New Delhi: Celebrating the rich contribution of women film directors to the cinematic oeuvre of France, a two-week-long French Film Festival premiered at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre (IHC) on Monday. Scheduled to run from January 9, 2023 and organized by the Embassy of France in India and the French Institute in India (IFI), the film festival titled “Women Directors from France” will entail the screening of five films by women filmmakers.
With a selection of both established and up-and-coming directors, the festival aims to showcase the diverse and talented voices of women in the film industry. From thought-provoking documentaries to heart-wrenching dramas, the lineup includes a wide range of genres and styles. In addition to the film screenings, the festival will also host panel discussions and Q&A sessions.
Set in present day Forbach, Eastern France, the film Real Love / C’estçal’amour (Jan 9 at 7 pm) by director Claire Burger features the character of Mario, who raised their two teenage daughters on his own since his wife walked out on the family.
The film Atlantics / Atlantique (Jan 11 at 7 pm) by Mati Diop transports viewers along the Atlantic coast, where a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in the hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned.
A Radiant Girl / Une Jeune Fille Qui Va Bien (Jan 17 at 7 pm) by Sandrine Kiberlain, is set in Paris, in the summer of 1942. Irene is a young, bubbly, 19-year-old Jewish girl. The aspiring actress lives her youthful life without a care in the world, but she does not know that time may be running out.
The animation film The Crossing / La Traversée (Jan 18 at 7 pm) by Florence Miailhe revolves around a family that is forced to flee after their village is looted in darkness. The two oldest children, Kyona and Adriel are soon separated from their parents and embark on a heroic journey that takes them from childhood to adolescence in search of shelter, peace and the hope of finding refuge and their family. Crossing a continent torn apart by war and migrant persecution, these courageous siblings survive incredible challenges, before reaching a new world, free at last.
The fifth film Skies of Lebanon / Sous le cield’Alice (Jan 23 at 7 pm) by Chloé Mazlois set in the 1950s, when a young Alice leaves Switzerland for Lebanon, a sunny and exuberant country, where she falls in love with Joseph, a mischievous astrophysicist who dreams of sending the first Lebanese into space.
The film was selected at Semaine de la Critique at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. A poetic blending of the personal and the political, “Skies of Lebanon” combines live action with animation to create a vivid picture of Lebanon, inspired by the family history of the director. Using stories told to her by her grandmother on life during the Lebanese Civil War, Mazlo crafts a touching and heart-breaking story of love during wartime.
All movies will be screened in French with English subtitles.