The annual French cinema showcase celebrates the latest from Arnaud Desplechin, Louis Garrel, Rachid Hami, Christophe Honor\u00e9, C\u00e9dric Ido, Patricia Mazuy, Dominik Moll, Rebecca Zlotowski, and more, with debut features from Florent Gou\u00eblou and Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 2023 Opening Night selection is Alice Winocour\u2019s\u00a0Revoir Paris<\/em>, featuring Virginie Efira (Benedetta<\/em>, NYFF59 Main Slate selection) as translator Mia, who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant and is unable to resume life as usual.\u00a0<\/p>\n Confirmed to appear in person at the festival are Lise Akoka, Virginie Efira, Louis Garrel, Florent Gou\u00eblou, Rachid Hami, Christophe Honor\u00e9, C\u00e9dric Ido, Matthias Jacquin, S\u00e9bastien Marnier, Patricia Mazuy, Dominik Moll, L\u00e9a Mysius, Nicolas Pariser, Melvil Poupaud, L\u00e9onor Serraille, Ramzi Ben Sliman, Alice Winocour, and Rebecca Zlotowski, with more to follow.<\/p>\n Free talks include a sit–<\/u>down with filmmakers Alice Winocour and Opening Night Special Guest<\/a>\u00a0Sophie Barthes talking about Winocour\u2019<\/u>s vibrant body of work; a wide-ranging conversation with Virginie Efira in which the evolution of Efira\u2019s craft and her approach to portraying profoundly complicated, endlessly compelling women will be discussed; a conversation with Louis Garrel, moderated by Owen Kline, discussing Garrel\u2019s distinctive sensibility, his thematic and stylistic interests, and the ways in which his work is shaped by his process behind the camera; and Queer Identities on Screen, made possible in partnership with The Gotham Film & Media Institute and French in Motion, a special panel conversation featuring Christophe Honor\u00e9 (Winter Boy<\/em>), Florent Gou\u00eblou (Three Nights a Week<\/em>), and more to be announced.<\/p>\n Moviegoers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite film in the festival with the fourth annual Rendez-Vous Audience Award. This year\u2019s festival will also again feature the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award, bringing attention to the unique cinematic points of view of emerging filmmakers and their interpretations of France\u2019s new and diverse identities and encouraging young people to attend the festival.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n All films screen in the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th St.) unless otherwise noted<\/em><\/p>\n Opening Night<\/strong><\/p>\n Revoir Paris<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Alice Winocour, 2022, France\/Belgium, 105m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n After surviving a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant, married translator Mia (Virginie Efira) is haunted, unable to resume life as usual and left with a total blackout where her memories of the traumatic incident should be. Determined to reconstruct the sequence of events and reestablish a sense of normalcy, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened. In the process she forms bonds with fellow survivors, including banker Thomas (Beno\u00eet Magimel) and teenager F\u00e9licia (Nastya Golubeva). Initially shocking and ultimately deeply moving, Revoir Paris<\/em>, the latest from Rendez-Vous favorite Alice Winocour (Disorder<\/em>, Proxima<\/em>), is a meditation on grief and healing anchored by a career-best performance from Efira (Benedetta<\/em>, NYFF59 selection). A Music Box Films release.<\/p>\n Thursday, March 2 at 6:30pm (Introduced by Alice Winocour and Virginie Efira)<\/p>\n Thursday, March 2 at 9:30pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Brother and Sister \/ Fr\u00e8re et S\u0153ur<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Arnaud Desplechin, 2022, France, 108m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n One of film\u2019s great family creations, the sprawling, perpetually at-odds Vuillards have provided the memorable characters for some of Arnaud Desplechin\u2019s most beloved films, including Kings and Queen<\/em> (2004) and A Christmas Tale<\/em> (2008). His newest entry in the family\u2019s collective saga follows novelist Louis (Melvil Poupaud) and actress Alice (Marion Cotillard), siblings who experience a falling out when Louis depicts his sister unforgivably in one of his books. Years later, after their parents are involved in a near-deadly car crash, they\u2019re forced to try to negotiate some kind of coexistence\u2014or at least to find ways to avoid each other at the hospital bedside. Desplechin returns to some of his pet themes\u2014the lines between art and real life, the work of theater performers, family ties that both bind and divide\u2014in another deeply felt drama backed by a typically eclectic soundtrack.