The Last Screening

In person: Director Laurent Achard, actor Pascal Cervo and producer Sylvie Pialat!

The Cinema Empire, a slightly run-down repertory house in a provincial town offers daily screenings of Jean Renoir’s French Can Can to a small but loyal clientele. The cinema is presided over by its manager/projectionist, Sylvain (Pascal Servo), a high priest of the Seventh Art who lovingly handles each film reel and makes sure that every detail is just right. Alas, the Empire is about to be sold by its owner, a secret Sylvain keeps from the customers who ask what will be showing in the coming weeks. But Sylvain, it turns out, is full of other, more sinister secrets, too. A clever weaving of cinephilia and contemporary horror, director Achard’s provocative updating of a classic genre tale examines the multiple ways that desire can be projected.