Francofonia

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman. An intense relationship develops between the two.

Inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris, Stéphane, a recent transplant to the impoverished suburb of Montfermeil, joins the local anti-crime squad. Working alongside his unscrupulous colleagues Chris and Gwada, Stéphane struggles to maintain order amidst the mounting tensions between local gangs. When an arrest turns unexpectedly violent, the three officers must reckon with the aftermath and keep the neighbourhood from spiralling out of control.

Detective Yvonne is the widow of police chief Santi, a local hero in a town on the French Riviera. When she learns he was in fact a crooked cop, she tries to right his wrongs. Crossing paths with Antoine, a victim of Santi, sets off a series of wild events.

Paulette and her husband have been running a housekeeping school. After the sudden death of her husband, Paulette discovers that the school is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to take her responsibilities.

Mai Hua, French woman of Vietnamese descent, is a single mother of two. In 2013, she and her mother bring her dying grand-mother to France. As she miraculously rises again, her unresolved past also floods back: Mai becomes the heiress of a complex and painful family heritage that she doesn't want to hand over to her daughter.

Fabienne is a star of French cinema. She reigns amongst men who love and admire her. When she publishes her memoirs, her daughter Lumir returns from New York to Paris with her husband and young child. The reunion between mother and daughter will quickly turn to confrontation: truths will be told, accounts settled, loves and resentments confessed.

A French woman hits menopause, quits her job as waitress, and feels everything going downhill. But then she meets her old love from before she got married, had 2 daughters and got divorced. Is this a new beginning?This film is the story of the collective struggle to build this bridge. It is a celebration of human labour!

Sibyl, a jaded psychotherapist, returns to her first passion: writing. But her newest patient Margot, a troubled up-and-coming actress, proves to be a source of inspiration that is far too tempting. Fascinated almost to the point of obsession, Sibyl becomes more and more involved in Margot’s tumultuous life, reviving volatile memories that bring her face to face with her past.

Max is a battle-weary veteran of the wedding-planning racket. His latest — and last — gig is a hell of a fête, involving stuffy period costumes for the caterers, a vain, hyper- sensitive singer who thinks he's a Gallic James Brown, and a morose, micromanaging groom determined to make Max's night as miserable as possible. But what makes the affair too bitter to endure is that Max's colleague and ostensible girlfriend, Joisette, seems to have written him off, coolly going about her professional duties while openly flirting with a much younger server. It's going to be a very long night… especially once the groom's aerial serenade gets underway.

A coolly observed study of familial dysfunction, Michael Haneke’s follow-up to Amour has all of the stylistic traits we have come to expect: the cut-glass precision, scenes shot to resemble static surveillance footage, significant action taking place in the margins of long shots, and the presence of Isabelle Huppert. Thematically the film revisits Haneke’s concerns with bourgeois complacency and guilt, racial prejudice and our changing relationship to technology. Moments of comedy introduce a surprising and welcome new element to the director’s winning formula.

Down-on-his-luck, unemployed Alexandre has two months to prove to his wife he can take care of his two young kids and be financially independent. Now, the thing is, although The Box, a user-friendly startup, wants to hire him on pro- bation, the company’s slogan is “No kids!” and Séverine, his future boss, is a short-tempered “killer”. So if Alexandre wants to land the job, he’s bound to lie... Will his meeting with Arcimboldo, an “entrepreneur of himself” and the king of online odd jobs, help the brave, disoriented Alexandre overcome all those challenges?

1971. Delphine, the daughter of farmers, moves to Paris to break free from the shackles of her family and to gain her financial independence. Carole is a Parisian, living with Manuel, actively involved in the stirrings of the feminist movement. Their encounter turns their lives upside down.

After 20 years of marriage, Maria decides to leave her husband. She moves into room 212 at the hotel across the street, with a bird’s-eye view of her apartment, her husband and the life she shared with him. While she wonders if she made the right decision, many of the people in her life offer their opinions on the matter. They intend to let her know, whether she likes it or not, on what proves to be a life-changing evening.

Broke, with nothing but her cat to her name and doors closing in her face, Paula is back in Paris after a long absence. As she meets different people along the way, there is one thing she knows for sure: she's determined to make a new start and she'll do it with style and panache.

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

Meet Adrien! He's 35. He's stuck in a mid-life crisis. He's neurotic and hypochondriac. Tonight he's stuck in an endless family dinner and his girlfriend is not answering his texts. On top of that, his dumb brother-in-law asks him to prepare a speech for his wedding. Could it get even worse?

