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FRANCE

215 films to be showcased at La Rochelle

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- Running until 8 July, the 46th edition of the festival will showcase Bergman, Bresson, Philippe Faucon, Aki Kaurismäki, Lucrecia Martel and Nick Park

215 films to be showcased at La Rochelle
Dogman by Matteo Garrone

Having always shunned the diktats of competitions and focused its editorial line on a mixture of great films from the past and quality titles from the present, La Rochelle International Film Festival (which beat its attendance record last year with 90,000 attendees) will be opened tonight by Italian director Matteo Garrone’s Dogman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile
]
(and will be closed by the French premiere of Soldiers. Story from Ferentari [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
interview: Ivana Mladenovic
film profile
]
by Ivana Mladenovic) and will be hosting a very rich programme of 215 films – made up of 160 feature films and 55 short films – until 8 July.

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This year’s retrospective section features 20 feature films by the Swedish maestro, Ingmar Bergman, in celebration of the centenary of his birth. While a second big name in the history of world cinema will also be in the spotlight: the French director Robert Bresson, with an honorary screening of his 13 feature films. Finally, a selection of nine titles is due to showcase "The funny ladies of silent cinema."

This year’s festival is due to pay homage – in their presence – to three brilliant contemporary filmmakers and will be screening the entirety (17 feature films) of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's filmography, eight French films by Philippe Faucon (including his latest film, Amin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Faucon
film profile
]
– very popular at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes) and four feature films by Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel. There will also be a programme dedicated to British animation maestro Nick Park with Studios Aardman.

Also on the agenda is the "Ici et Ailleurs" section, devoted to the 41 most popular films of the year. Among them is the world premiere of Au poste! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by the whimsical Quentin Dupieux, as well as French premieres Messi and Maud [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by the Dutch director Marleen Jonkman, and documentaries Young Solitude [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claire Simon
film profile
]
by Claire Simon (discovered at Berlin), The Dead Nation [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Romanian director Radu Jude and The Other Side of Everything [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mila Turajlić
film profile
]
by Serbian director Mila Turajlic. A plethora of feature films is due to touch down straight from Cannes, including the Palme d'Or winner Une affaire de famille by the Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Best Screenplay winner Happy as Lazzaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Rohrwacher
film profile
]
by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, competitors The Wild Pear Tree [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by the Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Summer [+see also:
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interview: Ilya Stewart
film profile
]
by Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov and Yomeddine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: A.B. Shawky, Dina Emam
film profile
]
by Egyptian director A.B. Shawky, the scandalous and passionate film The House That Jack Built [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile
]
by Danish director Lars von Trier, the thrilling Woman at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile
]
by Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson, the Un Certain Regard award-winners Donbass [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile
]
by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa and Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Meryem Benm'Barek
film profile
]
by Moroccan director Meryem Benm’Barek, Petra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaime Rosales
film profile
]
by the Spanish director Jaime Rosales, Our Struggles [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Guillaume Senez
film profile
]
by Belgian director Guillaume Senez, The Harvesters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Etienne Kallos
film profile
]
by Greek-South African director Etienne Kallos, My Favourite Fabric [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Syrian director Gaya Jiji, The Gentle Indifference of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
film profile
]
by Adilkhan Yerzhanov from Kazakhstan, and the documentaries Samouni Road [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefano Savona
film profile
]
by the Italian director Stefano Savona, Libre [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Michel Toesca, The State Against Nelson Mandela and the Others [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Gilles Porte and Nicolas Champeaux, Dead Souls [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Chinese director Wang Bing and Cassandro the Exotico [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Marie Losier.

A top-of-the-range programme complemented, among other things, by a focus on contemporary Bulgarian cinema (on which Cineuropa will be back in more detail), a night of three films starring Christopher Walken and several classics and rarities – an ample film-focused selection that gives La Rochelle Film Festival all its charm.

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(Translated from French)

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