Building on the success of the past two years' programs, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Unifrance will once again be hosting On Set With French Cinema, to be held this year from October 15 through November 19.
This year, 6 French directors have been invited to participate in the event by 11 American universities from the cities of New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Thus, Laurent Cantet, Bruno Dumont, Arnaud Desplechin, Jan Kounen, Cédric Klapisch, and Bertrand Tavernier will share their experiences as filmmakers, directors of actors and screenwriters with students from film schools and film studies departments at the most prestigious universities in the United States (including New York University, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, the American Film Institute of Los Angeles, the University of California, and San Francisco State University).
On Set With French Cinema will once again present a selection of around thirty French films to a specifically targeted audience of future industry professionals in the USA.
In operation since 2003, this annual event has so far gathered together a rich palette of directors that reflects the diversity of current French movie production: Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, Agnès Varda, Olivier Assayas, Luc Besson, Patrice Chéreau, Benoît Jacquot, Jean-Pierre Jeunet Cédric Klapisch, Patrice Leconte, Claude Miller, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, and Régis Wargnier have all gone out to meet with students from the most highly regarded film schools and universities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
This initiative, which has met with great success each year, encourages and facilitates ongoing dialogue between the French and American movie industries by targeting an influential audience. It also serves to increase awareness of French directors in the United States and complement promotional activities set in motion by Unifrance and other organizations, as well as to strengthen French cinema's presence in American universities and film schools.
It is also worth adding that the very first European edition of On Set With French Cinema was launched in Germany this year. Held in April and May, 2005, nine film schools in Berlin, Cologne, Munich, and Potsdam invited Noémie Lvovsky, Tonie Marshall, Cédric Klapisch, and Bertrand Tavernier to share their work and filmmaking experiences with students.
Further information is available at: www.onsetwithfrenchcinema.com
Contacts:
Sandrine Lamantowicz/Florence Charmasson
Tel: 33 (0)1 42 77 55 10/33 (0)6 81 34 18 31 - sandrine.lamantowicz@wanadoo.fr
Tel: 33 (0)1 43 17 82 36/33 (0) 6 19 25 83 46 - florence.chamasson@diplomatie.gouv.fr
