a plump billionaire's dog by a deaf-mute and 2 ketamine addicts goes wrong. The wealthy woman takes advantage of the situation to make them fullfil her last wishes.

In Tangiers where he traveled for his work, a man finds the woman he loved, and attempts to revive their romance though it ended some 30 years earlier.

In a near future, a lonely man is addicted to a product called ‘’Best Friend” which offers him perfect virtual friends.

The main hero of the film is an electrician with a far greater effect on the people around him than his job defines. He is the last link in a huge energetic system and he becomes the binding bridge between the geopolitical problems of post-soviet space and the common people. The economic devastation of the country had an enormous impact on the industrial workers and yet despite the upheaval, these people did not seize to love and suffer, to have and be friends and to enjoy their lives. In particular our resilient electrician, who possesses a wonderful and open heart. He not only brings electric light (which is often out) to the lives of the inhabitants of this small city, but he also spreads the light of love, loyalty, life and mainly laughter.

When a family wins a contest to adopt Victor, an 85-year-old man, the magazine intern who hatched the idea must undo what has been done.

A perfectionistic fitness influencer faces judgement, distractions and insecurities as she races to finish a "Get Ready With Me" video before a long-awaited cheat night.

Les Contes Secrets ou les Rohmériens features interviews with 16 actors who have appeared in Rohmer's films, and they talk on camera about his unusual working methods, his personality, and his spare but evocative signature style. Among the thespians who share their memories are Jean-Louis Trinitignant, Marie-Christine Barrault, Zouzou, Jean-Claude Brialy, Béatrice Romand, Françoise Fabian, and Andre Dussolier; the film also includes rare footage of Rohmer himself at work on the set of his 1978 effort Perceval.

This short features a man who is visited by his ex-lover. The moment she arrives, the man starts his constant barrage of speech; the woman doesn't say much. She just mocks the man and pretends she isn't listening. She pulls faces at him and larks about; while the man is trying his best to get her back in his life, then in the next sentence he says he hates her.

It’s 1976, in an Italian province near Naples. Pépé, a young Franco-Italian mobster, commits a murder and calls his childhood friend Stan, who has just returned from vacation, to tell him the news.

King John IV of Cerdania, who knows monarchs are a vanishing race but who plays his royalty role in state council or boudoir to the hilt, is in Paris to sign a treaty, and becomes enmeshed in intrigue with an actress, Therese Mannix and involved in a bit of cuckoldry with YouYou Bourdier, the ex-seamstress wife of a French senator, who is un-awed by money, power or the King's kisses. For his part, her husband, Senator Bourdier, is glad to use his wealth, wife and collectivist ideals for social position, in spite of his democratic posing.

In 1923, Albert Londres, the famous reporter, travels to the French penal colony in French Guyana. First, officers try to hide the truth, but leaded by his own instinct he begins an investigation alongside the authorities. He didn't expect to find such inhuman conditions. He meets a prisoner, Camille, and his wife, Claudia, who's in French Guyana to find a way to free her husband. He decides to help her.

An alien sent to Earth to retrieve a drug that was sent here on a black disc has to fight her race's enemies, who are also on Earth to search for the drug.

A French satirical comedy that examines society’s obsession with appearance. A man with unconventional looks unexpectedly becomes a public sensation, facing ridicule and admiration. His striking features thrust him into a whirlwind of media sensationalism and superficial relationships. Amid a series of ironic and humorous encounters, he grapples with the burden of being judged solely on his appearance, ultimately questioning the true essence of beauty and personal worth.

Desolated by the death of one friend, Joy lets oneself be dragged into a sect which in fact hides a network of "white slave trade"

After a distinguished career in the French Navy, 77-year-old Régis Morel spends most of his time on his own boat, a 12-meter sailboat. But one day, a significant event abruptly confronts him with his past, abruptly disrupting his tranquility. Sixty years later, he finally has the opportunity to have his paternity recognized in the name of the child he once was, and to exercise the rights that come with it. But Régis finds himself facing a family of provincial notables clinging to their fortune and their high opinion of themselves.

The recolonization of Africa, this time by the very blacks who had to flee it as exiles during the time of the original French occupation, is the theme of this political comedy. Adiza, who has been living well in France, has decided that she will return and buy the plantation she and her compatriots were expelled from, and enlists some unlikely helpers to bring them back into the country and enact their plot. Meanwhile, these "local" blacks are unwittingly accepted by the other landowners as more cheap labor.

At the end of the 1960s the post-war generation began to revolt against their parents. This was a generation disillusioned by anti-communist capitalism and a state apparatus in which they believed they saw fascist tendencies. This generation included journalist Ulrike Meinhof, lawyer Horst Mahler, filmmaker Holger Meins as well as students Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader.

