Our Film Club has a new format!
— Streaming the film and Q&A is FREE and reserved to Albertine Cinémathèque members and their students. Become a member
— Members can RSVP below to receive a link to access the film.
Please forward the link to all your students so they can take advantage of the Albertine Cinémathèque Film Club!
Queer Desire in French Cinema
Albertine Cinematheque is thrilled to announce its Fall Film Series on Queer Desire in French Cinema.
Expending on a theme outlined by the Albertine Cinematheque’s 2024-2025 Film Selection, the Film Series will explore the representation of Queer identities in recent French films. Letting desire take the central stage to illustrate the fight for equality, the films in the series powerfully portray the many experiences within the queer community through the lens of outstanding filmmakers such as Céline Sciamma and Villa Albertine resident, Marie Losier.
The films in the Film Series are made available to Members and their students for free on FestivalScope. RSVP to receive a link to watch the films.
FULL LINEUP:
Watch the Film Series for Free on FestivalScope from October 7 to November 4:
Water Lilies (Naissance des pieuvres) by Céline SciammaCassandro, the Exotico! by Marie LosierThat Old Dream That Moves (Ce vieux rêve qui bouge) by Alain GuiraudieYou Promised Me the Sea (L’air de la mer rend libre) by Nadir Moknèche (2 weeks only: Oct 21-Nov 4)
More films on Queer Desire:
1/ Watch for free:
On IF Cinema: [For in-class or on-campus in-person screenings only]
Three nights a week by Florent Gouëlou
2/ Book a film from a distributor (for a fee) for screenings on campus:
From Albertine Cinematheque’s Film Selection:
Orlando, my political biography by Paul B. PreciadoPassages by Ira SachsThe Five Devils by Léa Mysius
Contact the distributors here
From Young French Cinema:
Marinette by Virgine VerrierThe Spirit of Ecstasy by Héléna Klotz
Contact Anna Takahashi (anne.takahashi@unifrance.org) and Sandrine Neveux (sandrine.neveux@villa-albertine.org)
Cross-generational Bonds in French Cinema
ALBERTINE CINÉMATHÈQUE’s third edition of the virtual Film Series explores cross-generational bonds in French Cinema. Looking at this year’s Film Selection, most of the films seem unintentionally linked by a common thread examining transmission through many different angles: Saint Omer by Alice Diop, a powerful film on the transcendence of motherhood, Return to Seoul on the trauma of adoption, Colette and Justin on the profound connections between personal transmission and collective history. Our Film Series aims at expanding those explorations through four groundbreaking films.
Please contact cinematheque@albertinefoundation.org if you would like to invite one of the filmmakers for an online discussion with your students.
Albertine Cinematheque Members will receive a link to access the Film Series on Albertine Cinematheque’s private page on FestivalScope (please share the link with your students)Not yet a member? Become a member here
THE CROSSING (LA TRAVERSEE)By Sébastien Lifshitz
Documentary | 85 min | France | 2001 | French with English subtitlesCast : Stéphane BOUQUET, Sébastien LIFSHITZMK2 International
Friday, October 27, 2023 | 12pm ESTTo Monday, October 30, 2023 | 12pm EST
“When I was born, my father had already gone back to the US. For some reason I cannot explain, his mother refused to inform him that I was born. I know just a few things about him; his name; his date of birth; his height and his profession from then: soldier. When I told Sébastien Lifshitz my story, he offered to go find my father in the US together, and to make a movie out of it…”
Stéphane Bouquet
Sébastien Lifshitz was born in 1968 in Paris, France. After studying art history at the Ecole du Louvre, he decided to devote himself to cinema and directed his first feature film, COME UNDONE, in 2000, which was acclaimed by critics and distributed worldwide. This was followed by the documentary THE CROSSING (2001), selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, then WILD SIDE (2004) and BAMBI (2016), both of which won awards at the Berlin Film Festival. After THE INVISIBLES (2012), an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, and THE LIVES OF THERESE (2017) at the Directors’ Fortnight, he directed two new documentaries: ADOLESCENTS, awarded at the Locarno Film Festival, winner of Louis-Delluc Prize for Best Film and of three César in 2021, and LITTLE GIRL, presented at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 and distributed worldwide, including in the United States, in 2022. His latest documentary, CASA SUSANNA was shot Upstate New York where, in the 1950s and ‘60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a modest house in the Catskills region of New York. CASA SUSANNA premiered at DOC NYC in 2022 and is part of the Albertine Cinematheque 23-24 FILM SELECTION .
