Film Countries Archives: France

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A young man with glasses glares straight ahead. His face is sweaty and battered.

Carnal Sins Almamula

  Juan Sebastián Torales

  France, Argentina, Italy     95 minutes

Synopsis

Nino, a gay teen from a deeply religious family, is the continual target of homophobic attacks by the neighborhood boys. His parents decide to temporarily move the family to a pious village in the countryside, where the legend of the Almamula — a monster that haunts the forest waiting to take those who commit impure acts — frightens the community’s youth into hushed submission. Amidst the summer heat, Nino’s desires and impulses are unignorable, and he finds himself seeking out temptation and sin. To escape from a reality rife with repression and hypocrisy, Nino willingly succumbs to the mysteries of the forest.

A rich and seductive fable, Carnal Sins is a darkly stunning first feature from Juan Sebastián Torales that blurs the borders of fantasy and reality, religion and myth.

 Spanish with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Lorena Quevedo, Edgard Tenembaum
  •   Juan Sebastián Torales
  •   Juan Sebastián Torales
  •   Ezequiel Salinas
  •   Nicolás Díaz, Martina Grimaldi, María Soldi, Cali Coronel, and Adrián Ramallo
  •   Matteo Locasciulli
  •   Bendita Films
  •   https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11488252/

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A woman in an orange polo and red shorts strides confidently through a courtyard. Two women watch from behind her.

Club Zero

  Jessica Hausner

  Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark     110 minutes

Synopsis

Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner (Little Joe) returns to the director’s chair with a provocative thriller out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Crimson Peak) stars as Ms. Novak, a nutrition teacher at an elite prep school whose dogma of “conscious eating” quickly devolves into cult-like conformity for a group of seven teens. By the time their parents realize how extreme this so-called “Club Zero” has become, it may be too late to break Ms. Novak’s spell over her students.

A mannered, impeccably constructed combination of dry satire and gross-out body horror, Club Zero takes aim at Instagram “wellness” culture and social conformity. A typically controversial statement from an iconoclastic director, it’s bound to be the one of the most talked-about films at this year’s Festival.

 English 

Content Considerations
Potentially disturbing images of disordered eating
Learn about Festival content considerations...

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Philippe Bober, Mike Goodridge, Johannes Schubert, Bruno Wagner
  •   Jessica Hausner, Géraldine Bajard
  •   Karina Ressler
  •   Martin Gschlacht
  •   Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen
  •   Markus Binder
  •   Barth Brosseau, Kristin Irving, Alex C. Lo, Eva Yates, Vladimir Zemtsov
  •   Coop99 filmproduktion and Coproduction Office, Coproduction Office Ltd., Essential Films, Parisienne de Production, Paloma Productions, Gold Rush Films, Cinema Inutile, Austrian Film Institute, BBC Film, FISA - Film Industry Support Austria, ORF Film/Fernseh – Abkommen, Eurimages - Council of Europe, Vienna Film Fund, Gold Rush Pictures, ZDF/Arte, Arte France Cinéma, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Doha Film Institute, TRT Sinema, The Danish Film Institute, DR, Film Funding Lower Austria, Obala Art Centar, CNC, Aide au Cinéma du Monde, Institut Français

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Gagarine

  Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh

  France      2020    

Synopsis

Youri, 16, has lived all his life in Cité Gagarine, a public housing complex on the outskirts of Paris. Gazing out his highrise window, he dreams of becoming an astronaut. When demolition plans for the complex are announced, Youri rallies friends and neighbors in hopes of saving the only home he’s known. Shot on location and in collaboration with neighborhood residents, Gagarine is a moving meditation on the meaning of home.

 French with subtitles 
  97 minutes

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Sponsors

Film Partner

logo: French Embassy in the United States 156x125Logo: Villa Albertine 203x60

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Small Country: An African Childhood Petit pays

  Eric Barbier

  France      2020    

Synopsis

The son of a French father and Rwandan mother, 10-year-old Gabriel spends idyllic days studying at school and playing with friends in a well-sheltered Burundian community. That is, until the ethnic genocide in neighboring Rwanda spills into his world, threatening families and taking lives. From the semi-autobiographical novel of singer and writer Gaël Faye comes this perceptive and affecting tale of a childhood interrupted and paradise lost.

 French, Kirundi, Swahili with subtitles 
  111 minutes

Screenings & Events

Post-screening discussion led by Professor Maggie O’Brien, DePaul University

Post-screening discussion presented by: Logo: Citi 161x100

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Sponsors

Film Partner

Logo: French Consulate 268x50Logo: Villa Albertine 203x60

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The Shiny Shrimps Les Crevettes pailletées

  Cédric Le Gallo & Maxime Govare

  France      2019    

Synopsis

Under fire after making a homophobic statement on TV, Olympic swimmer Matthias is in hot water. Desperate to make good, he’ll do anything to regain his place on the national team. The penance? Coach the Shiny Shrimps, a flamboyant and amateur gay water polo team angling to qualify for the Gay Games in Croatia. This boisterous comedy, dripping with screwball gags, effervescent laughs, and an enormous heart, chronicles a bumpy-yet-joyful ride where both coach and teammates have something to prove.

 French with subtitles 
  105 minutes

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Film Partner

Logo: French Consulate 268x50Logo: Alliance Francaise 138x100