Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2024
The Animal Kingdom. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Tickets
Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center present the lineup for the 29th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. Taking place from February 29 through March 10, this popular annual festival showcases the verve, creativity, and depth of contemporary French cinema in a variety of genres.
The 2024 Opening Night selection is Thomas Cailley’s French box office hit The Animal Kingdom, the director’s long-awaited follow-up to Love at First Fight (a highlight of Rendez-Vous 2015) and most recently nominated for 12 César Awards, including Best Director and Best Film. Cailley, who most recently won Best Director at the 29th Lumière Awards, envisions a mysterious infection that selectively mutates the bodies of ordinary people into animal hybrids at unpredictable speeds in a darkly imaginative exploration of a human ecosystem undergoing inexplicable—but potentially liberating—transformation.
“It is a great honor to open this year’s edition with the French critical and box-office hit The Animal Kingdom, with director Thomas Cailley in attendance,” said Daniela Elstner, executive director of Unifrance. “This remarkable film, along with this year’s selection, is a great example of the vitality and diversity of French cinema today. The attendance of a mix of new and established filmmakers together with the stellar presence of actress Marion Cotillard indeed make for a rich 29th edition of this year’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. This year’s lineup along with the recognition of Anatomy of a Fall at the Oscars, highlights what French cinema represents for American audiences today: an alternative voice and a vision of human relationships and world issues. Of the 21 feature films, more than half are directed by women and eight were made by first-time filmmakers. We are pleased to welcome them to New York during these 10 days.”
“This year’s edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema is an enthralling showcase of the very best in contemporary French cinema,” said Florence Almozini, VP of Programming for Film at Lincoln Center. “The impressive lineup features a host of French talent, introduces promising new directors, making their mark with their first or second feature, and welcomes back seasoned filmmakers eager to present their latest gem to New York audiences.”
Organized by Florence Almozini and Madeline Whittle, in collaboration with Unifrance.
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema is sponsored by Villa Albertine, TV5 Monde, Maison Occitanie, FIAF, The Plaza, New York
Films
The Animal Kingdom
Opening Night Film | New York Premiere | Introduction by Thomas Cailley at 6pm screening
When mankind is plagued with a mysterious infection that selectively mutates the bodies of ordinary people into animal hybrids, widower François (Romain Duris) and his teenage son Émile (Paul Kircher) must fight to survive in Thomas Cailley’s darkly imaginative exploration of a human ecosystem undergoing inexplicable—but potentially liberating—transformation.
All to Play For
New York Premiere | Q&A with Delphine Deloget on Mar. 8
When one of her sons has an accident while she’s at work, single mother Sylvie (Virginie Efira) must contend with a stubbornly dispassionate child welfare service system to regain custody of her youngest in Delphine Deloget’s compassionate, carefully observed feature debut.
Àma Gloria
New York Premiere | Q&A with Marie Amachoukeli on Mar. 2
When six-year-old Cléo (Louise Mauroy-Panzani) travels with her beloved nanny Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego) to visit Gloria’s native Cape Verde, the ripple effect of her presence brings underexplored emotions and familial tensions to the surface.
Auction
North American Premiere | Q&A with Pascal Bonitzer on Mar. 1
The latest from Pascal Bonitzer is a closely observed drama following André Masson (Alex Lutz), a modern art appraiser whose routine is unexpectedly disrupted by the discovery of a long-lost painting, a masterwork by Egon Schiele that had gone missing decades earlier after falling into the hands of Nazi officers.
Banel & Adama
New York Premiere | Q&A with Ramata-Toulaye Sy on Mar. 3
In Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s feature debut, set in rural Senegal, Banel (Khady Mane) and her husband Adama (Mamadou Diallo) find their relationship tested by pressures from the community, possibly triggering supernatural repercussions when they resist the roles and responsibilities that tradition dictates for them.
The Book of Solutions
New York Premiere
When his backers threaten to wrest control of his new film away from him, director Marc Becker (Pierre Niney) steals the hard drives that store the existing footage and retreats with his crew to the countryside home of his aunt Denise (Françoise Lebrun) in Michel Gondry’s imaginative, heartfelt, and memorably madcap comedy.
Consent
North American Premiere | Q&A with Vanessa Filho on Mar. 5
Vanessa Filho offers a powerful and unflinching examination of sexual predation in her adaptation of author Vanessa Springora’s 2020 memoir, which recounts Springora’s early-adolescent relationship with middle-aged writer Gabriel Matzneff (Jean-Paul Rouve).
First Case
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Victoria Musiedlak on Mar. 3
Inexperienced 26-year-old lawyer Nora (Noée Abita) is tasked with monitoring the interrogation of the teenage suspect in a murder case while also navigating her uneasy attraction to the officer in charge of the investigation in Victoria Musiedlak’s tense, thoughtful feature filmmaking debut.
