A spectacular film on the construction of the Eiffel Tower, an adaptation by Balzac, and ten feature films in competition: the Angoulême French-language film festival, at the end of August, hopes to set the tone for the back-to-school season.
This festival, which takes place from August 24 to 29, has marked the end of the summer break for French-speaking cinema for several years.
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Despite a still very unfavorable context for cinemas, which are struggling to find their audience, the festival wants to prove that "
the desire to go see films
" is still there, said producer and actor Dominique Besnehard to AFP. , general delegate of the Angoulême francophone film festival since 2008. If the festival does not reconnect with the 40,000 spectators it attracted before the pandemic, it hopes to exceed the 27,000 tickets last year.
12,000 places have already been sold in presale.
As for the competition, the presidency of the jury has been entrusted to the actress and director Nicole Garcia, who will also show out of competition her latest film,
Amants
, a romantic thriller starring Stacy Martin, Pierre Niney and Benoît Magimel.
In total, ten films are in the running for the Valois d'Or, including the thriller
Black Box
by Yann Gozlan, an investigation into an air crash,
A story of love and desire
by Leyla Bouzid, a film of love learning between a French of Algerian origin and a Tunisian student in Paris, noticed in Cannes or even
Rose
, by Aurélie Saada, one of the two members of the musical duo Brigitte, of which it is the first film.
The festival, which has in the past rewarded, or launched, future popular successes like
Guillaume and the boys, at the table!
(2013), or
Antoinette in the Cévennes (2020),
crowned
Ibrahim
by Samir Guesmi
in 2020
.
Out of competition,
Eiffel
, by Martin Bourboulon, will provide the opening show.
This ambitious French production looks back on the construction of the Eiffel Tower, against a backdrop of a love story between an impetuous Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) and a young woman of the bourgeoisie (Emma Mackey).
"
A French story that should go around the world,
" said Mr. Besnehard.
At the end of the day, the festival has programmed
Eugénie Grandet
, an adaptation of Balzac by Marc Dugain.
Angoulême, on the other hand, will have to do without the American star Sigourney Weaver, whose arrival had been announced but who was canceled due to a filming in Australia.
Romain Duris in
Eiffel.
YouTube screenshot - Pathe