FREE 16th French Film Festival

Monday, June 06, 2011 dfg 0 Comments

Come and watch the lineup of films at the 16th French Film Festival happening this June 8 - July 2, 2011. Enjoy a variety of FREE French films from action, adventure, comedy, drama and documentary. The festival includes movies from famed French actress Sandrine Bonnaireas and selections from Filipino director Auraeus Solito. Screenings will take place in Shangri-La Plaza, Ayala Center Cebu, and UP Film Institute. Come at least 2 hours before the screening time to make sure you get a ticket



Synopsis:

L'Autre (The Other One)
  • Anne-Marie has a peaceful break-up with her boyfriend Alex, who she doesn't love anymore. However, upon learning that another woman has come into his life, she becomes insanely jealous...
La Tête de Maman (Mother’s smile)
  • Twenty years ago, a few years before I was born, mom loved a guy. Twenty years ago, they were forced apart and when the silly fool left, he took my mom's smile with him. I've gotta find him, gotta bring him back for mom. Otherwise, I'll die. - Lulu, 15 years old.
Un Poison Violent (Love Like Poison)
  • Anna, a young teenager, comes home from her Catholic boarding school for the holidays and discovers her father has left. Her mother is devastated and is confined in the company of the local priest, who is also a childhood friend. Anna clings to her beloved grandfather. She also grows close to Pierre, a free-spirited teenager who cares little about God. Anna is preparing her confirmation, but her budding desire for Pierre shakes her faith. She longs to give herself over, body and soul... but doesn't know if it is to God, or something else.
Le Dernier Des Fous (The Last Among the Crazy Ones)
  • It's summer and the beginning of the long vacation period for eleven-year-old Martin, who lives on a farm, and, at a loss, observes his family's disintegration: his mother lives locked up in her room; his older brother, who he adores, drowns himself in drink; and his father, dominated by Martin's grandmother, is a helpless onlooker to the family's collapse. Although Mistigri, his cat, and Malika, the Moroccan maid, afford him some comfort, Martin is determined to put an end to this confusion.
Les Enfants De Timpelbach (Trouble at Timpeltill)
  • In the village of Timpeltill, the children pass their time playing pranks on others and resisting every kind of authority. At the end of their rope, the parents decide to leave the village... for what they think will be a day. A village with no parents! It's not bad news for everyone. Two gangs of children then confront each other, each determined to be the sole gang to control the village.
Dans Les Cordes (Inside the Ring)
  • Angie and Sandra are 18 years old. They've been raised as sisters by Joseph, Angie's father and Sandra's uncle. He's also been their trainer, programming them to win the national French boxing championship finals. But Angie loses and Sandra wins... Angie wants a rematch at any cost, but Joseph has decided otherwise.
7 Ans (7 Years)
  • While Vincent is in prison for 7 years, his wife Maité takes a lover. This lover happens to be a guard in the prison. She is caught in a game of guilt, pleasure, and obligation.
Le Marquis
  • Thomas Gardesse, a traveling alarm systems salesman, is arrested for a minor offense and sentenced to six months imprisonment. To win the respect of his fellow inmates, he claims he is "The Marquis," a brilliant robber whose identity has remained a mystery. Two weeks before his release, an armed robber named Quentin Tasseau helps him escape and takes him to Manila so he can take part in a robbery whose mastermind requires the talents of the Marquis...
Two films produced by Luc Besson:
  • Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec / Adèle: Rise of the Mummy)
    • As the tale opens, Adele is on a mission in Egypt, attempting to retrieve a sarcophagus and tote it back to Western Europe, but simultaneously attempting to fend off complications wrought by her nemesis, the archaeologist Dieuleveult. She succeeds on both fronts, but upon returning runs headfirst into another problem: a Parisian scientist (Jacky Nercessian) with the power to heal Adele's comatose sister (Laure de Clermont-Tonnere) has accidentally let loose an ancient Pterodactyl above the Parisian skies. While a zany detective (Gilles Lellouche) and a hunter (Jean-Paul Rouve) attempt to eliminate the creature, the villains turn up yet again and try to thwart Adele's long-term plans.
  • Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard (Arthur 2: The Revenge Of Maltazard)
    • Arthur (Freddie Highmore) is reunited with his beloved Princess Selenia in the latest adventure adapted from Luc Besson's bestselling children's books, but danger lurks on the horizon… A spider deposits a grain of rice in Arthur's hand, with a message carved into it. It's an S.O.S. from the Minimoys. Arthur doesn't think twice about flying to the rescue. But not thinking twice could land him in the trap set by the abominable Maltazard, who has resolved to take his revenge...
Sandrine Bonnaire Retrospective
  • A Nos Amours (To Our Loves)
    • At a vacation resort where she is rehearsing “No Trifling with Love”, 15-year-old Suzanne rejects her boyfriend Luc and gives herself, without any real pleasure, to a visiting young American. Back to Paris, she has other love affairs. Clashing with her parents, she comes up against a neurotic mother, a father who suddenly decides to leave the family nest, and her falsely protective brother. Suzanne seeks herself while going from one guy to another. Her marriage ends in failure. In a plane taking her to California to her new lover, Suzanne seems to question herself about fleeing towards an uncertain future. Will she be able to love one day?
  • Sans Toit Ni Loi (Vagabond)
    • In the middle of winter in southern France, a girl is found frozen to death in a ditch. Who was she? “A drug addict, a mental patient,” some say… People who came across her try to draw a portrait of this young wanderer. As she wanders aimlessly, you may see her bathing nude at a beach, being picked up by a planetologist as she hitchhikes, spending time squatting in abandoned property, being hosted by a couple of goat-raising hippies, sympathizing with a farm worker from the Maghreb, setting up her tent in a cemetery, being lusted after by garage mechanics, sleeping with one but not the other…. Her name was Mona; some rejected her, others tried in vain to help her. No one was able to hold her back.
  • Mademoiselle
    • The life of Claire, a young woman with no history, a medical representative and mother of two children, brightens up when, at a cocktail party for a pharmaceutical convention, she runs into a dreamy actor turned into a sad clown from having continuously hosted wedding events and banquets. During these 24 hours of getting to know each other through a series of failed acts, these two discover one another, like one another, and have a one-night stand. Claire starts dreaming …
  • Elle s’appelle Sabine (Her name is Sabine)
    • A sensitive portrait of Sabine Bonnaire, a 38-year-old autistic woman, made by Sandrine, her closest sister. It tells her story through personal archives, filmed by the actress over a period of 25 years, and shows her life today in a special facility. The documentary evokes an engaging personality whose development and multiple talents have been crushed by a failing care system. After the tragic five long years spent in a psychiatric hospital, Sabine regains her taste for life – even though her abilities remain altered – in a group home in Charente. A demonstration with a example of the shortage of specialized facilities and its dramatic consequences. Beyond the subject matter, Her Name Is Sabine is a true cinematographic film.
  • Joueuse (Queen To Play)
    • In a small village in Corsica, Hélène’s life, quiet and discreet, is but a day after another, all the same... A chamber maid in a hotel, she seems happy with Ange and Lisa, her husband and 15-year-old daughter. Her life seemed already written…

Promo Mechanics:
  1. Visit ambafrance-ph.org for movie schedule and synopsis
  2. Go to Shangri-La Plaza, Ayala Center Cebu, and UP Film Institute in the scheduled movie dates.
  3. Get your FREE tickets at the Shang Cineplex. Hurry, this is a first come, first served basis!
  4. Enjoy the movie!
Promo Period:
  • June 8 - 19 in Shangri-La Plaza Mall
    • June 8 - Opening Night (by invitation only)
    • June 9 - Open to the public (first come, first serve)
  • June 23 - 25 at the Ayala Center Cebu
  • June 28 - July 2 at the UP Film Institute Q.C.
Promo Prize: FREE French Films


Upside:
  • Watch great movies for FREE!
Downside:
  • None
For more information, call Gretchen Wilwayco (857-6316) or Martin Macalintal (857-6917), or visit French Embassy website