This year, the Film at Lincoln Center and Unifrance celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema à New York, presided over by Martin Scorsese and Nathalie Baye.
"Twenty years is the ideal anniversary to celebrate French cinema and its love affair with New York, a city that has been a source of inspiration to so many filmmakers, and which has always warmly welcomed French cinema," says Isabelle Giordano, Executive Director of UniFrance Films. "We're thrilled to be celebrating the 20th anniversary with our partners at UniFrance Films," Florence Almozini, Film Society of Lincoln Center Senior Programmer, added. "We have an exciting lineup including a focus on new New French Noirs, in the great tradition of Jean-Pierre Melville and Claude Chabrol, that will prove the vitality of the genre. Once again, the festival will introduce audiences to new talent."
Martin Scorsese and Nathalie Baye are the honorary presidents of this "anniversary edition" of the New York Rendez-Vous With French Cinema Today.
22 features (and 4 shorts) are programmed this year. The festival will open with 3 Hearts by Benoit Jacquot, and the director and stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Chiara Mastroianni will attend the screening. Reality by Quentin Dupieux will close out the festival.
On the program this year:
• A focus on the vitality of New Film Noir (with screenings of The Clearstream Affair, Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart, SK1, The Connection)
• A section revealing emerging talents (Thomas Cailley with Love at First Fight, Lucie Borleteau with Fidelio, Alice's Journey, Thomas Lilti with Hippocrates, Cyprien Vial with Young Tiger, Stéphane Demoustier with 40-Love, Abd Al Malik with May Allah Bless France, Armel Hostiou and Stubborn, and Antoine Barraud with Portrait of the Artist, Mélanie Laurent with Breathe)
• Works by prominent filmmakers much appreciated by New York audiences (André Téchiné and In the Name of My Daughter, Christophe Honoré and Metamorphoses, Cédric Kahn and Wild Life, Jean Paul Civeyrac and My Friend Victoria, Pierre Salvadori and In the Courtyard)
The full selection
3 Hearts by Benoit Jacquot
Reality by Quentin Dupieux
40-Love by Stéphane Demoustier
Breathe by Mélanie Laurent
The Connection by Cédric Jimenez
Fidelio, Alice's Journey by Lucie Borleteau
Eat Your Bones by Jean-Charles Hue
Gaby Baby Doll by Sophie Letourneur
Hippocrates by Thomas Lilti
In the Courtyard by Pierre Salvadori
French Riviera by André Téchiné
Love at First Fight by Thomas Cailley
May Allah Bless France by Abd Al Malik
Metamorphoses by Christophe Honoré
My Friend Victoria by Jean-Paul Civeyrac
The Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart by Cédric Anger
Party Girl, by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis
Portrait of the Artist by Antoine Barraud
SK1 by Frédéric Tellier
Stubborn by Armel Hostiou
Wild Life by Cédric Kahn
Young Tiger by Cyprien Vial
Short films
The Smallest Apartment in Paris by Héléna Villovitch
Back Alley by Cécile Ducrocq
Espace by Éléonore Gilbert
Extrasystole by Alice Douard
The following artists will be attending the festival: Cédric Anger, Nathalie Baye, Lucie Borleteau, Thomas Cailley, Guillaume Canet, Stéphane Demoustier, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christophe Honoré, Armel Hostiou, Benoît Jacquot, Cédric Jimenez, Cédric Kahn, Ariane Labed, Mélanie Laurent, Abd Al Malik, Chiara Mastroianni, Celine Sallette, and Frederic Tellier.
As in years past, screenings will take place at the Lincoln Center, BAMcinématek and IFC Center.
