16/06/2017 - More than 80 French and American features and shorts are taking part in the sixth edition of the Parisian festival and the Industry Week, which includes the Paris Coproduction Village

Opened last night by Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, the sixth Champs-Élysées Film Festival will unspool in movie theatres on Paris’ world-famous avenue (the Balzac, the Gaumont Marignan, the Lincoln, the Publicis Cinémas, the UGC George V and the Club de l’Étoile) until 22 June, offering a selection of over 80 French and US independent films.

Chaired by novelist Pierre Lemaître (winner of the Goncourt Award in 2013 for The Great Swindle, which has been adapted for the screen by Albert Dupontel and is slated to come out in theatres on 25 October), and including Lolita Chammah, Lola Creton, Karidja Touré, Camélia Jordana, Jérémie Elkaïm, Vincent Dedienne and Gustave Kervern, the French competition jury will be judging six titles. Standing out among them are the exciting tragicomedy Montparnasse Bienvenüe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile] by Léonor Serraille (winner of the Caméra d'Or at Cannes, where the movie was unveiled in Un Certain Regard, and which Shellac will distribute in September) and Wallay [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Berni Goldblat (screened at the Berlinale, in the Generation K+ section, and set to be released in theatres on 28 June by Rezo Films). The selection is topped off by the post-apocalyptic drama Merrick [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Benjamin Diouris, Embrasse-moi! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Océanerosemarie and Cyprien Vial (on general release in France from 15 July via Haut et Court), Happiness University [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alain Della Negra and Kaori Kinoshita (distributed from 28 June by Epicentre Films) and Les étoiles restantes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Loïc Paillard. Meanwhile, the jury of the American competitive section, which will also have six features to decide between, will be chaired by Randal Kleiser, the shorts competition jury will be presided over by Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, and the festival will dedicate a film lovers’ focus to the city of New Orleans. Furthermore, all of the directors of the features in competition will take part in two round-tables dedicated to exploring the place of independence today. 

This year, the guests of honour at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival are US filmmakers Alex Ross Perry and Jerry Schatzberg, their French counterparts Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, actress Elsa Zylberstein and seasoned thesp Claude Brasseur, and they will take part in a programme that includes meetings and discussions with the audience. 

The event will also present a professional sidebar from 20-22 June, with the Paris Coproduction Village (12 feature-film projects at the funding stage, which are joined by six projects by the residents from the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation – see the news on the selection) and US in Progress (featuring five American films in post-production).

(Translated from French)