Filmography:2022 CASA SUSANNA ⁄ Documentary 2021 BAMBI, A FRENCH WOMAN ⁄ Documentary 2021 SENSITIVE BOYS ⁄ Documentary 2020 LITTLE GIRL ⁄ Documentary 2019 AVENUE DE LAMBALLE ⁄ Short 2019 ADOLESCENTES ⁄ Documentary 2016 THE LIVES OF THERESE ⁄ Documentary 2013 BAMBI ⁄ Documentary 2012 THE INVISIBLES ⁄ Documentary 2009 GOING SOUTH ⁄ Feature 2008 JOUR ET NUIT ⁄ Short 2006 LES TEMOINS ⁄ Documentary 2004 WILD SIDE ⁄ Feature 2001 THE CROSSING ⁄ Documentary 2000 COME UNDONE ⁄ Feature 1999 COLD LANDS ⁄ TV Movie 1998 OPEN BODIES ⁄ Medium-length feature 1995 CLAIRE DENIS LA VAGABONDE ⁄ Documentary 1994 IL FAUT QUE JE L’AIME ⁄ Short
A STORY OF ONE’S OWN (Une histoire à soi)By Amandine Gay
Documentary | 100 min | France | 2021 | French with English subtitlesWith : Joohee Bourgain, Mathieu Anette, Anne-Charlotte, Niyongira Bugingo/Nicolas Guieu, Céline Chandralatha GrimaudLes Films du Losange
Monday, October 30, 2023 | 12pm ESTTo Monday, November 6, 2023 | 12pm EST
Synopsis
Five adoptees from Brazil, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Australia and South Korea share their common experiences of being separated from their birth families and communities and raised abroad.
Watch TrailerPress Kit (in French)
Watch the Q&A with director Amandine Gay and Joyce McMillan, leader, advocate, community organizer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of Just Making a Change for Families (JMACforFamilies), moderated by Shanny Peer, Director of the Columbia Maison Française, as part of the Columbia University Maison Française 2023 Film Festival, Across Generations: Unveiling the Past, Embracing the Present. The festival was curated by Shanny Peer, Fanny Guex and Ilana Custos-Quatreville and produced by the Columbia Maison Française.
Amandine Gay
Director, producer, author, Amandine Gay is focused on reclaiming the narrative, both for herself and the communities she belongs to. Following Speak Up – her first self-produced and self-distributed film which gives voice to 24 Black francophone women – released in French, Belgian and Swiss theaters in 2017 and in Canada in 2018; she releases a second feature length documentary, A Story of One’s Own. This archival film on transnational and transracial adoption from the perspective of 5 adult adoptees is released in French theaters in June 2021 and at the Cinémathèque québécoise in August 2022. In 2021, she publishes her first book, A Chocolate Doll, an autobiographical essay on adoption with editions La Découverte (France) and Remue-Ménage (Quebec). In 2022, she moves back to Montreal as a permanent resident and starts a Black-owned production company: Caïssa Productions.
HISTORY OF A SECRET (Histoire d’un secret)By Mariana Otero
Documentary | 91 min | France | 2003 | French with English subtitlesThe Party Sales
Monday, November 6, 2023 | 12pm ESTTo Monday, November 13, 2023 | 12pm EST
“When I learned at the age of 30 that my mother had died of a back-alley abortion, I was stupefied. It was hard to admit that it could have happened to her, that this event was suddenly part of her history, my history and that of my family’s. I couldn’t believe I had lived so long without knowing the real causes of her death. As for many women of my generation, the tragedies linked to abortion belonged to a distant and forgotten past. My stupor turned into revolt and anger. I could not allow that she had died almost illegally, surrounded by shame and secrecy. As the victim of an unfair law, silence had made her a culprit. When I first dared talk about the circumstances of my mother’s death, I realized that other families had been through the same horror and in most cases, secrecy had been maintained, particularly with the children. I had to break the silence. My film had to participate in lifting and destroying once and for all the secrecy within my family to restore its political and social dimension.”
Mariana Otero
Watch Trailer
Mariana Otero’s Biography :
Mariana Otero was born in Rennes in 1963. Following her film studies at IDHEC (Institut Des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques) where she developed a passion for documentary film, she made several documentaries for the television channel Arte, including Non lieux (1990) and School law (1995) which became the first documentary series to be shown on the channel. Between 1995 and 2002 she lived in Portugal where she made Cette télévision est la vôtre (1997). Exposing the functionning of the largest commercial television channel in the country (CIS), the film caused a huge controversy. Then Mariana Otero moved back to France where she shot History of a Secret (2003). Following an investigation into a family secret, the film draws back the veil on a political and social taboo. History of a secret went on to receive a number of prizes abroad. In 2010, Mariana Otero made Into our hands, which tells how women employees discover new freedom in trying to transform their company into a cooperative business. This film was nominated for a César award for Best Documentary in 2011. In 2013 she makes Like an open sky a documentary film which makes us understand the singular perception of the word of children in psychological and social troubles. In 2020, she makes documentary about the well known french and international photographer Gilles Caron who disappeared in 1970. Histoire d’un regard /Looking for Gilles Caron This film is nominated for a César award for Best Documentary in 2021, and has been selected in many festivals abroad.
She also teaches at Ateliers Varan, at La Femis and in several universities. She is a member of Acid (Association for Independent Cinema and its Diffusion), of Ateliers Varan and of the professional board of la FEMIS. She is Knight of the Order of the Arts and the Letters since 2011.
