For almost fifteen years now, the Francophone Film Festival d’Angoulême, founded by
Marie-France Briere and Dominique Besnehard, marks the return of French cinema. This fourteenth edition was rich in favorites proving the dynamism of national production.
Great moments like a magnificent musical meeting sponsored by Julie Gayet and her association Twin sisters around Valérie Lemercier and her cheerful Aline have thrilled moviegoers and music lovers alike. But the quality of the selection made an equally strong impression on festival-goers, both for the films in competition and for the previews.
Love and sexuality on the program
The jury chaired by director and actress Nicole Garcia chose to distinguish some of our favorite films. A story of love and desire by Leyla Bouzid, discovered at the Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival, received the Valois diamond as well as the prize for best actor for
Sami Outalbali (seen in the series Sex Education). These deserved distinctions celebrate a delicate and sensual work around a young man terrified at the idea of taking action while he is madly in love with a college friend. The film will be in theaters next Wednesday.
Another enthusiasm shared with the jury for my legionary by Rachel Lang, revealed at Directors’ Fortnight and The True Family by Fabien Gorgeart. The award-winning scenario of the first evokes the life of the soldiers of the Foreign Legion and their wives, and the second crowned by the jury prize and for the magnificent performance of Mélanie Thierry tells how the mother of a foster family struggles to leave leave a child entrusted to his care. We will also cite the marvelous Small type by Samuel Theis, also seen at the Semaine de la Critique, which seduced French-speaking students by recounting the emotion of a kid in front of his teacher played by the remarkable
Antoine Reinartz.
A trio of future successes
Equally successful Black Box by Yann Gozlan, a breathtaking thriller in which Pierre Niney leads the investigation into an air crash was celebrated with the Audience Award. This film, which hits theaters on September 8, has everything to be a big hit at the box office. The same goes for two other nice surprises coming out in the coming months and which tackle disability with talent. Almost by Bernard Campan, comedy full of humanity where he sympathizes with disabled motor played by
Alexandre jollien and We are made for each other by Pascal Elbé where he plays a deaf man facing Sandrine Kiberlain made the spectators laugh and cry. Enough to make you want to go back to the cinema to taste French films.