The 17th edition of the Arras Film Festival (read the interview with general delegate Eric Miot) kicks off today. Boasting ever-rising attendance levels, the gathering has a winning strategy: treating audiences to a fine balance between exploring various European film industries that may not be so well known in France, and a line-up rich in more popular titles, complete with premiere screenings in the presence of the films’ casts and crews.

Besides the competition, which awards the Golden Atlas to the winning film, and the "Eastern Selection" and "European Discoveries" sections (read the presentation news), the ten-day gathering will stand out from the rest thanks to its programme of 32 features receiving a premiere screening, starting with the opening film, Two Is a Family [+leggi anche:
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making of
scheda film] by Hugo Gélin (toplined by Omar Sy). 

Also included in the showcase are works that were unveiled at major international festivals this year: at Cannes (the award-winning Graduation [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Cristian Mungiu
intervista: Cristian Mungiu
scheda film] by Romania’s Cristian Mungiu, competitors Loving [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jeff Nichols, Paterson [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jim Jarmusch, Tour de France [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rachid Djaïdani
scheda film] by Rachid Djaïdani and Sweet Dreams [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Marco Bellocchio
scheda film] by Italy’s Marco Bellocchio, screened in the Directors’ Fortnight, and Pierre Filmon’s documentary Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond, presented in Cannes Classics), Locarno (Ceasefire [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Emmanuel Courcol, In the Forest [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Gilles Marchand, Vincent and the End of the World [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Belgian director Christophe van Rompaey), Berlin (The Commune [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Thomas Vinterberg
scheda film] by Denmark’s Thomas Vinterberg and Miss Impossible [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Emilie Deleuze), Telluride (Lost in Paris [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon
scheda film] by Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel), Toronto (150 Milligrams [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Emmanuelle Bercot, Souvenir [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Belgian filmmaker Bavo Defurne, Beyond Flamenco [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Spaniard Carlos Saura and the British co-production Lion [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Garth Davis) and Venice (Hacksaw Ridge by Mel Gibson and A Woman’s Life [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Stéphane Brizé
scheda film] by Stéphane Brizé, who is the festival’s guest of honour).

Arras audiences will also be able to enjoy A Bun in the Oven [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Nadège Loiseau, The Eavesdropper [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Thomas Kruithof, Elementary [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Hélène Angel, The Fabulous Patars [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Sophie Reine, Trainee Day [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Marc Fitoussi, Open at Night [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Edouard Baer, Il a déjà tes yeux [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Lucien Jean-Baptiste, Un jour mon prince by Flavia Coste and The Confession [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Nicolas Boukhrief.

Also of note among the premieres are four films produced in the Hauts-de-France region: the animated movie Louise by the Shore [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jean-François Laguionie, Souffler plus fort que la mer [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Marine Place, Comment j'ai rencontré mon père by Maxime Motte and Carole Matthieu [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Louis-Julien Petit (toplined by Isabelle Adjani).

This vast programme will be rounded off by the World Cinema section, which includes such films as the Cannes-awarded The Salesman [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, the Berlin revelation Hedi [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Tunisia’s Mohamed Ben Attia, Neruda [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Chile’s Pablo Larrain, the British co-production Theeb [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Naji Abu Nowar
scheda film] by Naji Abu Nowar and One Week and a Day [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Israeli filmmaker Asaph Polonsky.

We should also point out the 15-film focus on "The Spanish War, a European Tragedy", a section for youngsters (including the German production Not Without Us by Sigrid Klausmann, Solan and Ludvig: The Big Cheese Race [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rasmus A. Sivertsen
scheda film] by Norwegian director Rasmus A Sivertsen, the Danish title Julius et le père Noël by Jacob Lay and Les enfants de la chance [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Malik Chibane, among others), a selection of 15 "Great Escapes" and a number of cine-concerts. Last but not least, the gathering will host the fifth edition of the Arras Days (12-13 November), which will hand out Development Aid Grants (the main one courtesy of the CNC) to feature-length fiction projects initiated by the directors and producers of the films selected at Arras this year in the "Competition", "Eastern Selection" and "European Discoveries" sections.