Les Indésirables
New York Premiere | Q&A with Ladj Ly on Mar. 2
Following the demolition of his Parisian suburb’s old public housing towers, interim mayor Pierre (Alexis Manenti) comes into conflict with community activist Haby (Anta Diaw) in Ladj Ly’s incisive depiction of racial and social tensions in contemporary France.
Just the Two of Us
New York Premiere
A marriage that seemed to offer a bright new beginning soon takes on a sinister dimension in writer-director Valérie Donzelli’s tensely effective erotic thriller, featuring a virtuosic Virginie Efira in a double role as twin sisters Rose and Blanche.
Little Girl Blue
New York Premiere | Q&A with Mona Achache and Marion Cotillard on Mar. 1
The lives and legacies of three generations of extraordinary women artists are unpacked in Mona Achache’s hybrid documentary examining the fraught life and complicated legacy of her mother Carole, blurring the line between truth and fiction to create a rounded portrait of a troubled but outstandingly creative mind.
Marguerite’s Theorem
New York Premiere | Q&A with Anna Novion and Jean-Pierre Darroussin on Mar. 2
When a flaw is discovered during the presentation of her research, mathematics PhD student Marguerite (Ella Rumpf) abandons her dissertation and finds herself rethinking the parameters of the life she’s made for herself in Anna Novion’s affecting feature debut.
No Love Lost
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Erwan Le Duc on Mar. 9
Single father Étienne (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and daughter Rosa (Céleste Brunnquell) are set on a path of self-discovery by n unexpected echo from the past in Erwan Le Duc’s stylistically bold, warmly eccentric examination of the ties that bind us.
On the Adamant
New York Premiere
Veteran documentarian Nicholas Philibert’s award-winning latest feature follows the dedicated caretakers and patients who populate the Adamant, a barge in central Paris that serves as a day care facility for neurodivergent adults.
The Rapture
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Iris Kaltenbäck on Mar. 3
In the wake of an unexpected breakup with her boyfriend, midwife Lydia (Hafsia Herzi) gradually sublimates her emotional life into the pregnancy of her best friend in this dreamily stylish feature debut from director Iris Kaltenbäck, a deceptively slow-burning portrait of a desperate, inscrutable woman.
A Real Job
North American Premiere | Q&A with Thomas Lilti on Mar. 10
Writer-director Thomas Lilti trains an observant and empathetic eye on the travails of Benjamin (Vincent Lacoste), a freshly accredited substitute teacher who must contend with the challenges of balancing an involving home life with the varied demands of students, parents, and administrators.
Red Island
Ends Thursday!
Director Robin Campillo draws on personal history to evoke a sumptuously visualized 1970s childhood spent on one of the last remaining French colonial bases on Madagascar.
Sisterhood
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Nora El Hourch on Mar. 9
When teen Zineb (Salma Takaline) is harassed at a party, she and her longtime best friends Amina (Léah Aubert) and Djeneba (Médina Diarra) find their mutual affection and loyalty put to the test when the repercussions of their subsequent actions begin to tear the tight-knit group apart.
Spirit of Ecstasy
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Héléna Klotz on Mar. 8
The sophomore feature from director Héléna Klotz is an up-to-the-minute, stylishly directed look at the world of high finance, built around a nuanced character study of nonbinary quant Jeanne (Claire Pommet) whose future hinges on an unexpected chance to rocket to the top of the professional ladder.
The Temple Woods Gang
North American Premiere
Bébé (Philippe Petit) and five friends from his housing project decide to rob a Saudi prince (Mohamed Aroussi), setting off a series of events that none of the participants could have anticipated, in Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s arrestingly original perspective on the heist genre.
Toni
New York Premiere | Q&A with Nathan Ambrosioni on Mar. 2
In his sophomore feature, director Nathan Ambrosioni crafts an effortlessly affecting study of a former pop sensation and single mother of five (Camille Cottin) who, along with her lively brood, must adapt to a moment of collective transformation.Free Talks
Free Talk: Thomas Cailley and Sophie Barthes
Free and open to the public!
The Animal Kingdom director Thomas Cailley is joined by French-American director Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls) for an extended conversation about the filmmakers’ playful, up-to-the-minute experiments with genre, and the use of speculative fiction to examine political realities and probe timeless emotional truths.
Free Talk: Navigating Production in a World Reshaped by Local and Global Events
Free and open to the public!
This special panel conversation brings together esteemed film producers from France and the US to delve into their unique journeys, share insights into their craft, and explore the evolving role of film and entertainment production in a world dramatically reshaped by recent events.Tickets for the 29th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema are $17; $13 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $12 for Film at Lincoln Center members. Opening Night tickets for The Animal Kingdom are $25 and $20 for all Film at Lincoln Center members.
See more and save with a 3+ Film Package. $15 for the General Public; $12 for Students, Seniors, and Persons with Disabilities; and $10 for FLC Members. Discount automatically applied in cart after adding three (3) or more films.
Ticket Information
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Tickets
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