<\/p>\n Sunday, March 5 at 3:30pm (Q&A with Melvil Poupaud)<\/p>\n Tuesday, March 7 at 9:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Diary of a Fleeting Affair \/ Chronique d\u2019une liaison passag\u00e8re<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Emmanuel Mouret, 2022, France, 100m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n After happily married Simon (Vincent Macaigne) meets the equally happily single Charlotte (Sandrine Kiberlain, also in this year\u2019s Rendez-Vous selection The Green Perfume<\/em>), they agree to begin an affair devoid of heavy feelings\u2014but love, inevitably and maybe impossibly, emerges over the course of meetups on the beautifully photographed streets of Paris and weekends in the countryside. This acutely observed comic drama from Emmanuel Mouret (Love Affair(s)<\/em>, Rendez-Vous 2021) is powered by the chemistry between magnetic veteran star Kiberlain and the hilariously anxious Macaigne (fresh from Olivier Assayas\u2019s HBO update of his own Irma Vep<\/em>). The soundtrack is a selection of classical music mingled with a smattering of Serge Gainsbourg staples, recalling and reviving the best of French romantic drama.<\/p>\n Friday, March 3 at 4:00pm<\/p>\n Monday, March 6 at 9:30pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Five Devils \/ Les Cinq diables <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n L\u00e9a Mysius, 2022, France, 96m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n One of France\u2019s most celebrated young screenwriters, whose recent collaborators include such luminaries as Jacques Audiard, Claire Denis, and Arnaud Desplechin, L\u00e9a Mysius established herself as a vibrant new directorial voice with her feature debut, Ava<\/em>, a bold and daring highlight of Rendez-Vous 2018. Her sophomore feature, The Five Devils<\/em>, is every bit as distinctive and stylistically audacious in telling the story of Vicky (Sally Dram\u00e9, a major discovery in her debut), who is gifted with the ability to reproduce the scent of anyone and anything she encounters. Vicky\u2019s supernatural talent forms just one part of this wrenching family drama as mother Joanne (Ad\u00e8le Exarchopoulos) struggles to maintain a rocky relationship with her husband (Moustapha Mbengue) after his enigmatic sister (Swala Emati) returns to town, against a turbulent backdrop of rural French racism and homophobia. Mysius crafts a spellbinding tale as unpredictable as it is enthralling. A MUBI release.<\/p>\n Saturday, March 4 at 3:30pm (Q&A with L\u00e9a Mysius)<\/p>\n Wednesday, March 8 at 3:45pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For My Country \/ Pour la France<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Rachid Hami, 2022, France\/Taiwan, 113m<\/p>\n English, French, Arabic, and Mandarin with English subtitles<\/p>\n After French-Algerian military recruit A\u00efssa (Sha\u00efn Boumedine) dies while being hazed, older brother Isma\u00ebl (Karim Leklou) and his family converge upon the military academy to bury him and demand answers about how this tragedy occurred. Drawing upon his own family history, Rachid Hami (Orchestra Class<\/em>, Rendez-Vous 2018) bravely fictionalizes the story of his brother\u2019s death, elegantly flashing back from the present to an often contentious, globe-trotting sibling relationship during their adolescence in 1990s Algeria and time spent together in late-aughts Taipei. Integration, faith, and the sometimes difficult bonds of brotherhood are interrogated by Hami in this elegant and mournful film, which centers its finely drawn characters and their complex humanity over simple political messaging.