It’s act six for Lumière
- A new chapter begins in the popular heritage-film revival organised in Lyon by Thierry Frémaux – and enhanced by the presence of an array of famous guests
Cinemas packed to the rafters with audiences dying to discover great (newly restored) works from among the world’s best heritage films, at a time when the population seems to have been sucked into a spiral of hypermodernity and private consumption: this is the incredible feat pulled off by the Lumière Festival, whose sixth edition will kick off on Monday 13 October in Lyon. The cinephilic passion, the energy and the address books of the two men in charge of the Lumière Institute (Thierry Frémaux and Bertrand Tavernier) have combined to make the event into a very popular date in the festival calendar, allowing experts of the seventh art to mingle with younger generations as they indulge in a fast-track introduction to the classics. And it all takes place in an economic environment in which the films of the past are enjoying a significant revival of interest, owing to the increased number of dissemination channels.
The Lumière Festival will unspool from 13-19 October in 62 venues, 26 municipalities and 40 exhibition spaces in the Greater Lyon area, for a total of 300 screenings. And the event will also be organising the second edition of the Classic Film Market (15-17 October, featuring a distributors’ day, among other highlights).
In order to give the festival a more glamorous edge, a huge array of guests will come along to present their works, including Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who will receive the Lumière Award 2014 and has rustled up two “Carte blanche” programmes.
Tributes will be paid to the iconic actresses Faye Dunaway (who will present Bonnie and Clyde as it opens the festival) and Isabella Rossellini, to Canadian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff and to his US counterpart Michael Cimino, all of whom will be in attendance. In addition, one of the master classes will be dedicated to an audience with the Oscar-winning French composer Michel Legrand.
It has also been announced that the festival will see the presence of filmmakers Michel Hazanivicius (with a special screening premiering a version of The Search [+see also:
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film profile] that is 15 minutes shorter than its projection at Cannes), Alan Parker, Nicole Garcia, Radu Mihaileanu, Jaime Rosales, Alain Cavalier, Rachid Bouchareb, Christian Carion, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Jean-Paul Salomé, Luc Jacquet, Daniel Cohen, Eric Guirado, Tonie Marshall, Rebecca Zlotowki, Anne Le Ny, and the directorial trio Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis.
Among the actresses in attendance will be Marisa Paredes, Bérénice Bejo, Stéphane Audran, Aure Atika, Elena Anaya and Rossy de Palma, while the actors include Keanu Reeves, Jean Rochefort, Franco Nero, Charles Berling, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Richard Anconina and Jean-Hughes Anglade.
Also gracing the event with their presence will be US editor Thelma Schoonmaker, screenwriter Jacques Fieschi, and producers Alain Sarde, Nicolas Seydoux and Philippe Carcassonne.
The jam-packed programme includes two films by FW Murnau screened as cine-concerts to musical accompaniment, a retrospective entitled “The Era of Claude Sautet”, a focus on the works of Frank Capra, a section exploring the filmography of Ida Lupino, the samurai saga Musashi Miyamoto by Japanese director Tomu Uchida, a look into the origins of the Italian western, and even an Alien Night.
(Translated from French)
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