Austin Film Society Announces Lineup for 2022 New French Cinema Week
(Still from THE WORLD AFTER US, 2021)
AUSTIN, Texas, October 17, 2022— Austin Film Society (AFS) announces the 2022 lineup for New French Cinema Week, a festival of new international films by up-and-coming Francophone filmmakers. The festival will run from Thursday, November 10th, to Sunday, November 13th, at AFS Cinema.
Save the date for our annual celebration of the Francophone world’s most distinct new cinematic voices, programmed and presented in partnership with France’s leading festival for first films—the Premiers Plans Festival of Angers. Angers is Austin’s Sister City in France. Cinephiles will have a unique opportunity to see new French-language films including festival favorites and award winners, some titles still undistributed and unavailable in the U.S.
The lineup begins with a Premiers Plans premiere selection and the winner of Best Film at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, THE WORLD AFTER US, and includes Cannes Un Certain Regard prize winners and critical favorites RODEO and GOOD MOTHER as well as César and Lumière award winner MAGNETIC BEATS. The festival will close with Alice Diop’s SAINT OMER, France’s official Oscar submission this year. In addition, AFS will present a free showcase of animated non-fiction shorts that are part of an exchange between the Art and Design School of Angers and Austin Community College. The program will be presented by ACC professor of French John McMinn. Guests attending the opening night film, THE WORLD AFTER US, will also be invited to a complimentary pre-screening reception.
A series pass includes admission to each film and the opening-night reception. Series passes are available for New French Cinema Week at a 15% off discount from the list price. Passes include admission into all screenings and events. Ticket information can be found here.
DOWNLOAD FILM STILLS AND POSTERS
PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
THE WORLD AFTER US (LE MONDE APRÈS NOUS)
Louda Ben Salah-Cazanas, France, 2021
11/10 at 7:30 p.m.
A breathless Parisian romance that owes as much to Éric Rohmer as John Cassevettes, Louda Ben Salah’s debut feature is an immersive journey back to first love. A penniless aspiring writer Labidi, lives on the floor of his friend’s not-quite-studio apartment in Paris. Labidi has a promising start with an optioned novel, but no income. When he meets the girl of his dreams (played by talented French cinema it-girl, Louise Chevillotte), Labidi puts the pieces together for an ideal romance that he can’t quite afford. Ben Salah-Cazanas’ skillful direction offers an authentic experience of today’s Paris from the perspective of a young artist. A competition selection of the Premiers Plans Festival, and winner of Best Film at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival.
RODEO
Lola Quivoron, France, 2022
11/11 at 8 p.m.
A riveting tale of speed, dreams and revenge, set in a world of French motorbike thieves. Director Lola Quivoron’s stunning debut feature took home a Un Certain Regard jury prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
DRAWING BY DRAWING: animated non-fiction shorts from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Angers
Various filmmakers, USA/France, 2020
11/12 at 7 p.m.
Inspired by the artistic exchange game known to the surrealists as”exquisite corpse,” students from Angers École d’Art et de Design illustrated and animated sonoric excerpts created by students at Austin Community College. The results are moving, striking, and inspiring, with the goal of communicating across borders through self-expression beautifully realized. This is a free, ticketed 30-minute program presented by ACC professor John McMinn.
MAGNETIC BEATS (LES MAGNETIQUES)
Vincent Maël Cardona, France/Germany, 2021
11/12 at 8:15 p.m.
1980s France- Mitterrand has just been elected president, and youthful optimism about the country’s collective future is surging. But in Brittany, teenaged Phillippe only has ears for New Wave music, and eyes for his brother’s beautiful girlfriend. The possibility of being drafted by the French army, and sent to West Berlin, certainly throws a wrench into his plans. An expansive, romantic adventure set amidst the heights of 80s counter-culture, this excellent indie won France’s César award for Best First Film.
GOOD MOTHER (BONNE MÈRE)
Hafsia Herzi, France, 2021
11/13 at 2 p.m.
Actor/director Hafsia Herzi’s second feature is a riveting, emotional study of family dynamics, supported by marvelous naturalistic performances by first-timers street cast in Marseilles. A single full-time working mother, Nora (Halima Benhamed) takes multiple cleaning and caretaking jobs to support her live-in children and grandchildren. When her incarcerated eldest son’s legal fees mount, various members of the family personally take on the responsibility for finding fash cash. Winner of the Ensemble Prize for performances in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
SAINT OMER
Alice Diop, France, France, 2022
11/13 at 4:30 p.m.
Saint-Omer, 2016. On the stand is Laurence Coly (an ever captivating Guslagie Malanga), a Black Senegalese French PhD student and defendant in a horrific crime. Seated in the courtroom is Rama (Kayije Kagame), also a Black Senegalese woman, an intellectual, and writer who has traveled to the small coastal town to watch the trial while at work on a modern-day adaptation of Medea. As Rama listens to the riveting testimony of the accused, she begins to question not only the lines that separate the two women from one another, but with that of society at large.
Inspired by true events, SAINT OMER is a thoroughly engrossing examination of privilege, motherhood, and the myths we seek out to explain the inexplicable. Co-penned alongside Amrita David and critically-acclaimed novelist Marie NDiaye, Alice Diop’s feature debut, the official French submission to the International Feature Oscar race, announces the arrival of the filmmaker as a considerable talent to watch.
About Austin Film Society
Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, AFS creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS is committed to racial equity and inclusion, with an objective to deliver programs that actively dismantle the structural racism, sexism and other bias in the screen industries. AFS supports filmmakers from all backgrounds towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. More at austinfilm.org.
