04/11/2011
4 November 2011 – 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Senegal · Mamadou Sellou Diallo · Senegal/France 2009 · 52m · French and Wolof with English subtitles · 15
Venue: Room 017, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF
Screening as part of an afternoon of African Documentaries about Children, with Waliden and Waited For.
The Necklace and the Bead is a beautiful letter from a father to his daughter. Both deeply poetic and realistic, this filmed letter explores the mystery of womanhood and completely subverts the way we look at bodies – specifically women’s bodies – from the body of pain that gives life, to the object of seduction or the ever-mutilated female African body.
The Africa in Motion documentary screenings are brought to you in collaboration with the Scottish Documentary Institute and Edinburgh College of Art.
05/11/2011
5 November 2011 – 6:00pm
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Djo Tunda Wa Munga · Democratic Republic of the Congo/South Africa 2010 · 52m · DV CAM · French, Swahili and Lingala with English Subtitles · 15 · Documentary
Venue: Filmhouse Cinema 2
Screened with Where do I Stand?
From the director of acclaimed feature Viva Riva! (screened at Filmhouse earlier this year), this is a layered, engrossing and intriguing look at a national collective trauma and the ambitious initiative to try and heal its wounds. In war-torn countries, people will not be able to lead productive lives and reconstruction will fail until they have overcome their trauma. In the Democractic Republic of the Congo, a country where over five million people have been killed in wars in recent history, can one develop new ways to deal with this massive trauma and open doors to development? DRC filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga sensitively follows an intriguing psychological experiment that might enable millions of people to overcome their trauma.
06/11/2011
6 November 2011 – 8:00pm
Benin · Sylvestre Amoussou · Benin 2010 · 1h45m · 35mm · French with English Subtitles · 15 · Feature
Venue: Filmhouse Cinema 1
Watch on Ethical TV: Video 1
A small merchant disappears, his brother, a grocer, goes looking for him and – what a surprise! – stumbles upon a scheme to divert Humanitarian Aid. Someone is benefiting from this, but who? And what is a small merchant doing in the middle of all this? An investigation, happenstance, suspense, pursuit and murder follow. But beneath the drama, comedy and delightful performance of the lead actor, the serious questions remain: why are the people with the greatest need passively willing to see an important part of the international relief aid disappear? Why does no official seriously make a stand against this state of affairs? And more generally, why do so many Africans turn their backs on politics, when politics are so crucial to their lives?
This entertaining but relevant film won actor-director Sylvestre Amoussou (who also directed Africa Paradis, screened to wide acclaim at Africa in Motion 2007) an award for best actor at the 2011 FESPACO Film Festival.
The closing screening of Africa in Motion 2011 will be preceded by screenings of the winners of the AiM Short Film Competition and Audience Choice Award. Join us for a celebratory drink and some African music in the bar afterwards.
10/11/2011
Director Jean-PierreAméris
Cast Benoît Poelvoorde, Isabelle Carré, Lorella Cravotta, Lise Mamétrie, Swan Arlaud, Pierre Niney, Stephan Wojtowicz
2010 I 80mins I Int. sales STUDIOCANAL
This modest, but absolutely delicious, confection is packedwith bittersweet humour and genuine charm. A sprightly tale of two exceptionally shy individualswith a shared professional interest in chocolate – and neither of themrealises the other also suffers fromthe constant tension of heightened emotional sensitivity. For both central characters – chocolate-maker Angelique (the sublime Isabelle Carré) and chocolate company owner Jean-René (Benoît Poelvoorde) – the obstacles of everyday life consists of repeatedly overcoming a permanent case of stage fright. Jean-René seems to be paralysed by the ringing of his own phone,while Angelique panics or faints when her qualities are recognised. The pair could certainly be soul-mates, butwhen they’re together neither has a clue howto communicatewithout being at cross purposes.When they attend a chocolate trade showtogether and aremistakenly booked into the same hotel room, the duowould rather take a longwalk in a downpour than navigate the emotionalminefield of the situation. Carré and Poelvoorde inhabit their offbeat romancewith subtle comic skill. Co-screenwriters Jean-Pierre Améris and Philippe Blasband have prepared a deliciouslywitty script filledwith rich characters that are packedwith honesty and humour.
PICTUREHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT UK RELEASE DATE: 2 DECEMBER 2011
12/11/2011
Edinburgh Filmhouse Sat 12 Nov 13:00 | Sun 13 Nov 11:00
Dino is a cat who shares his life between two houses. During the day, he lives with Zoé, the only daughter of Jeanne, a police captain. During the night, he clambers over the roofs of Paris in the company of Nico, a very skillful thief.
Jeanne is on edge. Not only must she must arrest the cat burglar responsible for numerous jewelry thefts, but she also has to oversee the surveillance of the Colossus of Nairobi, a giant statue coveted by public enemy number one, Victor Costa. The gangster is also responsible for the death of a police officer, Jeanne’s husband and Zoé’s father. Since this drama, the little girl has withdrawn into silence and hasn’t uttered a word.
Events will escalate the night that Zoé comes across Costa and his gang by surprise. A chase ensues which continues until dawn and will lead the characters to cross paths, and to help or fight each other, all the way to the rooftops of Notre-Dame.
