Five French films for Francophiles at AFF 2023

À la recherche de films amusants

et inspirants à regarder?

Looking for some good dramatic films to watch?

Seeking a little French cinema to feast upon?

Search no more, look what’s in store!

OPENING NIGHT FILM

Chevalier

Director – Stephen Williams

THURSDAY, 3/23 – 7:15PM

MARYLAND HALL | MAIN THEATER

Inspired by the incredible true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner who rises to improbable heights in French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, complete with an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette and her court. Kelvin Harrison Jr. gives a tour de force performance as the composer, while Ronke Adekoluejo as his mother, Lucy Boynton as Marie Antoinette, Sian Clifford as a wealthy patron, and Samara Weaving and Minnie Driver as dueling opera singers give pitch-perfect work as the various women who disrupt his life for better or for worse. Music also plays a major role in this film and the score is composed by AFF alum Kris Bowers, who also composed the scores for Academy Award-winning movies Green Book and King Richard and the hit television series Bridgerton. This powerful film exposes parallel issues of racism, sexism, and classism that existed in pre-revolutionary France that still persist today. (USA, 2023, 107 min.)

Producers: Cornelia Burleigh, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Dianne McGunigle, Zahra Phillips, Stefani Robinson

Screenwriters: Stefani Robinson

Cinematographer: Jess Hall

Editor: John Axelrad

Composer: Kris Bowers

Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton, Minnie Driver, Ronke Adekoluejo, Sian Clifford, Marton Csokas, Alec Newman, Alex Fitzalan, Jim High

TICKET INCLUDES AFTER PARTY

9:45 PM – 12:00 AM

AFTER-PARTY WITH A BUFFET OF HORS D’OEUVRES AND FRENCH CULINARY DELIGHTS

L’Immensità

Director – Emanuele Crialese

FRIDAY, 3/24 — 5:00PM

MARYLAND HALL | BOWEN THEATER

SATURDAY, 3/25 — 9:00PM

MARYLAND HAL | BOWEN THEATER

Punctuated by fantasy musical sequences, this fanciful coming-of-age story set in 1970’s Rome, is seen through the eyes of Adriana, a 12-year-old transgender teenager who would rather be called Andrea (a masculine Italian name) and sneaks off for secret rendezvous with a Romani girl who accepts his identity. Aside from his own acts of rebellion, Andrea watches over his younger siblings and remains protective of his mother Clara who suffers psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her philandering husband Felice while she tries to remain optimistic despite her deepening depression. In her role as Clara, Penelope Cruz brings that classic Art House film glamour to match both the surrealistic fantasy elements of Fellini and the introspective minimalist elements of Antonioni. (Italy, 2022, 97 min, Drama, In Italian with subtitles)

Revoir Paris 

Director – Alice Winocour

SATURDAY, 3/25 — 7:00PM

MARYLAND HALL | BOWEN THEATER

SUNDAY, 3/26 — 4:45PM

MARYLAND HALL | BOWEN THEATER

Virginie Efira won a César Award (French Academy Award) for her performance in this film as “Mia,” a woman who is still traumatized three months after surviving a terrorist attack in a Parisian bistro. In an effort to move forward, she investigates her memories and retraces her steps. This is the latest psychological film by acclaimed writer/director Alice Winocour who has explored complex themes of identity, trauma, and the human condition in her previous films Augustine, Disorder, and Proxima. Efira also stars in Other People’s Children, for which she also won a top acting prize. (France, 2022, 105 min, Drama, In French with subtitles).

Other People’s Children

Director – Rebecca Zlotowski

FRIDAY, 3/24 — 9:30PM

MARYLAND HALL | BOWEN THEATER

SATURDAY, 3/25 — 5:00PM

MARYLAND HALL | BOWEN THEATER

Virginie Efira won a Lumière Award for her nuanced performance in this film as Rachel, a childless woman whose biological clock is ticking. There are plenty of kids in her world…just not her own. As a middle school teacher she nurtures students, she expresses happiness for her younger sister’s pregnancy, and she starts to bond with her boyfriend’s daughter while keenly aware of her place outside their family unit. Efira (who also stars in Revoir Paris, for which she also won an acting award) commands the camera yet again with her magnetic presence. (France, 2022, 104 min, Drama, In French with subtitles).

Smoking Causes Coughing

Director – Quentin Dupieux

FRIDAY, 3/24 — 9:30PM

MARYLAND HALL |  MAIN THEATER

SUNDAY, 3/26 — 7:15PM

BOYS & GIRLS CLUB THEATER

The Tobacco Force are a team of five superheroes who use their powers of Nicotine, Benzene, Ammonia, Mercury, and Methanol to defeat their opponents by giving them cancer. This wildly inventive French comedy, which had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight section, starts out as a parody of the Avengers and then proceeds to lampoon other films and pop culture references through a series of outrageously hilarious vignettes. (USA, 2022, 80 min, Comedy, In French with subtitles)

Preceded by:

The One Who Never Watched Friends – Charlotte Gabris

Rachel is getting married in one hour, but Greg, her future husband, wants to see her before the wedding and discovers a shocking secret. (France, 2022, 12 min. Comedy, in French with subtitles)

Podcast Host John Frenaye chats with Waves Apart director Josh Greene.

Waves Apart is a short documentary about a Jewish surfer who confronts the dark, antisemitic history of the sport he once found solace in.

Waves Apart will screen as part of the Jewish Experience.

SUNDAY, 3/26 — 10:00AM | MARYLAND HALL | MAIN THEATER

Click on the player below to listen!

FESTIVAL PASS $195 |

AFS Members $175

• Includes Opening Night Film (RSVP required) & After Party
• Best of Fest – Audience Award Winning Films Rerun
• Unlimited Films (70+) and Panels (6)
• Ease of Use – Avoid the ticket line
• Jump quickly to another film if the film is sold out

PREMIUM PASS $350 – PARTY ALL WEEKEND!

• Includes PRIORITY LINE for entry to all venues

(as long as you arrive 15 minutes prior to screening)

• Opening Night Pre-Reception
• Opening Night Film
• Opening Night After Party
• Saturday BASH
• Best of Fest – Audience Award Winning Films Rerun
• Unlimited Films (70+) Panels (6)
• Ease of Use – Avoid the ticket line
• Jump quickly to another film if the film is sold out

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