<\/p>\n Thursday, March 9 at 6:30pm (Q&A with Rachid Hami)<\/p>\n Friday, March 10 at 3:45pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Forever Young \/ Les Amandiers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, 2022, France\/Belgium, 126m<\/p>\n English and French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Before he was internationally known as a filmmaker of modern classics like Queen Margot<\/em> and Intimacy<\/em>, the late Patrice Ch\u00e9reau was a director at the famed French theater school Les Amandiers. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, a Rendez-Vous regular both as an actress and as a director, draws upon her own memories in this fond, often rowdy group portrait of a tight-knit class navigating their first year at the school. Under the tutelage of Ch\u00e9reau (Louis Garrel, himself the accomplished director of Rendez-Vous 2023 selection The Innocent<\/em>), the students grow both personally and professionally during the late 1980s, studying briefly at the Actors Studio in New York City before tackling a year-end production of Chekhov\u2019s Platonov. <\/em>Among them is Stella (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), whose love affair with a talented but unstable fellow student provides a through-line across Bruni Tedeschi\u2019s chaotic and loving recollections.<\/p>\n Sunday, March 5 at 9:30pm<\/p>\n Friday, March 10 at 1:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Gravity \/ La Gravit\u00e9<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n C\u00e9dric Ido, 2022, France, 84m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n As eight planets prepare to enter an auspicious alignment, drug dealer Christophe (Jean-Baptiste Anoumon) returns home to the housing projects after serving time in prison, only to find that the familiar milieu has changed in his absence. His friend Daniel (Max Gomis) has gone straight, pursuing a career as a professional runner, while Christophe\u2019s brother, Joshua (Steve Tientcheu), now paralyzed from the waist down, has continued to sell narcotics. Shooting in his hometown of Seine-Saint-Denis, French-Burkinabe actor and writer-director C\u00e9dric Ido puts a sci-fi twist on this gritty, up-to-the-minute crime saga as the planetary configuration wreaks unexpected mental havoc on the towers\u2019 residents. Equally evoking the aliens-versus-gangs thriller Attack the Block <\/em>and Ladj Ly\u2019s recent Palme d\u2019Or winner Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>, Ido adroitly uses genre to comment on race, class, and the struggles of the recently incarcerated to reintegrate into society.<\/p>\n Villa Albertine has partnered with Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center to highlight THE GRAVITY by C\u00e9dric Ido who is participating to La Nuit des Id\u00e9es.\u00a0Use code RDV2023 for $5 off tickets!\u00a0<\/strong>Note you must enter the code\u00a0prior\u00a0to adding tickets to the cart to see the discount applied.<\/p>\n Saturday, March 4 at 1:00pm (Q&A with C\u00e9dric Ido)<\/p>\n Monday, March 6 at 1:30pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Green Perfume \/ Le Parfum vert<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Nicolas Pariser, 2022, France, 102m<\/p>\n English, French, and German with English subtitles<\/p>\n When an actor dies onstage during a performance at the Com\u00e9die-Fran\u00e7aise, his final words to fellow actor Martin (Vincent Lacoste) are to say he\u2019s been murdered, followed by the mysterious phrase \u201cgreen perfume.\u201d So begins this knowingly Hitchcockian thriller (with a touch of Tintin<\/em> creator Herg\u00e9 thrown into the stylistic mix). The enigmatic events spur Martin to set off on a pan-European journey to discover the forces behind this mysterious killing. He makes his way to Brussels and eventually to Budapest alongside comic book writer Claire (Sandrine Kiberlain). Arriving at unexpected thematic resonance by way of searching dialogues about the nature of European identity and the Jewish diaspora, writer-director Nicolas Pariser (Alice and the Mayor<\/em>, Rendez-Vous 2020) crafts a humorous, finely tuned, thoroughly French evocation of the master of suspense\u2019s lighter work.