June 9-17, 2017
Venues:
Ayala Mall Cinemas, Greenbelt 3
BHS Central Square Cinemas, Bonifacio Global City
We’re rolling out the red carpet once again for the 22nd edition of the French Film Festival in Manila! #PhilFrance70 #FrenchFilmFest22
For the 22nd year, the Embassy of France to the Philippines, Institut Français, the Alliance française de Manille and de Cebu, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Ayala Malls Cinemas, Ayala Malls, Central Square, Circuit Makati and SSI Group, Inc. roll out the red carpet once more for the French Film Festival in Manila.
Each year, over 15,000 moviegoers are treated to critically-acclaimed feature films that provide a mirror into French society. From June 9 to 17 at the Ayala Malls Cinemas in Greenbelt 3 and the BHS Central Square Cinemas, the 22nd French Film Festival continues this tradition by offering 13 French films that will immerse Filipinos in a different form of storytelling that portrays French values, culture, and language.
It is for this reason that the French Film Festival remains one of the year’s most anticipated events of “PhilFrance: Feel French!”, a year-long festival launched by the French Embassy last January to celebrate the 70th year anniversary of French-Philippine diplomatic relations. The spirit of “PhilFrance: Feel French!” is to give Filipinos the opportunity to “feel France” in various aspects of everyday life, including arts, culture and of course, film and at the same time, celebrate the growing and diversifying partnership between France and the Philippines in all sectors.
To mark this long-standing friendship, the French Film Festival will also pay homage to Filipino films that have been selected at the Cannes Film Festival, which also celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2017. On June 12, Independence Day, the following films will be screened at the French Film Festival: Nakaw, directed by Noel Escondo and Arvin Belarmino (Short Film Corner, 2017); Ma’ Rosa, directed by Brillante Mendoza (Main Competition, Best Actress Award, 2016); On the Job, directed by Erik Matti (Director’s Fortnight, 2013); and Anino by Raymond Red (Short Film Corner, Palme d’Or for Best Short Film, 2000).
For the first time ever, the French Film Festival will dedicate one weekend for “plein air” free public outdoor screenings at Circuit Makati on June 17 and 18, 2017.
Similar to last year, tickets for screenings at the cinemas of Greenbelt 3 and Bonifacio High Street are priced at 100 and may be purchased at the ticket counter or online via www.sureseats.com.
The 22nd French Film Festival in Manila is presented by the Embassy of France to the Philippines, Institut Français, the Alliance française de Manille and de Cebu, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Ayala Malls Cinemas, Ayala Malls, Central Square, Circuit Makati, and the SSI Group, Inc., and with the support of Peugeot Philippines, Delsey, Marithé François Girbaud, Paris Delice, Le Cellier, Don Papa, Monin, ThinkBIT, Cignal, and media partners Expat Newspaper, the ABS-CBN News Channel, Rogue Media, L’Officiel Manila, Art Plus Magazine, and Manilascope.
For questions, message frenchfilmfest@gmail.com or 0926-638-8728.
The Films
Les Malheurs de Sophie (Sophie’s Misfortunes) (2016)
Director : Christophe Honoré
Starring : Anaïs Demoustier, Muriel Robin, Caroline Grant
Running time: 1h 46m
Synopsis:
From her castle, young Sophie can’t resist the temptation of the forbidden, and what she loves most of all is to get up to no-good with her cousin, Paul. When her parents decide to go to Amercia, Sophie is delighted. A year later, she’s back in France with her horrible stepmother, Madame Fichini. But Sophie will be able to count on her two friends, model little girls, and their mother, Madame de Fleurville, to escape from her stepmother’s clutches.
Trailer:
Nocturama (2016)
Director: Bertrand Bonello
Starring: Vincent Rottiers, Finnegan Oldfield, Manal Issa, Hamza Mezziani, Martin Guyot
Running time: 2h 10m
Synopsis:
Paris, one morning. A group of young people from different backgrounds. They launch into a strange ballet in the metro tunnels and the city’s streets. They seem to follow a plan. Their gestures are precise, almost dangerous. They converge towards the same point, a department store, at the moment it is about to shut. Night begins.
Trailer:
Un Château en Italie (A Castle in Italy) (2013)
Director : Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi
Starring : Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Louis Garrel, Filippo Timi, Marisa Borini, Xavier Beauvois
Running time : 1h 44m
Synopsis:
A woman encounters a man. Her dreams resurface. It’s also the story of her sick brother, and of their mother, a story about the destiny of a rich Italian industrialist family. It’s the story of a family falling apart, of the end of an era, and of a budding romance.
Trailer:
Je suis un soldat (I Am a Soldier) (2015)
Director : Laurent Larivière
Starring: Louise Bourgoin, Anne Benoît, Laurent Capelluto, Jean-Hugues Anglade
Running time : 1h 37m
Synopsis :
Thirty-year-old Sandrine is forced to return to live with her mother in Roubaix. Without a job, she accepts to work for her uncle in his kennels, which turns out to be a hub for trafficking dogs from Eastern Europe. She rapidly takes control in this male universe, wins the men’s respect, and starts earning the money lacking from her freedom. But sometimes, good soldiers cease to obey.