FILMOGRAPHY :
2019 : LOOKING FOR GILLES CARON ( Feature Documentary, 93’, DCP) 2017 THE ASSEMBLY (Feature Documentary, 98’,DCP) 2013 LIKE AN OPEN SKY (Feature Documentary, 110’, DCP)2010 INTO OUR OWN HANDS (Feature Documentary, 90’, 35mm) 2003 HISTORY OF A SECRET (Feature Documentary, 90’, 35mm) 1997 CETTE TELEVISION EST LAVÔTRE (Feature Documentary, 60’, Beta SP) 1994 SCHOOL LAW (Documentary Saga 6×28’,Hi8) 1991 NON-LIEUX (Documentary in co-direction with Alejandra Rojo, 75’, V8) 1991 LOIN DE TOI (Documentary, 8’, V8)
JANE BY CHARLOTTEBy Charlotte Gainsbourg
Documentary | 90 min | France | 2021 | French with English subtitlesUtopia Distribution
Friday, November 10, 2023 | 12pm ESTTo Monday, November 13, 2023 | 12pm EST
With the tremor of time passing by, Charlotte Gainsbourg started to look at her mother Jane Birkin in a way she never did, both overcoming a shared sense of reserve.
Through the camera lens, they expose themselves to one another, begin to step back, leaving space for a mother-daughter relationship to unfold.
Photo Credit: Nolita Cinema – Deadly Valentine
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (born 21 July 1971) is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released three albums as an adult (5:55, IRM and Stage Whisper) to commercial and critical success. Gainsbourg has also appeared in many films, including several directed by Lars von Trier, and has received both a César Award and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
Gainsbourg made her motion picture debut playing Catherine Deneuve’s daughter in the film Paroles et musique (1984). In 1986, Gainsbourg won a César Award for “Most Promising Actress” for L’effrontée, and, in 2000, she won “Best Supporting Actress” for the film La Bûche.
Gainsbourg made her musical debut with her father on the song “Lemon Incest” in 1984. Two years later, she released her debut album Charlotte for Ever, which was produced by her father.
In 2007, Gainsbourg appeared alongside Gael Garcia Bernal in Michel Gondry’s La Science des rêves and as Claire in the Todd Haynes directed Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There, also contributing a cover of the Dylan song “Just Like a Woman” to the film’s soundtrack.
Jane By Charlotte is her first film as a director and a beautiful portrait of her mother, Jane Birkin, the actress, singer and style-icon, who died in July this year.
Films available to screen on campus for a feeAs part of the Albertine Cinematheque Film Selection
Saint Omer by Alice Diop (Super)Return to Seoul (Retour à Séoul) by Davy ChouColette and Justin by Alain KassandaFor more information on how to book the films in the Film Selection please go to the Members Corner page.Films available to screen on campus for a feeas part of the Villa Albertine and UNIFRANCE programYoung French Cinema:Mother and Son by Léonor SerailleThe Sixth Child by Léopold Legrand
For more information and to book a Young French Cinema film, please contactAdeline Monzier, adeline.monzier@unifrance.org andSandrine Neveux, sandrine.neveux@villa-albertine.org
Women’s Voices in French and Francophone Cinema
ALBERTINE CINÉMATHÈQUE’s second edition of the virtual Film Series explores the works of women filmmakers in French and francophone cinema whose cinematic documentaries bring forth key universal issues. Whether it is climate and social justice, the perception of women’s body in public spaces, the effect of immigration on one’s own identity, taking actions as a Black woman to fight discriminations, or looking at the effect of the religious divide in Haiti, those five incredible filmmakers take the viewer in a compelling and necessary journey that is bond to have a profound effect on everyone’s lives. The Film Series presents films by acclaimed filmmakers Aïssa Maïga, Bahïa Bencheikh-El-Fegoun, Alice Diop, Raja Amari and Gessica Généus, who capture issues related to feminism, racial discrimination, identity and climate change in all their social and human complexity.
Please contact albertinecinematheque@face-foundation.tempurl.host if you would like to invite one of the filmmakers for an online discussion with your students.
ABOVE WATER (Marcher sur l’eau) – A good pick for Middle and High School as well as College students!by Aïssa Maïga
Documentary | 89 min | France | 2021 | French and local language with English subtitlesOrange Studio
Monday, March 20, 2023 | 12pm EST To Sunday, March 26, 2023 | 11pm EST
From one end of the globe to the other, water is becoming increasingly scarce. For a billion people, access to safe drinking water is almost nonexistent—a crisis with huge consequences. As a result, millions of families spend their lives trying to get access to this basic necessity. Houlaye, 12 years old, lives in a village in Tatis, Niger, and walks several kilometers every day to fetch water. It is abundant during the rainy season, but in short supply during the dry season. However, a source exists just 200 meters below the ground. When Houlaye’s aunt Suri convinces an NGO to build a well in the village, it brings the promise of renewal for those men and women who, unknowingly, had been walking on water all their lives.
Aïssa Maïga is a Senegal-born French actress, director, writer, and producer. She has worked with major film directors like Michael Haneke, Abderrahmane Sissako, and Michel Gondry, and recently starred in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. She has won or been nominated for a number of prestigious prizes, including a Best Newcomer César (French Oscar) nomination in 2007 for Bamako (The Court) (2006) and the Best Actress Prize in 2009 at the Bastia Film Festival for Black and White (2008) by Italian director Cristina Comencini. A climate change activist, she is also an advocate for inclusion and has been vocal about racial discrimination in the film industry throughout her career.