One evening, a woman enters a police station and confesses to having killed her violent husband several years ago. As she listens to her fantastic story, the policewoman is increasingly less inclined to arrest her. Just why is the woman so eager to confess her crime, and why is the policewoman so reluctant to take her into custody?

In Paris, two scoundrels kidnap a wealthy man's preteen son, disguised as Indians, only to find he's a savvy detective, making their ransom plan much more complicated.

Six stories, six films that follow on from each other; this is a glance at the childhood of renowned directors whose style has marked the history of film. A group of young directors focus their cameras on the story of these filmmakers, these childhood stories that sometimes shape an entire life and thus shed light on their cinematic works. The stories overlap to merge into one film about childhood, filled with emotional wounds, frustrations and encounters.

Paul is a smart, university educated Frenchman of North African ancestry. He's a smooth talker, but he can't seem to get a job worthy of his skills. He ends up living in a single room, struggling to get by while going on many fruitless job interviews, during which he tries to impress his potential employers by turning his pizza delivery job into a tall tale about revamping the whole pizza chain. But at some point, they always seem to "see through him." He retreats into the boxing ring. His secretly gay brother Daniel also has trouble finding his place in the world. He spends all his time bodybuilding and takes dangerous drugs to enhance his physique. He dreams of being the next Schwarzenegger, but is forced to settle for a demeaning job as a "star" in a Hamburg sex club. Based on Jack-Alain Léger's novel

Otto and Anna, a brother and sister in their twenties, separated by the divorce of their parents, live on two continents. The vagaries of life keep them apart.

Laura, Eve, Anouch and Yaël are four cousins, very different and very endearing, who have one thing in common: they lie, but always for love! When the first three discover a few weeks before their little cousin's wedding that her perfect fiancé is cheating on her, they vote in unison "Don't tell him"!

This satire concerns three French singing idols and their attempt to stay in the public eye. A press conference, backstage hedonism, psychedelia, manipulative managers and disc jockeys are portrayed as the pop culture is thoroughly and effectively lampooned in this independent feature.

Commander Paul Leclerc is determined to learn the truth behind his son's death on a mission in Africa.

Lionel suffers from severe memory loss as a result of an accident. Inspector Corona accuses him of the brutal murder of a law student with whom he had a relationship.

The film consists almost entirely of an interview with the elderly He Fengming, recounting her experiences in post-1949 China.

Selim, a young man adrift, is a transvestite and a prostitute who desperately longs for his father's love. Omar, his father, lives a secluded life of grief and has never recovered from the loss of his wife. Like two lonely ships, they pass silently without ever really connecting. Only destiny will bring father and son together... a little too late.

An elderly farmer and his family return home to their village after trying to make money in the city, only to find it destitute and ruled by exploitative employers and a hungry tiger. Both the greedy employers and the tiger are protected by the government, but only the death at the hands of one will provide compensation.

Thundering across the sky on elegant white wings, the Concorde was an instant legend. But behind the glamour of jet setting at Mach 2 were stunning scientific innovations and political intrigue. Fifteen years after Concorde's final flight, this documentary takes you inside the historic international race to develop the first supersonic airliner. Hear stories from those inside the choreographed effort to design and build Concorde in two countries at once - and the crew members who flew her.

Mina's life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband was innocent of the crime for which he was executed, so she starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter's sake.

At 40, Alice has everything a woman of her age could want - everything except one vital accessory: a man. Since her husband was killed in a road accident a few years ago, she has resisted all attempts to start a relationship with another man, despite the best efforts of her closest friends Pénélope and Isabelle. As a last resort, the latter decide to offer Alice a stay at the Hôtel Normandy, the ideal place for her to turn over a new leaf...

Madame de Montespan, the Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XIV, has been in disgrace since the King set eyes on a younger beauty, Marie-Angélique Scorailles. Having had enough of the situation, the rejected mistress decides to visit La Voisin, a woman known as a fortune teller, a doctor, a midwife and who is also said to arrange black masses and sell poisons. Some time later Marie-Angélique, now Duchess of Fontanges, dies mysteriously aged only twenty...

Claire and Stéphane are two Lyon-based judges who could hardly be more different. She is young and enthusiastic, committed to helping those unfortunates who find themselves in debt. He is older, wiser, but disillusioned with his work and his life. Under Claire’s influence, Stéphane discovers a new lease of life and at last finds a cause that is worth fighting for...

Marie is a young woman recently released from prison on drug charges. As a condition of her release, she joins a theatrical troupe composed of young delinquents, and at the same time faces a difficult journey of reintegration into society and strives to rebuild her life.

In 1980s Paris - Patrick, Dov, Yvan and Serge are young men seeking success in love and business... with varying success.

How the Islamic State has created a powerful propaganda factory that manipulates and twists at its convenience the subjects and icons of the Western popular culture in order to lure into darkness certain young people and recruit them to achieve a dreadful purpose, an industry of fear that overcomes the infamous Nazi machinery and the methods used by both sides during the Cold War.

