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CUCHILLO DE PALO
Cuchillo de palo / 108Spain 2012 91'
2015 Monday, November 30th, Istituto francese, 8:00 pm
Directed by: Renate Costa
Renate Costa affectionately recalls his uncle, his arrest, torture, release, and later death from ‘sadness,’ as those who knew him said. His journey is a personal and political one in a country - Paraguay - which has yet to come to terms with its past. Personal remembrances, archival footage, recollections of fellow members of the resistance, and of relatives combine to make Cuchillo de palo a politically courageous film built around an elaborate and charming narrative.
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FIX ME
France, Palestine, Switzerland 2009 98'
2015 Tuesday, December 1st, Istituto francese, 6:00 pm
Directed by: Raed Andoni
Writer and film director Raed is a sort of Palestinian cousin of Woody Allen. Suffering from a headache that prevents him from working, he arms himself with humour and irony and questions his own role in Palestinian society. At the risk of upsetting his family and old friends, he decides to resort to psychotherapy and then make a film about it.
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IRANIEN
IranianFrance, Switzerland 2014 105'
2015 Sunday, November 29th, Istituto francese, 8:00 pm
Directed by: Mehran Tamadon
Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon, an atheist, manages to convince four mullahs – the supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran – to come live and talk with him for two days, welcoming them in his house. Their discussions mix with everyday life and a question resurfaces incessantly: how to live together when the view of the world and of the other are colliding? Freedom, religion, the place of women in society are dividing issues. Every time they come up, the attempts at living in harmony fall through.
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JE SUIS LE PEUPLE
I Am the PeopleFrance 2014 111'
2015 Monday, November 30th, Istituto francese, 6:00 pm
Directed by: Anna Roussillon
While the Egyptian people protest, crowding in Tahrir Square, the inhabitants of a village in the southern countryside follow the revolution from the screens of their TV sets. The film follows the overthrow of Mubarak and the fall of Morsi from the point of view of Farraj, a peasant. In the daily life of rural areas change is slower. -
L’ESCALE
Stop-overFrance, Switzerland 2013 100'
2015 Sunday, November 29th, Istituto francese, 4:30 pm
Directed by: Kaveh Bakhtiari
In a narrow apartment in Athens, Amir and his comrades are waiting for the fake documents that will open the doors to Europe for them. They share games and despair, they confront each other, and remember their beloved ones: these are not only details of daily life but necessary, unique companions in the exhausting wait for an unknown, possibly cruel future. Greece, land of uncertainty amplifying the sense of precariousness, cannot stop the dreams and expectations of those who are forced to “stop over” there.
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LA VIERGE, LES COPTES ET MOI
The Virgin, the Copts and MeFrance, Qatar, Egypt 2012 85'
2015 Sunday, November 29th, Istituto francese, 6:30 pm
Directed by: Namir Abdel Messeeh
Namir is a French filmmaker of Egyptian origin. One day he watches a videotape of the Virgin Mary’s apparition in Egypt with his mother who, like millions of other Copts, sees the Virgin on the screen while he sees nothing. Skeptical, Namir travels back to Egypt to make a film about the bizarre occurrence of these apparitions.
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NOUS, PRINCESSES DE CLÈVES
France 2010 69'
2015 Sunday, November 29th, Istituto francese, 3:00 pm
Directed by: Régis Sauder
La Princesse de Clèves, the first modern novel of French literature, is the protagonist of a sudden and overwhelming love but also the leading character of this film. The pupils of the Marseille Lycée Diderot give life to the literary work with their voices and faces. Through reading this classic, they project their own experiences as seventeen-year-olds who open to love for the first time with all the doubts and uncertainties typical of this life age, also made of tormented choices and sacrifices.
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PAULINE S’ARRACHE
Oh la la Pauline!France 2015 88'
2015 Wednesday, December 2nd, Istituto francese, 8:00 pm
Directed by: Emilie Brisavoine
Pauline is 15 years old. She has an eventful life, sympathetically filmed by her stepsister, Emilie Brisavoine. Pauline is the only one left to live with her atypical parents, the mother – a former queen of the night – who fell in love with a young transvestite – her father. Living with this family is an explosive experience, because in Pauline’s life nothing is simple: neither her parents’ genders, nor the love they feel for her. Not to mention her childhood memories, both magical and tragic.
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UNE JEUNESSE ALLEMANDE
A German YouthSwitzerland, France, Germany 2015 92'
2015 Saturday, November 28th, Odeon, 5:30 pm
Directed by: Jean-Gabriel Périot
The film describes the political extremism of a few young Germans of the late Sixties that led up to the formation of the Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF), the revolutionary terrorist group whose main ideologists were Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. Une Jeunesse Allemande features the images and cinema created over that period, including archival footage and original sound tapes. Its aim is to contribute to the reflection on the meaning of that revolutionary movement at the time when it exploded in all subverting and expressive power, and on how it resonates with contemporary society.
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Watch the interview with the filmmaker
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VOLTA À TERRA
(Be)longingPortugal, Switzerland, France 2014 78'
2015 Thursday, December 3rd, istituto francese, 8:00 pm
Directed by: João Pedro Plácido
Four seasons in Uz, in the Portuguese countryside. The life of the small community follows the rhythm of nature, that also sustains their livelihood. Old Antonio was a migrant, who has now come back to Uz. He is preparing the village feast. Daniel is a young shepherd who dreams of love. Perhaps he will find it at the feast. Volta à terra is the film director’s tribute to his native land and a forgotten lifestyle.
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