Trailer :
Tour de France (2016)
Director : Rachid Djaïdani
Starring : Gérard Depardieu, Sadek, Louis Grinberg, Nicolas Marétheu
Running time : 1h 35m
Synopsis:
Far’Hook is a twenty-year-old rapper. Following a settling of scores, he’s obliged to leave Paris and lay low for a while. His producer, Bilal, suggests that Far’Hook take his place in accompanying his father, Serge, on a tour of all 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 Northern France during an adventure that will lead them to Marseille for a final concert, one of reconciliation.
Trailer :
Les Chevaliers blancs (The White Knights) (2016)
Director: Joachim Lafosse
Starring: Vincent Lindon, Louise Bourgoin, Valérie Donzelli, Reda Kateb, Bintou Rimtobaye
Running time : 1h 52m
Synopsis:
Jacques Arnault, head of Sud Secours NGO, is planning a high impact operation: he and his team are going to exfiltrate 300 orphan victims of the Chadian civil war and bring them to French adoption applicants. Françoise Dubois, a journalist, is invited to come along with them and handle the media coverage for this operation. Completely immersed in the brutal reality of a country at war, the NGO members start losing their convictions and are faced with the limits of humanitarian intervention.
Trailer :
21 Nuits avec Pattie (21 Nights with Pattie) (2015)
Director: Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu
Starring : Isabelle Carré, Karin Viard, André Dussollier, Sergi Lopez
Running time : 1h 55m
Synopsis:
During the height of summer, Caroline, a forty-year-old Parisian and mother, arrives in a small village in the south of France. She must hastily organize the funeral of her mother, a flighty lawyer, whom she barely used to see. Caroline is welcomed by Pattie, who likes to talk about her love affairs with the local men to anyone who’ll listen. While the whole valley gets ready for the traditional mid-summer dance, Caroline’s mother’s corpse mysteriously disappears.
Trailer :
Jamais de la vie (The Night Watchman) (2014)
Director : Pierre Jolivet
Starring: Oliver Gourmet, Valérie Bénabar, Marc Zinga
Running time : 1h 35m
Synopsis:
Franck, in his early fifties, is a night watchman in a suburban mall. Ten years ago, he was a skilled worker and union delegate, always on the bridge, always ready to fight for workers’ rights. Today, he’s a man who’s resigned himself to being a spectator of his own life – and it’s boring. One night, he notices an SUV idling in the parking lot and senses that something is afoot. Curiosity makes him shake off his indifference and he decides to intervene. It’s an opportunity for him take control of his life once again.
Trailer :
L’Ombre des femmes (In the Shadow of Women) (2015)
Director: Philippe Garrel
Starring: Stanislas Merhar, Clotilde Courau, Lena Paugam
Running time: 1h 13m
Synopsis:
Pierre and Manon are poor. They make documentary films without a cent and they get by with odd jobs. Pierre meets a young intern, Elisabeth, and she becomes his mistress. But Pierre doesn’t want to leave Manon for Elisabeth – he wants to keep them both. One day Elisabeth, Pierre’s young mistress, discovers that Manon, Pierre’s wife, has a lover. And she tells Pierre… Pierre focuses his attention on Manon once again, because she’s the one he loved. And because he feels betrayed, he beseeches Manon and neglects Elisabeth. Manon breaks off with her lover right away. There’s a good chance she does so because she loves Pierre.
Trailer:
Le Dernier diamant (The Last Diamond) (2014)
Director: Eric Barbier
Starring: Yvan Attal, Bérénice Béjo, Annie Cordy, Jean-François Stévenin
Running time : 1h 48m
Synopsis:
Simon, a thief released on parole, accepts to carry out the biggest job of his life, which is to steal the “Florentin,” a mythical diamond being auctioned by its owners. To succeed, he must get close to Julia, a diamond expert, for whom the sale is of considerable personal importance. Beyond the boldly daring theft, Simon will lead Julia toward a destiny that she could never have imagined.
Trailer :
Géronimo (2014)
Director: Tony Gatlif
Starring: Céline Sallette, Rachid Yous, David Murgia, Nailia Harzoune
Running time: 1h 44m
Synopsis:
South of France. In the sultry August heat, Geronimo, a young social educator, tries to ease tensions between the youngsters of the neighborhood of St. Pierre. The mood changes when Nil Terzi, a teenage girl of Turkish origin, flees an arranged marriage, running to the arms of her gypsy lover, Lucky Molina. Their escape sparks hostilities between the two clans. When the jousting and the musical battles begin, Geronimo struggles to quell the ensuing unrest around her.
Trailer:
Bastille Day (2016)
Director: James Watkins
Starring: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Charlotte Le Bon, José Garcia
Running time: 1h 44m
Synopsis:
Michael Mason is an American pickpocket living in Paris who finds himself on the top of the CIA’s most-wanted list when he steals a bag that contains more than just a wallet. Sean Briar, the field agent on the case, soon realizes that Michael is just a pawn in a much bigger game and decides to recruit him in order to uncover the source of a large-scale conspiracy. A race against time ensures, in which the two men discover they are both targets and must rely on each other to take down a powerful organization.
Trailer:
Personal Shopper (2016)
Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Kirsten Stewart, Anders Danielsen, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz
Running time: 1h 45m
Synopsis:
Maureen is a young American woman in Paris making her living as a personal shopper for Kyra, a celebrity. Also, Maureen may have the psychic ability to communicate with spirits, just like her twin brother, Lewis, who recently passed away. She soon starts receiving ambiguous messages coming from an unknown source.
Trailer:
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