The best of French Cinema in 2014

The annual celebration of the best in contemporary French film returns for its fifth year to venues across the UK.

UniFrance Films and the Institut français have just announced the fifth edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. The annual celebration of French cinema, which this year honours Gallic filmmakers, will take place from 23 – 28 April in cities throughout the UK, including London (at Curzon Soho and Ciné Lumière), Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Nottingham and Oxford.

Isabelle Giordano, Executive Director of UniFrance Films, said : ‘we’re delighted to present a wide selection of the most recent French films for the 5th edition of our festival. This year is a great opportunity to show the UK film industry and public the best of French cinema. Our priority this year is to present the diversity of our filmmakers with a special programme featuring an exclusive compilation of powerful images from film, music videos, commercials and short films.’

The 2014 event opens on April 23rd with ‘Bright Days Ahead’ (Les Beaux Jours) at Curzon Soho followed by a Q&A with lead actress, Fanny Ardant, and the film’s director, Marion Vernoux. Other highlights include a Q&A with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet following the screening of ‘The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet’ (L’Extravagant Voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet), a Q&A with director Agnès Troublé (aka agnès b.) following a screening of her feature directorial debut, ‘My Name is Hmmm…’ (Je m’appelle hmmm…), a Q&A with Martin Provost, director of ‘Violette’, and Emmanuelle Seigner, star of ‘Venus in Fur’ (La Vénus à la fourrure) and a Q&A with director-actor Albert Dupontel for his film ‘9 Month Stretch’ (9 Mois Ferme).

The event will also feature a number of titles screenings. These include: ‘Quai d’Orsay’, a comedy set in the French ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, ‘Belle & Sebastian’ (Belle et Sébastien), a story of a young boy and his dog who foil the Nazis’ effort to capture members of the French resistance, ‘Life of Riley’ (Aimer, Boire et Chanter), based on the play by Alan Ayckbourn, in which two actors discover that their friend is fatally ill and ‘Hiroshima mon amour’, Alain Resnais’s masterpiece.

Rendez-Vous with French Cinema will take place at venues in London and across the UK, including Bristol, Canterbury, Nottingham and Oxford, where a curated audience Q&A will be held with either a filmmaker or cast member after each film screening.