East End Film Festival screens French premieres
The London Film Fest kicks off on July 3rd until the 8th
Carré Blanc, an avant-garde film with Sami Bouajila (r) and Julie Gayet
The 11th East End Film Festival kicks off July 3rd premiering a selection of features from all over the world, including a few French films. A couple of first features will be showcased. Jean-Baptiste Léonetti's Carré Blanc, starring Sami Bouajila (Best actor in Cannes in 2006) and Julie Gayet, an avant-garde movie, is premiering on Friday 6th July at the Rio at 11.30pm. Sophie Letourneur's chick movie Life at the Ranch will be screened at the Stratford Picturehouse on the same day at 8.30pm.
Also part of this year's selection is Tony Gatlif's Indignados, screening at the Rio on Sunday 8th July at 8.30pm. Belgian director Geoffrey Enthoven and the inspiration for the story, Asta Philpot, will be answering all your questions at the end of the sreening of Come as you are (Hasta La Vista) on Saturday 7th July at 7.30pm at the Rio. Bestiaire, the portrait of the lives of the animals of Montreal Parc Safari, by Canadian director Denis Coté, will be screened on Sunday 8th July at 5.30pm at RichMix.
- The films
CARRE BLANC
Director: Jean-Baptiste Léonetti. UK premiere. Best Film Award Competition
Location / Venue: Rio. Running time: 77min. Country: France
Year: 2011. Date: 06/07. Time: 11.30pm
A gravely stylish vision of a dystopian future, Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s debut feature internalises the seemingly disparate influences of Luc Besson, Jean Luc Godard and Park Chan-wook to fashion a French society run by a mysterious, arbitrary caste system. Protagonist Philippe negotiates the “game” inside an urban machine that turns its victims into hamburgers, and is ultimately forced to choose between his meteoric rise and his marriage.
CHICKS: LIFE AT THE RANCH
Director: Sophie Letourneur UK premiere. Best Film Award Competition
Location / Venue: Stratford Picturehouse. Running time: 92min
Country: France. Year: 2009. Date: 06/07. Time: 8.30pm
The communal life of a group of Parisian girls revolving around an apartment affectionately known as ‘the Ranch’, is the stage for Sophie Letourneur’s debut feature, which tells of a life of talking, smoking, drinking and partying. Bold, natural and utterly believable, Chicks underlines how poorly served cinema often is for female characterisation.
COME AS YOU ARE
Director: Geoffrey Enthoven. London premiere
Location / Venue: Rich Mix. Running time: 115min. Country: Belgium
Year: 2011. Date: 07/07. Time: 3.30pm
Sight impaired Jozed, paraplegic Philip, and wheelchair-bound Lars convince their parents to let them embark on a ‘wine tour’ to southern Spain that is in fact a cover for visiting a brothel. An offbeat road trip in search of wine, adventure and women that makes for a relentlessly charming, heartfelt crowdpleaser.
Followed by Q&A with director Geoffrey Enthoven and the inspiration for the story of Come As You Are, Asta Philpot. Also screening at the Aubin Cinema on Sunday 8th July at 3.00pm.
INDIGNADOS
Director: Tony Gatlif. UK premiere
Location / Venue: Rio. Running time: 88min. Country: France
Year: 2012. Date: 08/07. Time: 8.30pm
Inspired by Stephane Hessel’s bestseller ‘Time for Outrage’, veteran director Tony Gatlif’s powerful take on current global events shows us a world in flux through the eyes of a female illegal immigrant, taking us to the heart of the Occupy movement, the poverty of displaced people, and the dissatisfaction of a younger generation in revolt.
+ THIS IS NOT MY HOME
UK | 2012 | 11 min A man looks back on the most significant events of his existence, bringing to light his past and stolen dreams.
BESTIAIRE
Director: Denis Côté London premiere. Best Documentary Competition
Location / Venue: Rich Mix. Running time: 72min. Country: Canada / France
Year: 2012. Date: 08/07. Time: 5.30pm
Nominally a portrait of the lives of the animals of Montreal’s Parc Safari, Denis Côté’s exquisite film is in fact 2012’s equivalent of La Quatre Volte, a mesmerising meditation on the cycles of life and nature as told through the interaction between humans and animals including giraffes, elephants, goats, chimpanzees and bears. A film in which to lose yourself.