Watch TrailerDossiers de presse et dossier pédagogique RSVP to stream the film for free on FestivalScope
NOUS, DEHORS (H’NA BARRA)by Bahïa Bencheikh-El-Fegoun
Documentary | 52 min | France/Algeria | 2014 | French and Arabic with English subtitlesPRODUCTION Allers-Retours Films, Narimane Mari, Bahïa Bencheikh-El-Fegoun
Monday, March 27, 2023 | 12pm EST To Sunday, April 2, 2023 | 11pm EST
A male public space, women’s bodies that disturb. Neither men nor women know what to do with this female body, so it gets veiled.This film is the encounter between women in a quest for meaning who question themselves to confront their individual histories. Who are they today faced with a society rife with confusion that “does not know what to do” as they are present in ever greater numbers in this public space?A society permeated by religious convictions on the one hand and by ignorance on the other that makes women a permanent target.
A geologist by training, Bahia Bencheikh El-Fegoun (b. 1976 in Algeria) has been a film director since 2003. In 2007, she started out in editing and filmmaking (Ateliers Varan) before moving on to production (DOCmed). Her debut short film, “C’est à Constantine”, was shown at many festivals and received a special mention of the jury at Ciné Sud. In 2014, she co-produced and co-directed the documentary “Us Outside”, which was also screened at various festivals. In 2017, she produced and directed “Dream Fragments”, a creative documentary. Her latest film is in production, with an all-female crew: director, producer, crew, cast, etc. Bahia Bencheikh El-Fegoun is a Villa Albertine Resident. She was in residence in the Fall 2022 to investigate the history and the contemporary voices of the W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) movement.
RSVP to stream the film for free on FestivalScope
LES SENEGALAISES ET LA SENEGAULOISEby Alice DiopDocumentary | 56 min | France | 2007 | French with English subtitlesPoint du Jour International
Monday, April 3, 2023 | 12pm EST To Sunday, April 9, 2023 | 11pm EST
Director Alice Diop (Saint Omer) was born in France of Senegalese parents. After their death, she felt the need to explore her roots. Armed with her camera, she went to spend a month filming the daily lives of the women of her family whom she had never met: Néné and her two daughters Mouille and Mame Sarr.“This is the portrait of a typical town courtyard – the stage of the lives of three Senegalese women, a mother and her two daughters. This courtyard is in a sense, a metaphor for the Senegalese women’s quarters – a closed space, exclusively feminine. In the face of the demands of daily life, some struggle and face the challenge, others “laze about” and dream of another life. There are no men in this exclusive space, but many children. There is a lot of coming and going, a certain amount of chaos – a total mess even – and it is the women who do there best to hold it all together. This courtyard is the one my mother knew, where she spent her childhood. I could have been born into this courtyard, grown up there…”This could have been Alice’s life if her mother had not chosen to leave for France. It is in this courtyard that she realises the price of exile, everything she missed out on… and everything she has gained from it.
A writer and director, Alice Diop trained in documentary at the Fémis after studying humanities. She won the César for Best Short Film for ‘Vers la tendresse’ in 2017. The same year, her feature documentary ‘La Permanence’ won the top award in the French Competition section at the Cinéma du réel festival. Her latest film ‘We’ won awards for Best Documentary Film and Best Film in the Encounters strand at the Berlinale in 2021. She then launched into fiction with ‘Saint Omer’ which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and won Best Debut Feature at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Alice Diop is a Villa Albertine resident. She was in residence in New York in the Summer 2022 as part of the project 10 in America. Inspired by the works of Black American women poets such as Robin Coste Lewis and Aja Monet, as well as the emotional essence of Jennifer Packer’s paintings, Alice Diop will shoot a short documentary film, sharing her experience of the city through a visual interpretation of their art, embodying the representation of Black life.
SHE HAD A DREAMby Raja AmariDocumentary | 90 min | Tunisia/France | 2020 | Arabic and French with English subtitlesArtMattan Films
Monday, April 10, 2023 | 12pm EST To Sunday, April 16, 2023 | 11pm EST
Ghofrane, 25, is a young Black Tunisian woman. A committed activist who speaks her mind, she embodies Tunisia’s current political upheaval. As a victim of racial discrimination, Ghofrane decides to go into politics. We follow her extraordinary path, ranging from acting on her ambition to be in politics to disillusion. Through her attempts to persuade both close friends and complete strangers to vote for her, her campaign reveals the many faces of a country seeking to forge a new identity. In its own unique way, this documentary sheds light on the place of women and Black people in Tunisia’s changing society.
Raja Amari was born in Tunis, Tunisia. After receiving a Masters in French Literature from the University of Tunis, she graduated from La FEMIS, the French school for cinematic studies. Her first feature film « Red Satin » (2002), premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, won numerous awards and was acclaimed by the public and the press. Her second film « Buried Secrets », was presented in Official selection, at the 66th Venice Film Festival. It was screened at the MoMA, the African Diaspora International Film Festival and at various other Film Festivals in the world. In 2014, she directed « Tunisian Spring », a TV film for Arte Télévision. Her film « Foreign Body » had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016 and its US Premiere at the African Diaspora International Film Festival in 2017. Raja Amari became member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2019. “She Had a Dream”, her latest TV film for Arte Television, had its world premiere at IDFA 2020.
