16th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival -- April 12-14 and 19-21

The theme for this year's Classic French Film Festival is "The French Family." Kicking off the festivities is the highly acclaimed documentary April In France, which made its world premiere at last year's St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF). Filmmaker David Boaretto will co-host the Opening Night Reception on Friday, April 12th at 6:30 pm. Each screening will be enriched by insightful introductions and post-film discussions led by esteemed film and French scholars and critics. All films will be presented in their original French language with English subtitles.

FILM PROGRAMS
FRIDAY, APRIL 12
April in France (April en France)
7:30 pm, David Boaretto, France, 2023, 77 min., documentary, color, French and English.
April, a 5-year-old English girl, is unhappy with her family's relocation to France. She moves to a small medieval village in southwest France where her great-grandfather lived. While waiting for him she meets his former friends, and with them she will discover her inner self while in turn transforming their lives forever.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13
The 400 Blows (Les quatres cents coups)
5:00 pm, François Truffaut, France, 1959, 99 min., narrative, black and white, French and English.
François Truffaut's first feature film stars 14-year-old Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel, the alter ego for Truffaut's youth. Challenged by parental neglect and oppressive teachers, Doinel turns to classroom absenteeism then criminal delinquency.

Other People's Children (Les enfants des autres)
8:00 pm, Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2022, 103 min., narrative, color, French and Hebrew
Dedicated high school teacher Rachel (Virginie Efira) forms a deep bond with her boyfriend's young daughter Leila. Fearing becoming an extra in her own life, Rachel must decide whether to embrace the entanglements of her current situation or strike out again on her own. Other People's Children is a soulful, sexy, and resolutely grown-up story of the elusive quest for agency and belonging.

SUNDAY, APRIL 14
My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de Courgette)
1:00 pm, Claude Barras, Switzerland and France, 2016, 66 min., narrative animation, color, French
Orphans in a children's home band together as friends and discover the meaning of happiness and love. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Son of the Shark (Le fils du requin)
3:30 pm, Agnès Merlet, France, 1993, 88 min., narrative, color, French
In a small northern town, two abandoned children decide violence is their only option and wreak terror wherever they go. In a hostile world, their search for someplace special and safe leads them to live in a fantasy as their only refuge.

My Life in Pink (Ma vie en rose)
6:30 pm, Alain Berliner, France, 1997, 88 min., narrative, color, French
Ludovic is waiting for a miracle. With six-year-old certainty, she believes she was meant to be a little girl - and that the mistake will soon be corrected. But where she expects the miraculous, Ludo finds only rejection, isolation and guilt - as the intense reaction of family, friends, and neighbors strip away every innocent lace and bauble.

FRI APRIL 19
Full Time (À plein temps)
7:00 pm, Eric Gravel, France, 2021. 87 min., narrative, color, French
Single mother Julie (Laure Calamy) needs reliable transit to get to work-and it's suddenly been severed during the latest transit strike. Out of desperation, Julie turns to neighbors and her own gutsy resourcefulness to stay afloat in a ruthless society as her responsibilities pile up. Full Time is an impossible race against time and a kinetic thriller about the insecurity of modern life.

SAT, APRIL 20
Petite Maman
1:00 pm, Céline Sciamma, France, 2021, 1h 12 min., narrative, color, French
From acclaimed filmmaker Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) comes a tender tale of childhood grief, memory and connection. Eight-year-old Nelly accompanies her parents to her mother's childhood home following her beloved grandmother's death. As Nelly explores the house and nearby woods, she is immediately drawn to a neighbor her own age building a treehouse. Voted Best Film Not In The English Language by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

My Afternoons with Margueritte (La tête en friche)
4:00 pm, Jean Becker, France 2010, 82m, narrative, color French
My Afternoons With Margueritte is the story of life's random encounters. In a small French town Germain, a nearly illiterate man in his 50s who is considered the village idiot, takes a walk to the park and happens to sit beside Margueritte, a little old lady who is reading excerpts from her novel aloud.

SUN, APRIL 21
The Storm Within (Les parents terribles)
1:00 pm, Jean Cocteau, France, 1948, 105 min., narrative, black and white, French, restoration
Jean Cocteau films an adaptation of his successful stage play, The Terrible Parents.

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Category: Arts | Visual Arts | Film / Cinema