The lineup for the 25th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York

30 JANUARY 2020

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance announce the selection of the 25th annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York, which will take place from March 5 through 15, 2020. The event will open with a screening of The Truth held in the presence of Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke.

For twenty-five years now, the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York has offered New Yorkers the opportunity to discover the best of recent French cinema through a selection of films curated with passion by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and accompanied by a large artistic and professional delegation from the French film industry.

This year for the first time, the Rendez-Vous event will present the Air France Audience Prize, which will give loyal audiences at Lincoln Center the chance to vote for their favorite film.

The 2020 edition, which will feature New York, American, or North American premieres of 22 films, once again demonstrates the fertility of the French film landscape and the many voices of which it is composed.

Films will be screened in the presence of contemporary French film directors, including Bruno Dumont, Rebecca Zlotowski, Mounia Meddour, Maïmouna Doucouré, Quentin Dupieux, Mehdi Idir, Pascal Bonitzer, Cédric Klapisch, Nicolas Pariser, Claude Lelouch, Alice Winocour, Lucie Borleteau, Sarah Suco, and Stéphane Batut, and the actress Chiara Mastroianni.

Professional Day

Around ten producers and directors, along with representatives from French international sales companies, will also travel to New York to take part in a one-day professional event organized by UniFrance on March 6.

This event will kick off in the morning with a keynote address, followed by a session dedicated to French producers. Four roundtables will tackle the following subjects: "Recent Developments in the American Market," "Producing in the United States (Finding New Financing and Risk Management Models),"From Books to Films: Audiovisual Rights," and "How Talent Agencies Work."
After a smorgasbord meal also attended by American distributors, UniFrance will host its fourth annual presentation of film trailers by international sales companies with the aim of pitching a new crop of upcoming French films to film buyers and television program directors in New York.

Sidebar events held during the festival

A number of additional events will be held to coincide with the Rendez-Vous festival:

An encounter with Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke on March 5
A meeting between Alice Winocour and a surprise guest speaker on the subject of "Cinema and Space" (date to be advised)
An encounter with Serge Toubiana, president of UniFrance, who will autograph his new book on Helen Scott, on March 8
A panel discussion between several directors on the subject of adapting literary works into films, on March 9

Pascal Bonitzer, Chiara Mastroianni, Lucie Borleteau, and Mehdi Idir will each lead a master class at various New York universities (Columbia, CUNY, Fordham); the Metrograph theater will organize an evening dedicated to Chiara Mastroianni (March 7) and one dedicated to Bruno Dumont (March 13); and Claude Lelouch will present his film A Man and a Woman at the Film Forum. In addition, screenings will be held in schools of the films School Life and Spread Your Wings.

Film lineup at the 25th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York