Sabine a slim brunette works for a finance broker and her work colleague Odile gets all the attention. All that is about to change when Morgane a sexy blond moves in next door to Sabine and teaches her how to be sexy and seductive. The results are successful as she gets the attension she was looking for. Only her boyfriend cheats on her with Morgane but he soon comes back in line.

A famous, ruthless writer takes a handsome young worker, with aspirations of becoming a tightrope artist, as his lover and protege, but suffers tragic consequences when he later discards him for another youth.

Pierre and Florence meet at the fair in Paris. They vow eternal love and go to Cassis, under the Southern sun. But Florence has a burdensome past: before meeting Pierre she was a kept woman. Her chivalrous lover, Dominique, chooses to set her free. But Pierre is an uncompromising man and, furious with Florence, threatens to leave her...

Evanella, who writes the “Horoscope” section of a major newspaper, and her brother Méristo, create with the help of a young journalist, Jean Lassère and the capital of their uncle Amédée, a “Bureau des Prédictions”. Success being expected, they manage to obtain revelations about a gang of gangsters which they publish as predictions. It is success and fortune. Jean marries the newspaper director's daughter and Evanella the director himself.

Peter Bechtle is a man in his mid-thirties. He is a manager of a large company and wants to try a project in Africa. The work will be led by the industrial magnate Brasser, but strange surprises await him. The IPO is rigged and some murders are committed.

In this action thriller, Richard Anconina is Willie, a young and lonesome cop who loves lonesome cowboy music. While on a drug case Willie comes across a mulatta named Jo (model Ambre of Senegalese extraction), who is trapped in a dismal life of prostitution by two abusive Lebanese brothers. Risking his own life, Willie frees Jo from their fierce imprisonment, but the battered woman runs right back again.

In a factory working for the National Defense, an employee steals a prototype. In charge of the investigation is Francis Coplan.

Harsh Parisian judge Gaetan (known as Monsieur Maximum), chafing in the idleness of retirement, leaves for a seaside holiday. But Gabriel the chauffeur has his mind on his girl, not the car; Gaetan and wife Nathalie are stranded in the country, where they find shelter in a low class bistro patronized by cheerful jail birds. Once the ice is broken, they have a wonderful time, but as the judge tries to trick his new friends into reforming, inevitable exposure approaches...

While setting up an exhibition of "The Mummies of St. Michael" an archeologist discovers a real skeleton in a red robe.

A new boss for dad; a new schoolmate for Boule. New problems in sight.

Directed by French Director Christian Faure and released in 2014, The Law brilliantly traces three days, in late Fall 1974, of stormy debate in the French National Assembly, around a bill which would make "voluntary termination of pregnancy" legal. Behind this bill stands a lone woman brilliantly played by a remarkable Emmanuelle Devos (also in The Other Son): Simone Veil the Minister of Health in the Jacques Chirac government during the presidency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. During these three days of violent debate Veil, a Jew and Holocaust survivor, is spared nothing: political negotiations, solitude, sparring arguments, insults and violence to her family. In spite of all of this, Veil never wavers.

In a building close to the Place de la Contrescarpe in Paris, a tale of criss‑crossings in turn romantic, gourmet, interested or mystical, between an Italian gigolo and a nightclub hostess, a family of butchers and an apprentice rocker, a mystic tailor, a writer sending himself telegrams, an alert paralytic woman, a thoughtful concierge, a bird breeder and a just‑out‑of‑jail hooligan. Little by little each one discovers each other’s more or less troubled history… when a mysterious death introduces the Police within this huis clos, hastens disclosure of well‑kept secrets and ruffle this little World.

David, a French police officer, travels to Thailand to meet Ravi – a young boy who claims to have been a criminal named Floyd in his previous life. Alongside his colleague Joanna, David enlists the young child and utilises his expertise to track down the dangerous criminal enterprise Floyd once had ties to.

In an unsettling context, a dark event is looming: the night of the purge. The country is plunged into uncertainty and fear, politics seems to be nothing but a mirror of lies and betrayal, while the people's riots become incessant. Given this alarming situation, a group of friends, aided by an anonymous informant, decide to leave the city of Tours and seek refuge in a peaceful, remote village. This experimental short film is based on a horrific project produced in September 2023 by a team of 10 people.

Ricky is a young Arab Australian whose peaceful suburban life is turned on its head when his sister, Ameena, disappears without trace. In a climate of distrust and xenophobia, she is soon suspected of having joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria. In a ‘post-facts’ world, Ricky no longer knows who to believe, his sense of what’s right or the 24 hour media cycle of spin.

Mona is the girlfriend of Pierre, who is a member of a rather pathetic rock band in France. Their hero is the singer "Johnny Valentine " who, seeing that Mona is being neglected, decides to make her his own.