15th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York

Four partner theaters - the Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (270 seats), IFC Center (200 seats), BAM (400 seats), and FIAF (400 seats) - opened their doors to 18 French films, 7 of which already have an American distributor: Farewell, The Thorn in the Heart, Mademoiselle Chambon, Making Plans for Lena, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, The Refuge, and Welcome.

The delegation was composed of actors Yvan Attal, Jean Dujardin, Julie Gayet, Chiara Mastroianni, and Vincent Lindon,and directors Mona Achache, Lucas Belvaux, Stéphane Brizé, Christian Carion, Michel Gondry, Alain Guiraudie, Michel Hazanavicius, Christophe Honoré, Cédric Kahn , Nathan Miller, François Ozon, Laurent Perreau, Axelle Ropert, and Riad Sattouf.

A thousand people flocked to the opening night presentation of Farewell at Alice Tully Hall and 300 film industry professionals were invited to the reception afterwards hosted by the Service Cultural de l'Ambassade de France.

The "A Conversation with..." special events met with notable success, particularly that with Michel Gondry, which sold out. Other Conversations allowed Yvan Attal and Vincent Lindon to speak in depth about their respective careers and to answer the questions posed by American spectators.

Thierry Frémaux took to the stage to present "New films by... the Lumière brothers" for the first time in the United States. Michael Moore, a hugely keen spectator, was among the many who came to see this very special event.

Movie fans and French-speaking audiences from the Upper East Side and Brooklyn attended the special evenings organized around Chiara Mastroianni and Christophe Honoré, who were in town to present Making Plans for Lena at the BAM and Love Songs at the FIAF.

The BAM screening of The French Kissers also met with an enthusiastic response, as did the discussion that Cédric Kahn and Yvan Attal had with Columbia University students after a special screening of Kahn's latest film Regrets.

For this 15th edition, a trailer, specifically created for the event, was presented in the four theaters, while a Rendez-Vous-specific Internet site promoted all the films presented, along with their directors, through presentation videos. Local press widely covered the Rendez-Vous, highlighting its programme, which was considered rich and varied, representing "la crème de la crème" of French cinema today.

26 MAY 2010

15th Rendez-vous with French Cinema in New York

12 APRIL 2010

Yvan Attal @ FIAF March 13, 2010

12 APRIL 2010

Chiara Mastroianni and Christophe Honoré @ FIAF March 21, 2010

Actress Chiara Mastroianni and director Christophe Honoré were invited to Florence Gould Hall at NYC's French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF) on March 21, 2010, in collaboration with Unifrance and the 15th annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, to present their film Love Songs and to take part in an audience Q&A. http://bit.ly/bKBCay