Cast Dominique Blanc, Bruno Salomone, Jean Benguigui
Directors Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli | 2010 | 70mins | Int. sales Films Distribution
Director Daniel Auteuil
Cast Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad, Sabine Azéma, Jean-PierreDarroussin, Emilie Cazenave, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Astrid Berges-Frisbey
2011 I 107mins I Int. sales Pathe
Twenty-five years after hemade his name acting in Claude Berri’s adaptations of two ofMarcel Pagnol’smost famous novels, Jean de Florette andManon des sources, Daniel Auteuil returns to theworld of simple country life in Provence (and the place of his own childhood) for his first feature as a director. La fille du puisatier, originallymade as a filmby thewriter himself in 1940, deals with an unmarried girl, Patricia (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), the daughter of the well-digger Pascal Amoretti (Auteuil),who gets herself pregnant just after turning 18. The father-to-be, Jacques (Nicolas Duvauchelle) is not around, having been called up as a fighter pilot in thewar and he has gonemissing, presumed dead. Since he is also the son of awealthy businessman,MrMazel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), the chances are that since the young couplewere only together on two occasions, neither the boy nor his family – and certainly not his mother (Sabine Azéma) – are likely to admit to having anything to dowith the pregnant daughter of a humblewell-digger. It’s beautifully shot in perpetual sunshine and superbly scored by Alexandre Desplat (The King’s Speech),whomakes fine use of early 1940s period songs to heighten the atmosphere. The simplicity of Auteuil’s direction gives the film its truly authentic charm.
UK DISTRIBUTOR PATHE UK UK RELEASE DATE: 9 DECEMBER 2011
13/11/2011
Director André Techiné
Cast Andre Dussollier, Carole Bouquet, Mélanie Thierry, Adriana Asti, Mauro Conte
2011 I 111mins I Int. Sales TF1 International
A successful novelist comes to Venice for peace and quiet towrite his next book – but tranquility is the last thing veteran André Techiné (FFF UK special focus last year) has on his mind. His adaptation transforms Philippe Djian’s novel into a dense, fast-moving narrative with his unique style and many of his familiar signature themes. The seductive setting (a typical images of Venice and the nearby remote, verdant island of Sant’ Erasmo, all superbly shot) lend amesmeric atmosphere. There are extraordinary performances to appreciate, especially André Dussollier’s Francis, a famous, womanizing, older novelist out of touchwith his feelings,who manages to get writer’s block whenever he falls in love. Carole Bouquet is consistently watchable as the gorgeous, butch, bisexual Judith, a younger empathetic, tough, and unconstrained model-turned-real estate agent. Techiné invests it allwith the pitch-perfect pace of a thriller, which packs an emotional punch.
Edinburgh Filmhouse Sun 13 Nov 18:00
14/11/2011
In what’s already been called a “radical and exhilarating” documentary manifesto, the unstoppable Coline Serreau (forever linked to her early hit Three Men and a Baby) digs into the problem of industrialised agriculture, quizzing farmers and philosophers alike, across the globe. “Films full of warnings and disasters have been made and have served their purpose, but now it is time to showthat solutions do exist,” states Coline Serreau. “It is time to hear what farmers, philosophers and economists have to say. While explaining why our social model has got bogged down in the ecological, financial, and political crises that we all know about, these people invent and try out alternatives.”Serreau interviews farmers, microbiologists and agricultural engineers who measure the vastness of the problem and the limited efficacy of small-scale solutions. She highlights her experts’ amiable charisma as they expound on destructive practices and propose organic alternatives. She paints a series of grim pictures: an abandoned French countryside; 150,000 farmers committing suicide in India; jobless generations in Morocco; a once self-sufficient food chainreduced to a single-crop commodity dependent on chemical enhancements and large machinery; and dead soil and sick plants wherever you look.
Director Coline Serreau I 2010 I 113mins I Int. Sales Memento Films International
17/11/2011
Director Alain Cavalier
Cast Vincent Lindon, Alain Cavalier, Bernard Bureau, Jonathan Duong, Huber-Ange fumey, Jean-Pierre Lindon, Manuel Marty, Claude Uzan
| 2011 I 105mins I Int. Sales Pathe International
It’s witty, urbane and quintessentially French. Pater is a game two famous adult men play with the camera in an offbeat film closer to documentary than to fiction. Veteran Alain Cavalier and his friend, actor Vincent Lindon, filmthemselves as they pretend to be businessmen-politicians campaigning for office. The politics are so tongue-in-cheek and the protagonists so articulate and funny that the film works. Cavalier’s rare film work now revolves around diary-style films (Lives, Le Filmeur) he shoots himself using a small DV cam and the help of his companion and co-editor Francoise Widhoff. Though both Cavalier and Lindon mention their fathers, the Pater of the title seems to refer to a political dynasty that just goes on and on,whoever wins the elections.
London Ciné Lumière Thu 10 Nov 20:40
Glasgow Film Theatre Mon 14 Nov 18:30
Edinburgh Filmhouse Thu 17 Nov 18:00
18/11/2011
Showing Fri 18 Nov to Thu 24 November
Often featuring on all-time-best lists, Marcel Carné’s portrait of the Boulevard du Crime in the early 19th century is a sublime romance, miraculously made during the Nazi Occupation. Charting the fortunes of various actors, aristocrats, aficionados and villains frequenting Paris’s theatrical district – many wooing the devil-may-care Garance (Arletty) – the rich, wonderfully engrossing tale of professional and personal rivalries, murky intrigue and unrequited passion explores, to brilliantly witty effect, the crucial role played by different kinds of performance in all aspects of everyday life… but most especially in matters of the heart.
Inspired by real events and colourful characters, the film is not merely a masterclass in great acting but a breathtaking achievement on every front, from the superb cinematography and sets to Carné’s deft elaboration of the sheer genius of Jacques Prévert’s script. All are enhanced in this glittering new digital restoration.
