For the fourth consecutive year, Unifrance is hosting the French Film Festival in Japan from March 12 through 15 this year.
The timing of this event coincides with that of Juliette Binoche’s dance theater piece In-i, thus allowing her to take on the presidency of our festival and to present a film retrospective dedicated to her work.
15 films make up the festival line-up, of which around half of the titles have already secured a distribution deal in Japan: La Belle personne (The Beautiful Person) by Christophe Honoré, Cliente (Client) by Josiane Balasko, Le Code a changé (Change of Plans) by Danièle Thompson, Eden à l'ouest (Eden is West) by Costa-Gavras, Le Grand Alibi by Pascal Bonitzer (acquired by Movie Eye), L'Heure d'été (Summer Hours) by Olivier Assayas (acquired by Crest), Johnny Mad Dog by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, Nos enfants nous accuseront (That Should Not Be: Our Children Will Accuse Us) by Jean-Paul Jaud (acquired by Uplink), Sagan by Diane Kurys (acquired by Asmik Ace/Showgate), Secret Défense (Secrets of State) by Philippe Haïm, Survivre avec les loups (Surviving with Wolves) by Véra Belmont (acquired by Tornado), and Versailles by Pierre Schoeller (acquired by Zazie Films).
A Night of Horror will showcase three genre films: La Comtesse (The Countess) by Julie Delpy, Martyrs by Pascal Laugier, and Mutants by David Morley.
A program of six short films will complete the selection: C'est dimanche! by Samir Guesmi, C'est pour quand? by Katia Lewkowicz, La Copie de Coralie by Nicolas Engel, Fais comme chez toi by Gautier About, Le Feu, le Sang, les Étoiles by Caroline Deruas, and Skhizein by Jérémy Clapin.
A delegation of around twenty French actors and directors will meet with Japanese media to pave the way for the upcoming release of their films.
In 2008, French films attracted 782,000 spectators in Japan.