Claire is a single mother with a grown-up son. She’s a dedicated midwife who is completely wrapped up in her job. Although the maternity ward where she works is to be closed, she turns down a job offer from a larger clinic because she cannot reconcile their methods with her own ideas about midwifery. In the midst of all this upheaval she receives a phone call that rekindles memories of her youth. Béatrice, her late father’s former mistress, asks to meet her. Béatrice is a true bohemian – loud, colourful, egocentric and completely different to the focussed, helpful Claire. The younger woman asks herself why, after all these years of silence, Béatrice has suddenly decided to approach her for help, and is at first less than enthusiastic. Martin Provost has made a name for himself with powerful portraits of women (Séraphine, Violette). Sage Femme revolves around the encounter between two headstrong women, perfectly cast with two of French cinema’s grandes dames. A dramatic comedy about the need for change, and the question of whether steak, pommes frites and red wine is really what one would call a healthy lunch.

Far'Hook is a twenty-year-old rapper. Following a settling of scores, he's obliged to leave Paris and lay low for awhile. His producer, Bilal, suggests that Far'Hook take his place accompanying his father Serge on a tour of all of the ports of France, following the path taken by the painter Joseph Vernet. Despite the shock between generations and different cultures an improbable friendship develops between the promising rapper and this builder from the North of France, during an adventure that will lead them to Marseille for a final concert, one of reconcialtion.

The result of the small handkerchiefs "Petits mouchoirs", 7 years later. The band, which erupted, is found on the occasion of the anniversary surprise organized for Max.

A man and a woman make love secretly in a room. They desire each other, want each other, bite each other occasionally. Sweet fleeting moments at dusk. At least that's what the man thinks they are. For his fifth feature film, actor and director Mathieu Amalric adapts the exciting crime novel LA CHAMBRE BLEUE by Georges Simenon. Playing the story of Simenon in the 60's, Amalric has placed his version of it entirely in the present.

Alexandre lives in Lyon with his wife and children. One day, he discovered by chance that the priest who abused him to scouts always officiates with children. He then starts a fight, quickly joined by François and Emmanuel, also victims of the priest, to "release their word" on what they suffered.

Resemblances can be unnerving. Such as the one between the viscount who went, puffing on his pipe, to the guillotine during the Terror, the army chaplain who has a brigand's tattoos on his chest and is a compulsive baptizer of soldiers, pillagers and rapists, the Parisian down-and-out left as flat as a pancake by an encounter with a steamroller, and, last but not least, the cultivated concierge—and occasional arms dealer—in an upscale building. Almost all the film's characters meet in that very building except, of course, the homeless, who are carted by the cops from pillar to post. Yet amid all this chaos, there are dream spaces, love stories and solid friendships that perhaps allow us to hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

Set wholly in a secondary school in a working-class district of Paris, where many inhabitants are foreign-born, the film follows a year in the life of a young teacher, François Marin, and the 25 teenage pupils to whom he teaches French for an hour each day. Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he spends a year with his racially mixed students walking the narrow line between maintaining discipline and gaining co-operation. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, master French director Laurent Cantet's The Class is a "fresh piece of humanist, realist, optimist cinema" (The Guardian).

At home in the fashion industry, Maureen knows exactly how to wear expensive clothes. She has landed herself the bizarre job of ‘personal shopper’ for an arrogant celebrity dame, trawling Paris’s most exclusive boutiques in search of a wardrobe. However, this is not Maureen’s main interest – the young American is a medium, for which being in touch with ghosts is nothing out of the ordinary. Ever since she has lost her twin brother to heart disease, she is waiting in his empty house for a sign from him. One day, however, text messages from a mysterious stranger suddenly appear on her mobile phone and Maureen is exposed to a psychic charge that she has never experienced before. Olivier Assayas‘ most recent directorial work challenges, mesmerises and circumvents every expectation. A cinematic coup.

When an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner takes pity on the child and welcomes him into his home.

