Arras hosts Boorman and 16 unreleased European titles
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The 9th “L’Autre cinéma” - Arras International Film Festival (November 7-16) kicks off today and its special guest is John Boorman. The UK director – whose entire works will be presented in the Pas de Calais city – will hold a masterclass on Friday, November 14.
He has also announced his latest project, which will be co-produced with France: an animated adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, to be piloted by French company Action Synthèse.
The festival – whose reputation is growing – will screen European films unreleased in France. There will be a particular focus on titles from countries with produced few films and features that explore social issues.
The line-up includes three Polish films: Saviour Square [trailer] by Joanna and Krzysztof Krauze (crowned Best Film at last year’s Polish Film Awards); Dorota Kedzierzawska’s Time to Die (which won Best Actress at the 2008 Polish Eagle Awards for Danuta Szaflarska’s performance); and Tomasz Wiszniewski’s All Will Be Well (2008 National Best Actor Award for Robert Wieckiewicz).
Greece is represented by Thanos Anastopoulos’ Correction (shortlisted for the 2008 European Film Awards); Hungary by Gabor Rohonyi’s Konyec [trailer] (Audience Award at the 2007 Hungarian Film Week); and the Czech Republic by Jiri Vejdelek’s Vaclav [making of] (Best Actor for Ivan Trojan at the Finale Film Festival in April).
Bulgaria puts in an appearance with Lyudmil Todorov’s Seamstresses, Bosnia-Herzegovina with Srdan Vuletic’s It's Hard to Be Nice, Croatia with Dejan Acimovic’s I Have to Sleep My Angel [trailer] and Serbia with Stefan Arsenijevic’s Love and Other Crimes [making of] (unveiled in the Panorama section at the latest Berlinale).
Western European titles include Swiss-Italian director Fulvio Bernasconi’s Out of Bounds [making of] (Best Actor for Michele Venitucci at last year’s Locarno Film Festival); The Best of Me [trailer] by Spain’s Roser Aguilar (2007 Leopard for Best Actress for Marian Álvares); Hand of the Headless Man [making of] by Belgium’s Guillaume and Stéphane Malandrin and UK director Jan Dunn’s Ruby Blue. The line-up also includes two German films: Sylke Enders’ Kroko and Emily Atef’s The Stranger In Me [making of] (in this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week).
Among the avant-premières are Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo [trailer] (“The Deity”), Three Monkeys [trailer] by Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan and UK director Steve McQueen’s Hunger [trailer, film focus], which all scooped prizes at Cannes.
Also showing are Italian film Quiet Chaos [trailer, film focus] by Antonello Grimaldi, UK director Saul Dibb’s The Duchess [trailer], Moscow, Belgium [trailer] by Belgium’s Christophe van Rompaey (see interview) and 9 mm by fellow Belgian Taylan Barman.
French films include François Dupeyron’s With a Little Help From Myself'' [trailer], Antoine de Maximy’s Hollywood, I’m Sleeping Over Tonight, Louise-Michel by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, Fred Cavayé’s Anything for Her, Philippe Haim’s Secret Defense, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s Welcome Home and Karin Albou’s Le Chant des mariées'' (“The Brides’ Song”).
Fabien Lemercier cineuropa.org