Watch TrailerRSVP to stream the film for free on FestivalScope
DOUVAN JOU KA LEVE (The Sun Will Rise)by Gessica GénéusDocumentary | 51 min | Haiti | 2017 | Haitian Creole with English subtitlesSaNoSi Productions
Monday, April 17, 2023 | 12pm ESTTo Sunday, April 23, 2023 | 11pm EST
In this textured and surprising personal documentary, Haitian filmmaker and actress Gessica Généus undertakes a journey to understand what she calls Haiti’s “illness of the soul”—the country’s fraught religious divide between Vodou and Christianity. With her mother’s bipolarity as her poignant point of departure, Généus skilfully interweaves traditional interviews and ethnographic-style observation with poetic narration as she seeks to connect the dots of her family’s, and her island’s, fractured history. The result is a moving meditation on both mental illness and a nation’s as-yet unassuaged inner turmoil.
Gessica Généus began her career as an actress at age 17, with Richard Sénécal’s feature film, Barikad. She then collaborated with many Haitian and international directors. She played in the TV movie dedicated to Toussaint Louverture, directed by Philippe Niang and produced by France 2. In 2010, after the earthquake, Gessica seeks to become involved in the reconstruction of her country, and works for the United Nations. With 70 young social workers, she accompanies Miyamoto, a Japanese company specialized in anti-seismic constructions, as well as the engineers of the Ministry of Public Works in the evaluation of the buildings, in the most disadvantaged places of Port-au-Prince, in order to to identify potential beneficiaries of the emergency shelter program launched by one of the UN agencies, UNOPS. In 2011, Gessica won a scholarship at the Acting International in Paris. Back in Haiti, she created her production company, Ayizian Productions, to develop her own projects. Between 2014 and 2016 she directed Vizaj Nou, a series of documentary films of about fifteen minutes that portray major figures of contemporary Haitian society (Anthony Pascal says Konpè Filo, Viviane Gauthier, Odette Roy Fombrun and Frankétienne), in collaboration with the Caribbean Television. In 2017, she directed Douvan jou ka leve (the day will dawn), co-produced with France Télévisions. This film wins seven awards and continues to be the subject of numerous screenings around the world. Freda is her first feature film.
Good Mother (Bonne Mère) by Hafsia Herzi Drama | 1h39 | France | 2021 | French with English subtitlesNora, a cleaning lady in her fifties, looks after her small family in a housing estate in the northern part of Marseille. She is worried about her grandson ELLYES, who has been in prison for several months for robbery and is awaiting his trial with a mixture of hope and anxiety. NORA does everything she can to make this wait as painless as possible…
The Hill Where Lionesses Roar (La Colline où rugissent les lionnes) by Luàna BajramiDrama | 1h23 | France, Kosovo, Etats-Unis | 2021 | Albanian with English subtitlesSomewhere in Kosovo, in a small remote village, three young women see their dreams and ambitions stifled. In their quest for independence, nothing can stop them: time to let the lionesses roar.
Brazen (Cullotées) by Mai Nguyen and Charlotte Cambon De La ValetteAnimation, Literary adaptation | 35min | France | 2019 | French with English subtitlesépisodes 1 to 10épisodes 11 to 20épisodes 21 to 30BRAZEN is a series adapted from the bestselling comic books Culottées by Pénélope Bagieu (Gallimard 2016), first published online on Le Monde.fr, which has since been translated into 19 languages in 27 countries with over 550 000 copies sold worldwide (France, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New-Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA). The portraits of 30 women, each revolutionary in their own way. 30 women who wrote their own destinies and changed the world! Lighthouse keeper, astronaut, empress, animal interpreter, crime miniaturist… whoever they were and wherever they came from, those Brazen ladies were out to tear down prejudice and bring energy and hope.
How to access the films for your class:1/ Go to IF Cinema 2/ Create an account by clicking on the icon at the top right, we will validate your account as soon as possible, don’t hesitate to email us at albertinecinematheque@face-foundation.tempurl.host3/ Order the films, once your account is created and validated you can order the films by going on the film page and clicking on ‘Order Film’.4/ Process your order by clicking on ‘Add to my selection’, then ‘View my selection’, then ‘Confirm my selection’.
Happening (L’événement) by Audrey Diwan (IFC Films)Drama | | 1h40 | France | 2021 | French with English subtitles France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she has to confront shame and pain, even if she must risk prison to do so…
A Night of knowing nothing (Toute une nuit sans savoir) by Payal Kapadia (The Cinema Guild) Documentary | 1h37 | France | 2022 | Hindi and Bengali with English subtitlesIn her debut film, Payal Kapadia deftly merges reality with fiction, weaving together archival footage with student protest videos to tell the story of L, a student at the Film and Television Institute of India, writing to her estranged lover while he is away. Gradually we’re immersed in the drastic changes taking place at the school and in the lives of young people across the country. A Night Of Knowing Nothing is a vital tapestry of the personal and the political, an essential document of contemporary India and a nostalgic look at youth fighting the injustice of their time.
A Tale of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir) by Leyla Bouzid (Distrib Films US)Drama | 1h42 | France | 2021 | French with English subtitlesAhmed, 18, French of Algerian origin, grew up in the suburbs of Paris. At the university, he meets Farah, a young Tunisian girl, full of energy, who has just arrived in Paris. While discovering a collection of sensual and erotic Arab literature he never imagined existed, Ahmed falls head over heels in love with Farah, and although literally overwhelmed with desire, he will try to resist it.