The first real professional success for famed French actress Maria Enders was twenty years ago as the co-lead in writer Wilhelm Melchoir's play and subsequent movie "Maloja Snake", he who picked Maria, then an unknown, personally. She played Sigrid, an opportunistic eighteen year old in an emotionally dependent lesbian relationship with forty year old Helena, who was at a vulnerable stage of her life. Maria has turned down the play's upcoming London revival in which she would now play Helena, it remounted by director Klaus Diesterweg. Her reasons for turning down the role are many including: being at a vulnerable stage of her own life going through a painful divorce; remembering the suicide of Susan Rosenberg, the original Helena, following the original run of the play, the suicide purportedly mirroring what happens to Helena; and the painful memories of the production in still having hard feelings toward who was her older male costar, Henryk Wald, with who she had an affair at the time. Maria reconsiders and accepts the role when Wilhelm unexpectedly passes away, she hearing the news en route to the Zurich Film Festival where she was to accept an award on recluse Wilhelm's behalf. Maria begins to regret her decision, largely due to having to work with nineteen year old Jo-Ann Ellis as Sigrid, Jo-Ann a trained actress whose Hollywood lifestyle is making her self-destruct, this behavior which Maria, who hates the Internet and the Hollywood gossip on it, did not know before signing the contract. But what may be most difficult for Maria is the role opening up her own professional relationship and friendship with her younger American personal assistant, Valentine, the two who are staying at Wilhelm's mountain retreat in Sils Maria in the Swiss Alps, where Maria is preparing for the play and where many of the locations were inspiration for the play's themes

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history; international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Sebastião's Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

After five years studying in Paris, Arash has not adjusted to life there and has decided to return to Iran to live. Hoping to change his mind, his two friends Hossein and Ashkan convince him to take a last trip through France.

Liège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job.

Pensioners Nina and Madeleine have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades. From everybody’s point of view, including Madeleine’s family, they are simply two neighbors living on the top floor of their building. They come and go between their two apartments, sharing the tender delights of everyday life together. Until the day their relationship is turned upside down by an unexpected event leading Madeleine’s daughter to slowly unveil the truth about them.

Instead of stressing the imagination of disaster, French actress Mélanie Laurent and activist Cyril Dion try to show scientific solutions to the ideological fallacies of modern industrialism and mass consumerism.

What do you dream of when you're 16-years-old and in a seaside resort in Normandy in the 1980s? A best friend? A lifelong teen pact? Scooting off on adventures on a boat or a motorbike? Living life at breakneck speed? No. You dream of death. Because you can't get a bigger kick than dying. And that's why you save it till the very end. The summer holidays are just beginning, and this story recounts how Alexis grew into himself.

Alain is in his 40s and runs a famous publishing house which publishes novels by his friend Léonard, a bohemian writer. Alain's wife, Selena, is the star of a popular TV series and Léonard's companion, Valérie, is the devoted assistant of a political figure. Although they are longtime friends, Alain is about to turn down Léonard's new manuscript, complicating the relationship between the two couples.

Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2015 for this daring, genre-bending portrait of three Sri Lankan refugees—Dheepan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan), Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), and Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby)— who form a fake family unit to emigrate. When they find themselves living together in a violent, gang-dominated housing project outside Paris, they start to reevaluate the terms of their intimacy. Like his character, the actor and novelist Jesuthasan was a member of the militant nationalist army LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) before fleeing the country and settling into a series of odd jobs in Paris, while eventually renouncing all ties to the Tigers. When, in its bloody last act, his character has to fall back on his military training, Dheepan becomes something darker: a harrowing reckoning with the past.

Hiroshima mon amour concerns a series of conversations or one enormous conversation over a 36-hour long period between a French actress (Emmanuelle Riva), referred to as Her, and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada), referred to as Him. They have had a brief relationship and are now separating. The two debate memory and forgetfulness as She prepares to depart, comparing failed relationships with the bombing of Hiroshima and the perspectives of people inside and outside the incidents. The early part of the film recounts, in the style of a documentary but narrated by the so far unidentified characters, the effects of the Hiroshima bomb on August 6, 1945, in particular the loss of hair and the complete anonymity of the remains of some victims. He had been conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his family was in Hiroshima on that day.

Los Angeles, today. Henry is a stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humor. Ann, a world-renowned opera singer. Under the spotlight, they form a wholesome and glamorous couple. The birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious little girl with an exceptional destiny, will turn their lives upside down.

Untouched natural landscapes of unique beauty can be found in the remote valleys of the Tibetan highlands. Filmmaker Marie Amiguet accompanies renowned nature photographer Vincent Munier and writer Sylvain Tesson on an adventurous journey in search of the snow leopard, a wild animal that very rarely reveals itself to mankind. The unusual journey of these two sympathetic oddballs becomes a contemplative ode to that sublime wilderness which, like the majestic snow cat, is in danger of disappearing. The score by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave compliments Amiguet's documentary, making it a sensory and decelerating experience.

Georg and Anna are around 80, cultivated music professors in retirement. The daughter, also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day Anna has a seizure - it is the beginning of a test for the love of the two.

