Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York, the 21st edition !

27 JANUARY 2016

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance announce lineup for 21st Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, March 3-13, opening with New York Premiere of Guillaume Nicloux’s Valley of Love, starring Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu, and closing with Jacques Audiard’s Cannes-winning Dheepan.

The celebrated annual showcase of the best in contemporary French film will take place from March 3 to 13 at the Film at Lincoln Center. The lineup—which consists of 21 feature films making their New York, U.S., or North American premieres—demonstrates that the landscape of French cinema is as fertile as ever, and the voices calling from it never more distinct.

“We are extremely pleased to continue our 21-year partnership with UniFrance to bring a brilliant selection of French films to New York,” said Film Society of Lincoln Center Associate Director of Programming, Florence Almozini. “This year’s lineup exemplifies the diverse creativity coming out of the country year-round, including a record eight films directed by women.”

"What’s new in French cinema ? As France has undergone a terrible year in 2015, it’s not surprising to see that French artists express their emotions, doubts and fears in their films, underlines UniFrance's General Manager Isabelle Giordano. "Cinema is indeed like a megaphone. This is why I am so proud to bring to NY audiences the best of French cinema - the rising and established talents behind the 21 selected films combine a high artistic ambition with a strong political commitment. Voices of directors like Alice Winocour, Nabil Ayouch, Emmanuelle Bercot or Philippe Faucon are worth being listened to as they say a lot about the chaos of our world today."

The Opening Night selection is Guillaume Nicloux’s Valley of Love, featuring tour-de-force performances by Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu as a long-divorced couple who reconnect six months after their son’s suicide, with Nicloux and Huppert in person. Closing the festival is Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Dheepan, a harrowing, genre-bending portrait of three refugees who flee Sri Lanka only to end up in the equally violent Paris housing projects.

The series features the latest from established favorites Julie Delpy (Lolo), Philippe Faucon (Fatima), Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche (Story of Judas), and Catherine Corsini (Summertime), as well as four remarkable debuts: the U.S. premiere of distinguished French actor Louis Garrel’s Two Friends, a tragicomic exploration of a love triangle; Nicolas Pariser’s The Great Game, in which a young novelist ghostwrites a manifesto with risky consequences; Rudi Rosenberg’s vivacious coming-of-age tale The New Kid; and Eva Husson’s Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story), an unapologetically explicit anthology of the sexual experiments of a group of teenagers over the course of a summer.

Additional highlights include many gems from Cannes and beyond, including Alice Winocour’s domestic thriller Disorder, starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger; Nabil Ayouch’s Much Loved, a portrait of sex workers in Marrakech so unflinching it was controversially banned in Morocco; Emmanuelle Bercot’s study of a teenage delinquent, Standing Tall, with Catherine Deneuve as the youth’s compassionate juvenile court judge; 21 Nights with Pattie, the latest oddball comedy from Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu, about a prim woman who travels to a small village in the Pyrénées to bury her estranged mother, but gets mixed up in a surreal police investigation; and innovatively modernized Chekhov adaptation Three Sisters by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, co-written by Noémie Lvovsky and Caroline Deruas.

Filmmakers and talent who will be in attendance at this year’s festival include, in alphabetical order: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, Nabil Ayouch, Emmanuelle Bercot, Julie Delpy, Emmanuel Finkiel, Louis Garrel, Gregoire Hetzel, Isabelle Huppert, Eva Husson, Maïwenn, Guillaume Nicloux, Nicolas Pariser, Melvil Poupaud, Rudi Rosenberg, Alice Winocour, and more to be confirmed at a later date.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 18, with early access for Film Society members beginning Thursday, February 11. Tickets are $16; $12 for seniors (62+); and $10 for students and members; higher pricing for opening night will apply.

Détails manifestation Rendez-Vous With French Cinema à New York - 2016