We (Nous) by Alice Diop (MUBI) Documentary | 1h55 | France | 2022 | French with English subtitlesThe RER B is an urban train that traverses Paris and its environs from north to south. A moving testament to the importance of filming as a process of bearing witness and remembering, We is subtle and shrewd in a world which favours shortcuts and easy answers. Justifiably adopting the fragmented structure of a patchwork portrait in order to describe a riven society, Diop displays impressive control of her essay and its impact. In the film’s first few minutes, a deer is observed, through binoculars. Isolation, discrimination and nostalgia for hierarchies, inherited from a monarchical past… Divisions haunt France’s present. But the human urge to give as well as to receive stubbornly creeps into every situation,observed or triggered. Could this be the one thing that still keeps a nation together?
For more information on how to book the films in the Film Selection please go to the Members Corner page.
Atlantic Bar by Fanny MolinsDocumentary | 77 min | France | 2022 | French with English subtitlesAt l’Atlantic Bar in Arles, Nathalie, the owner, is at the center of attention. Here, people sing, dance and hold each other close. After the announcement of the sale of the Atlantic Bar, Nathalie and the regulars are faced with the end of their world and the loss of a place, at times harmful, but desperately needed.
Mother and Son by Léonor SerailleDrama | 116 min | France | 2022 | French with English subtitlesIn the late 1980s, Rose moves to the Paris suburbs with her two young sons, Ernest and Jean. Spanning 20 years from their arrival in France to the present day, the film is the moving chronicle of the construction and deconstruction of a family.
Love according to Dalva by Emmanuelle NicotDrama | 87 min | Belgium, France | 2022 | French with English subtitlesDalva, 12, lives alone with her father. One evening, the police storms into their home and takes her into foster care. As Dalva befriends her new roommate Samia and social worker Jayden, she gradually comes to understand the love she shared with her father was not what she thought. With their help, Dalva will learn to become a child again.
Bigger Than Us by Flore VasseurEnvironmental Documentary – Educational Pick | 96 min | France | 2021 | French with English subtitlesFor six years, Melati, 18, has been fighting the plastic pollution that is ravaging her country, Indonesia. Like her, a generation is rising up to fix the world. Everywhere, teenagers and young adults are fighting for human rights, the climate, freedom of expression, social justice, access to education or food. Dignity. Alone against all odds, sometimes risking their lives and safety, they protect, denounce and care for others. The earth. And they change everything. Melati goes to meet them across the globe. She wants to understand how to hold on and continue her action. From the favelas of Rio to the remote villages of Malawi, from makeshift boats off the island of Lesbos to Native American ceremonies in the mountains of Colorado, Rene, Mary, Xiu, Memory, Mohamad and Winnie reveal a magnificent world, one of courage and joy, of commitment to something bigger than oneself. At a time when everything seems to be or has been falling apart, these young people show us how to live. And what it means to be in the world today.
Stuntwomen by Elena AvdijaDocumentary | 84 min | Switzerland, France (in collaboration with Swiss Films) | 2022 | French with English subtitles / only available to book starting in AprilBeing thrown down a flight of stairs, hit by a car or beaten up is the everyday life for stuntwomen. We follow Virginie, Petra and Estelle during training sessions and on film sets in France and the US. What does all this pretend-violence do to their bodies and minds? There is always a trade-off between the desire to perform as realistically as possible and their own boundaries. Scenes with cars are spectacular, but the roles in which they are beaten up are much harder to watch. Few action movies have female heroes so they usually play the role of victims. Stuntwomen are hired to endure violence, while the task of their male colleagues is to inflict it.
The films above can be booked for in-person screenings on campus ($300 booking fee for up to two screenings per film).
For more information and to book a Young French Cinema film, please contact:
Adeline Monzieradeline.monzier@unifrance.org
Sandrine Neveuxsandrine.neveux@villa-albertine.org
Solidarity and Resilience: the representation of the French urban peripheries in French Cinema
ALBERTINE CINÉMATHÈQUE launches its first virtual Film Series this Fall with films by acclaimed filmmakers Alice Diop, Virgil Vernier and Régis Sauder. Those outstanding films bring to the fore the under represented French urban peripheries and look at the ways its inhabitants build resilience through solidarity, meeting the writings of 2022 Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux.
The Film Series will echo and highlight the original idea by acclaimed filmmaker Alice Diop (We, Saint Omer – winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and Best Debut Feature at the 2022 Venice Film Festival as well as France’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars 2023), with the ambition of creating an ideal film library of the world’s urban peripheries, developed by the Ateliers Médicis and the Centre Pompidou (learn more about their monthly program). This project will seek to interrogate and to amplify the voices of a constellation of works who share the same highly political lineage.
In order to encourage a conversation of these themes on this side of the Atlantic, Albertine Cinémathèque has invited Alice Diop to choose 2 films from her ‘Cinémathèque idéale des Banlieues du Monde’ to go along with her film On Call, for this first Film Series.