22-year-old Léo is one of those who kisses his clients. One who loves to be a hustler. One who always gives a bit too much of himself... At night he lets himself be drifted through the city, during the day he sleeps somewhere for a few hours. When there is trouble with clients, his best friend Ahd helps him. But the partner Léo longs for, the man in whose arms he can fall asleep, cannot be Ahd for him. Léo's restless search goes on and on. His heart beats wildly. Director Camille Vidal-Naquet spent three years researching Parisian sex workers for his debut film "Sauvage". The result is an intense, deeply touching portrait, which is carried by the grandiose acting performance of Félix Maritaud ("120 BPM").

When his right-hand man and only mate has to go away for a few weeks, Georges - an ageing film star - is given a substitute, Aïssa. The disillusioned actor and the young female security guard forge a special relationship. Starring Gérard Depardieu.

No Man Is an Island travels across Europe, from the farmers working together in the Galline Felici cooperative in Sicily to the architects, craftspersons and elected representatives who collaborate in the Swiss Alps and in Austria. All are engaged in politics through their work and all believe in a common destiny. Is the local level the last possible place for a viable utopia?

Commissioner Daoud, and on his side a young religious colleague just out of police academy, is leading the investigation into the murder of an old woman committed in Roubaix on Christmas Eve. The main suspects are two young neighbours who are drug addicts, alcoholics and lovers.

In a war ridden country a woman watches over the husband reduced to a vegetable state by a bullet in the neck, abandoned by Jihad companions and brothers. One day, the woman decides to say things to him she could never have done before.

Émilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy – They’re friends, sometimes lovers and often both.

This is the story of a ball. A grand ball. Every summer, more than two thousand people come from accross Europe to dance together, dance even more, during seven days and seven nights, in the countryside of France. A joyful crowd of men and women from all ages, speaking different languages, beginners, virtuosos, enthusiasts. A crowd that reveals how different it is when we dare look into one's eyes, when we dare touch one another. And how life pounds.

Raf and Julie, a couple on the verge of breaking up, find themselves in an emergency ward bordering on collapse on the evening of a Parisian Yellow Vest protest. Their encounter with Yann, an angry and injured demonstrator, will shatter each person's certainties and prejudices. Outside, the tension escalates.

Gilles Caron, at the peak of a dazzling career as a photojournalist, suddenly disappeared in Cambodia in 1970. He was barely 30 years old. In the space of 6 years, he was one of the major witnesses of his time, covering for the greatest magazines the Six Day War, May 68, the North Irish conflict or the Vietnam War. When director Mariana Otero discovered Gilles Caron's work, a photograph caught her attention, echoing his own story, the disappearance of a loved one who left behind only images to be deciphered. She then plunges into the 100,000 shots of the photoreporter to give him back a presence and tell the story of his so singular gaze.

As anger and resentment grow in the face of social inequalities, many citizens-led protests are being repressed with an ever-increasing violence. In this documentary, David Dufresne gathers a panel of citizens to question, exchange and confront their views on the social order and the legitimacy of the use of force by the State.

Abel and Marianne discover that their 13-year-old son Joseph has secretly sold their most precious possessions. They soon find out that Joseph is not the only one - all over the world, hundreds of children have joined forces to finance a mysterious project. Their mission is to save the planet.

Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.

Ten year-old Johnny stands out from his family and his tough neighborhood in Eastern France. He's sensitive, intelligent and interested in all kinds of things way beyond his years. With curiosity, he observes the ups and downs of his young single mother's turbulent love life. Things change when a new teacher, fresh from the big city, takes over Johnny's class. Mr. Adamski believes in Johnny and wants to open a new world to him. The sophisticated young teacher also intrigues the boy.

An American novelist living for a time in London converses with his wife, his mistress, and other female characters he may have dreamed up.

When André, 85, has a stroke, Emmanuelle hurries to her father's bedside. Sick and half-paralyzed in his hospital bed, he asks Emmanuelle to help him end his life. But how can you honor such a request when it's your own father?

In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinematograph and made the first films in history. Directing, tracking shots, special effects - the two brothers also influenced the art of film design. Thierry Frémaux's exciting compilation of their partly world-famous, partly newly discovered masterpieces in restored copies is a moving journey back to the beginnings of cinema. The unforgettable film jewels also offer a unique view of the world on the threshold of the 20th century. Lumière - the adventure of cinema begins!

Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her same age building a treehouse.

Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.

The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he is running out of ideas and is faced with a feeling of existential emptiness. To overcome this, Paul hires a young and brilliant philosopher, Alice Heimann. Then follows a dialogue between two diametrically opposed personalities who will turn their certainties upside down.

Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena doesn't know how to read or write. When he arrives in the prison, alone in the world, he seems younger and more fragile than the other inmates. He's 18 years old. From the outset, he falls under the thumb of a group of Corsican prisoners, which imposes its law in the prison. The young man quickly learns the ropes. Carrying out "missions", he toughens up and earns the Corsicans' trust. But, Malik, putting his freshly gained knowledge to work, starts discreetly developing his own network.

Following the death of her two children, Isadora Duncan created the solo Mother in which a mother cradles her child in a moment of extreme tenderness, then lets it go. A century later, four women encounter this heart-rending dance.

Elegant, retired architect Shauna (70) crosses paths with Pierre, a happily married doctor in his 40s, who first made an impression on her in a brief meeting 15 years previously. Both are quite troubled to meet again and begin an affair. While Pierre’s family life is soon turned upside down, Shauna struggles with feelings she thought belonged to the past.

Twig, Cap and Rusty live however they can in the Bois de Vincennes, east of Paris. This may completely change the day they learn they are the national lottery winner – though it is less than expected! Yet, they still need to collect the money and share it in equal parts. The hardest part of all will be to resume a “normal” life, filled with surprises and contradictions.

Judith leads a double life: two lovers, two sons in France and one daughter in Switzerland. Entangled in secrets and lies, her lives begin to shatter.

In the midst of a divorce, Miriam Besson decides to ask for exclusive custody of her son, in order to protect him from a father that she is accusing of violence. The judge-in-charge of the file grants a shared custody to the father whom it considers abused. Taken as a hostage between his parents, Julien Besson will do everything to prevent the worst from happening.

Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Sans Soleil is his mind-bending free-form travelogue that journeys from Africa to Japan.

Director Sonia Kronlund accompanies the Afghan director, actor and screenwriter Salim Shaheen in her film Nothingwood. He is a well-known figure on the film scene in his home country, but hardly known abroad. About a hundred kilometers away from Kabul, Salim Shaheen comes to show some of his 110 films and to shoot the 111th in the process.

Suffering and dying do not stop even at the most powerful, even absolute ones: The Sun King Louis XIV - a parade role for the Truffaut icon Jean-Pierre Léaud - suddenly feels pain in his leg after a walk in August 1715. He spent the next few days in his chamber, continuing government business in the best possible way and gradually gliding towards his death. A historical film as a chamber play.

A mutual friend introduces Paul to Frédéric, who is a painter living together with Angèle, an actress who makes films in Italy. Paul wants to work as an actor and keeps his head above water with minor roles. But when he manages to land a small role in a war film, Angèle leaves Frédéric because of Roland, the film assistant working on the set with Paul. Frédéric wants a divorce from Angèle. Paul is awakened one night by a phone call: Frédéric had a fatal accident. In actual fact it was suicide: Frédéric killed himself because Angèle was taken from him.

Yuri, 16, has lived all his life in Gagarin Towers, a vast red-brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. He dreams of becoming an astronaut. When plans to demolish Gagarin Towers leak out, Yuri joins the resistance. With his friends Diana and Houssam, he embarks on a mission to save their home, which has become his “starship.”

A retired psychiatrist with dementia and a struggling author with a heart condition live their final days together in an apartment.

The story of a donkey Balthazar as he is passed from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel but all with motivations beyond his understanding. Balthazar, whose life parallels that of his first keeper, Marie, is truly a beast of burden, suffering the sins of humankind. But despite his powerlessness, he accepts his fate nobly.

The National Gallery in London is one of the great museums of the world with 2400 paintings from the 13th to the end of the 19th century. Almost every human experience is represented in one or the other of the paintings. The sequences of the film show the public in various galleries; the education programs, and the scholars, scientists and curators, studying, restoring and planning the exhibitions. The relation between painting and storytelling is explored.

Filmmaker and activist Amandine Gay was listed under ‘X’ as a child in France, abandoned by her mother to grow up in a white family. ‘A Story of One’s Own’ pass the mic to five people who, like herself, carry in themselves the experience of being adopted. Separated not only from their unknown biological parents and countries of birth but also from the story about themselves.

Paris, in the early 1990s: a group of young activists is desperately tied to finding the cure against an unknown lethal disease. They target the pharmaceutical labs that are retaining potential cures, and multiply direct actions, with the hope of saving their lives as well as the ones of future generations.

A young woman makes a surprising discovery about the husband of her late best friend.

After losing her virginity, Isabelle takes up a secret life as a call girl, meeting her clients for hotel-room trysts. Throughout, she remains curiously aloof, showing little interest in the encounters themselves or the money she makes.