The 8th Stockholm French Film Festival (May 5-June 8) honors "Live & Become" and "C.R.A.Z.Y."
The 8th Stockholm French Film Festival, held from May 5 through June 8 at the Sture Cinema, the Swedish capital's main independent theater, welcomed this year its biggest audiences ever, with some 10,000 spectators registered. The festival is organized by the production company DFM Fiktion, the distributor Triangelfilm, and the Sture Cinema, in collaboration with the Swedish Cinematheque and the French Embassy in Sweden, and with support from TV5MONDE, the festival's major sponsor, Air France, Michelin, and Calyon.
The festival presented exclusive screenings of "Time to Leave" by François Ozon (released in theaters May 5 by Trianglefilm), "Merry Christmas" by Christian Carion, "Paint or Make Love" by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, "Only the Night" by Xavier Giannoli, "Live & Become" by Radu Mihaileanu, "The Ax" by Costa-Gavras, "Gabrielle" by Patrice Chéreau, and "The Perfume of the Lady in Black" by Bruno Podalydès. Special Evenings were also held, with screenings of "C.R.A.Z.Y." by Jean-Marc Vallée (Canadian Evening), "Tout un hiver sans feu" by Greg Zglinski (Swiss Evening), and "Where the Truth Lies" by Atom Egoyan (Cannes Evening). A selection of eight French short films also featured on the festival program, presented in partnership with Unifrance.
The highlight of this year's festival was the "Carte Blanche à Arte" section, which was dedicated to the Franco-German cultural television and organized by the French Embassy in Sweden. This section was inaugurated by the festival's guest of honor, the actress Carole Bouquet, and the director Brigitte Roüan, who presented their film "Works" and a selection of 6 TV movies produced by Arte, including "Gris Blanc" by Karim Dridi.
A selection of the most successful French films released in Sweden in recent months was also on the festival menu, including "The Child" by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" by Jacques Audiard, "Hidden" by Michael Haneke, "Les Poupées Russes" by Cédric Klapisch, "Lemming" by Dominik Moll, "La Moustache" by Emmanuel Carrère, and "When the Sea Rises" by Yolande Moreau and Gilles Porte.
And finally, the festival presented a retrospective of films featuring its guest of honor, Carole Bouquet, programmed in collaboration with festival partner, the Swedish Cinematheque.
The festival closed with a preview screening of "Heading South" by Laurent Cantet (slated for release in Sweden August 11 by Non Stop Entertainment), in the presence of the director. This year's TV5MONDE Audience Prize was awarded to "Live & Become" by Radu Mihaileanu and the Francofil Youth Prize went to the Quebec film "C.R.A.Z.Y." by Jean-Marc Vallée (both films are distributed by Atlantic Film and are to be released in the 2006 fall season).
For the first time this year, the festival extended its boundaries to Malmö, Lund, and Göteborg, with a somewhat reduced program presented in these cities.
Consult the festival website:
www.franskfilm.se
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