ON CALL (La Permanence)by Alice Diop (2016)Documentary | 96 min.MUBI
Monday, October 31, 2022 | 7pm EST To Sunday, November 6, 2022 | 11pm EST
In this powerful second documentary feature film, acclaimed filmmaker, Alice Diop (We, Saint Omer), chronicles the operations of a refugee medical clinic at the Avicenne Hospital just outside Paris. Migrants file in and out of a refugee medical center in the suburbs of Paris. Their suffering has been intensified by their journeys to France, and by the precarity of their daily lives. Within a single room, a general practitioner, aided by a psychiatrist, tries to repair their bodies and minds.
Watch TrailerRSVP to stream the film for free on MUBI
‘On Call’ will stream for free for a week but if your students want to explore more films on MUBI after November 6, they can take advantage of this special reduced subscription price.
I HAVE LOVED LIVING HERE (J’ai aimé vivre là)by Régis Sauder (2020)Documentary | 89 min.Shellac Films
Monday, November 7, 2022 | 7pm EST To Sunday, November 13, 2022 | 11pm EST
In a new town, somewhere in the suburbs of Paris, intimate stories meet the writings of the famous writer Annie Ernaux : is living in harmony a utopia, or could it be actual and overcome the paradoxes of society to welcome foreigners.With the participation of renowned writer and 2022 Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux.
Watch TrailerFind more information and the press release with an interview with Régis Sauder hereRSVP to stream the film for free on FestivalScope
Thank you to Noëlle Rouxel-Cubberly from Bennington College and Audrey Evrard from Fordham University who have invited Régis Sauder for an online discussion with their students.
MERCURIALES (on FestivalScope)by Virgil Vernier (2014)Fiction | 108 min.Kazak Productions
Monday, November 14, 2022 | 7pm EST To Sunday, November 20, 2022 | 11pm EST
“This story takes place in a far distant time, a time of violence.All throughout Europe, a silent war was spreading.In a city there lived two sisters…”
Children of the Princess of Cleves (Nous, Princesses de Clèves) by Régis Sauder (available on DVD only) En Nous by Régis SauderBlue Dog (Chien Bleu) by Fanny Liatard et Jérémy Trouilh (short film)Ibrahim by Sami Guesmi
We (Nous)by Alice Diop (MUBI)
Gagarineby Fanny Liatard & Jérémy Trouilh (Cohen Media Group)
Gallantes Indies (Les Indes Gallantes)by Philippe Béziat (Distrib Films US)
The Monopoly of Violence (Un pays qui se tient sage)by David Dufresne (Big World Pictures)
A Tale of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir)by Leyla Bouzid (Distrib Films US)
A Dramatic Film (Un Film Dramatique)By Eric Baudelaire (The Cinema Guild)
Little Girl (Petite Fille)By Sébastien Lifshitz (Music Box Films)
‘Horizon‘ by Emilie Carpentier‘Good Mother‘ by Hafsia Herzi‘The Brave‘ by Anaïs Volpé‘Hard Shell, Soft Shell‘ by Emma Benetan
The films above can be booked for screenings on campus:– in-person ($300 booking fee for up to two screenings per film), or – virtual (fees starting at $100 for up to 100 views)
Films available on other platforms:
‘L’Amour Existe‘ by Maurice Pialat (available on Criterion Channel)‘In Vanda’s Room‘ by Pedro Costa (available on Criterion Channel)‘The Lovely Month of May‘ by Chris Marker (available on Kanopy and Ovid – contact Icarus Films for more information: Bob Hunter bob@icarusfilms.com)‘35 Shots of Rum‘ by Claire Denis (available on MUBI and Kanopy – contact The Cinema Guild for more information: Tom Sveen tom@cinemaguild.com)
Being in the World Film Festival with Columbia University’s Maison Française
We are exciting to partner with Columbia University’s Maison Française again this Fall to co-present 3 virtual screenings as part of their film festival: Being in the World: People and the Planet in French and Francophone Cinema. Curated by Shanny Peer, Fanny Guex and Clara Wilhelm.
Don’t miss in-person screenings at Columbia University of The Velvet Queen (La panthère des neiges) by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier as part of FILMS ON THE GREEN, Above Water (Marcher sur l’eau) by Aïssa Maïga, The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu) by Luc Besson, Farrebique, or The Four Seasons (Farrebique, ou les quatre saisons) by Georges Rouquier, Narcisse (2022 U.S. Premiere), One Breath Around the World (2019), Ama (2018), Narcose (2014) – Four short films by Julie Gautier, Pierre Rabhi: In the Name of the Earth (Pierre Rabhi: au nom de la terre) by Marie-Dominique Dhelsing, A Bigger World (Un Monde plus grand) by Fabienne Berthaud, Antarctica: Ice and Sky (La glace et le ciel) by Luc Jacquet, The Red Turtle (La tortue rouge) by Michael Dudok de Wit, The Great Green Wall by Jared P. Scott, and Bigger Than Us by Flore Vasseur.
And register for free from anywhere in the US for the 3 exclusive Virtual Screenings below:
A COW’S LIFE (Bovines ou la vraie vie des vaches)by Emmanuel Gras (2011)Documentary | 64 min.Bathysphere Productions
In the fields, we can see them, lying on the grass or grazing peacefully. Large placid animals we take for granted. Lions, gorillas, or bears capture our attention, but has anyone ever closely documented a cow’s life? Asked what they were doing with their days? What they do when a storm passes? When the sun comes back? What are they thinking about when they stand there motionless, seemingly contemplating the void? Bovines chronicles the true life of a cow: grazing, ruminating, gazing – but also feeling – mooing with grief, or just enjoying an apple…
READ MORE
Watch Emmanuel Gras virtual discussion of his film A Cow’s Life
This screening and virtual discussion are part of Columbia University’s Maison Française Film Festival: Being in the World: People and the Planet in French and Francophone Cinema and are co-sponsored by the Columbia Maison Française and Albertine Cinémathèque.
Animalby Cyril Dion (2021)Documentary | 105 min.Orange Studio
The place of humankind among the living is the main subject of this film. At the instigation of Cyril Dion, who has already shared his vision in the highly acclaimed 2015 film Tomorrow (Demain), two teenager activists (Bella Lack and Vipulan Puvaneswaran) embark on an extraordinary quest to understand the impact of the ecological crisis and sixth mass extinction of the earth’s living species, and to find better ways for humans to cohabit more harmoniously alongside other animals. To do so, they travel and meet with scientists and activists all over the globe.
Watch the online discussion and Q&A with Director Cyril Dion, Leah Aronowsky, and Jérémy Désir, moderated by Shanny Peer
Filmmaker, environmental activist, writer, and poet Cyril Dion will engage in a wide-ranging discussion with Shanny Peer and Leah Aronowsky to talk about Animal and his other films, Tomorrow and After Tomorrow, as well as his political engagement in the climate movement, including his involvement in mounting the Affaire du Siècle which sued the French government for inaction on climate change; his advocacy for and shape the Citizens Convention for Climate, a citizens’ assembly held in 2019 and 2020 that debated and then proposed ways to reduce France’s carbon emissions by 40% from its 1990 levels in a spirit of social justice; and his Petit manuel de résistance contemporaine, which underlines the importance of stories in the evolution of society. Cyril will also read some of his poetry and talk about writers and artists he finds most inspiring for thinking about more radical ways of “being in the world.”
Cave of Forgotten Dreamsby Werner Herzog (2010)Documentary | 89 min.Swank Motion Pictures
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caves of Southern France and captures some of the oldest known and most well-preserved pictorial creations of early humans, dating back as far as 32,000 years ago. The limestone cave contains a wealth of beautiful images of galloping horses and a ghostly menagerie of bison, cave lions, cave bears, and wooly mammoths. Multiple red palm prints by one of the early artists reappear along the cave walls. The images attest to the admiration and respect these prehistoric humans held for animals and the natural world, and to their worldview described by an archeologist in the film as one with more porous boundaries between the seen and the unseen, and between animal spirits and the human souls who live alongside them. Werner Herzog exercises all his talent here to capture what he calls the “beginnings of the early human soul.” Many of the researchers interviewed seem deeply moved by the cave drawings and the mysterious atmosphere they create, which the film hauntingly conveys to its viewers.
This screening is part of Columbia University’s Maison Française Film Festival: Being in the World: People and the Planet in French and Francophone Cinema and are co-sponsored by the Columbia Maison Française and Albertine Cinémathèque.
AS I OPEN MY EYESby Leyla Bouzid
Watch Leyla Bouzid’s Masterclass at Columbia Maison Française
This screening and masterclass are co-sponsored by the Columbia Maison Française, Unifrance and Albertine Cinémathèque.
THE WOLBERG FAMILYby Axelle Ropert
Watch Axelle Ropert’s Masterclass at Columbia Maison Française
Previous films on the Albertine Cinémathèque Film Club:
A GERMAN YOUTHby Jean-Gabriel Périot Watch the Q&A Session with Jean-Gabriel Périot by Sam Di Iorio (Hunter College/CUNY)
FAITHFUL by Hélier Cisterne Watch the Q&A with lead actor Vincent Lacoste recorded by Unifrance
JOSEPby Aurel Watch the Q&A with director Aurel recorded by Unifrance
MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCEby David Dufresne Watch the Q&A with the director David Dufresne recorded by Unifrance
AFROFUTURISTIK – Quartiers Lointains Season 6Curated by Claire DIAO – Distributed by SUDU CONNEXIONShort films by SOFIA ALAOUI, JIM CHUCHU, KANTARAMA GAHIGIRI, C.J. OBASI and BALOJI + recorded Q&A © Courtesy of Mostra de cine africanos – Brazil, 2020 / Ana Camila Esteves
If you would like to organize a screening of the program on campus, please contact: Claire DIAO from SUDU CONNEXION at contact@sudu.film (+33 (0)6 78 02 04 94)
SKIES OF LEBANONby Chloé Mazlo Watch the Q&A with the director Chloé Mazlo recorded by Unifrance
UNDER THE STARRY SKY (DES ETOILES)by Dyana Gaye
SHOULD THE WIND DROPby Nora Martirosyan Watch the Q&A with the director Nora Martirosyan recorded by Unifrance
TEY (TODAY)by Alain Gomis Watch introduction by director Alain Gomis
More exciting events with film directors to be announced soon!
If you are an Albertine Cinémathèque Member, you can find registration’s information for the FILM CLUB HERE.
*Those films are part of the Young French Cinema program (Unifrance and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US) – for more information about the program please click HERE.
Sandrine Neveux Program Officer cinematheque@albertinefoundation.org