<\/p>\n Wednesday, March 8 at 6:15pm (Q&A with Nicolas Pariser)<\/p>\n Saturday, March 11 at 1:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Harkis \/ Les Harkis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Philippe Faucon, 2022, France, 82m<\/p>\n French and Arabic with English subtitles<\/p>\n Unfolding from 1959 to 1962, as the Algerian War definitively turns against the French colonial powers, Harkis<\/em> takes its title from the term given to native recruits who joined the occupying army, only to find themselves abandoned when their would-be protectors lost the war. Complexly rendered portraits of men in a difficult situation during a moment of monumental political change are punctured by tense and startling scenes of combat, but the violence and betrayals inflicted on the soldiers by their recruiters is even greater. Moroccan-born French director Philippe Faucon\u2019s Fatima<\/em>(Rendez-Vous 2016), a sensitive dramedy about a Moroccan mother struggling to connect with her daughters, was awarded Best Picture at the C\u00e9sar Awards; here, Faucon demonstrates an equally steady hand with his outstanding ensemble cast, conjuring a vital depiction of a shameful national moment.<\/p>\n Friday, March 3 at 2:00pm<\/p>\n Thursday, March 9 at 9:30pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Innocent \/ L\u2019Innocent<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Louis Garrel, 2022, France, 98m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Long justly celebrated for his talent as an actor, Louis Garrel has emerged as an increasingly accomplished writer-director in his own right, and his latest comedy is his finest, most accomplished and surprising yet. Uptight Abel (Garrel) loves his mother, Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg), and worries when she hastily marries Michel (Roschdy Zem), a convict, just before his release from prison. Suspicious of Michel\u2019s reformed ways, Abel follows him through the streets of Paris alongside a confidante played by No\u00e9mie Merlant (NYFF60 Main Slate selection T\u00c1R<\/em>) and soon finds himself in over his head as he attempts to navigate a world of criminal mischief. Equally fueled by Garrel\u2019s sparring with the charismatic Zem and his charged romantic chemistry with Merlant, The Innocent<\/em> places a delightful heist spin on a heartfelt mother-and-son story. A Janus Films Release.<\/p>\n Saturday, March 4 at 6:30pm (Q&A with Louis Garrel)<\/p>\n Wednesday, March 8 at 9:15pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mother and Son \/ Un petit fr\u00e8re<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n L\u00e9onor Serraille, 2022, France, 117m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n L\u00e9onor Serraille, whose debut feature, Montparnasse Bienven\u00fce<\/em>, was a highlight of Rendez-Vous 2018, returns with this portrait of the complex, sometimes painful relationship between an African immigrant mother and her sons. Upon arriving in France from the Ivory Coast in 1989 with two young children, Rose (Annabelle Lengronne) finds work as a hotel cleaner. The loving and exuberant but erratic mother\u2019s penchant for partying means that she has trouble attending to her job, let alone to her studious sons, Jean (played by St\u00e9phane Bak in adulthood) and Ernest (Ahmed Sylla). Spanning 20 years of their ever-shifting relationship, Serraille demonstrates rare nuance and sensitivity in this thoughtful portrait of an Afro-French family.<\/p>\n Monday, March 6 at 6:30pm (Q&A with L\u00e9onor Serraille)<\/p>\n Wednesday, March 8 at 1:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Neneh Superstar<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Ramzi Ben Sliman, 2022, France, 97m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Twelve-year-old Neneh (Oumy Bruni Garrel, as talented a young dancer as she is an actor) simply wants to dance ballet\u2014but, as a Black girl attempting to find a foothold in a historically White cultural milieu and secure the support that her talent clearly merits, the obstacles she faces seem overwhelming. This crowd-pleasing feature by writer-director Ramzi Ben Sliman follows Neneh as she enters a ballet boarding school where the majority of administrators and teachers persist in believing that Black women have no place onstage as part of the classical repertoire. With encouragement from her patient father, Fred (Steve Tientcheu), and under the watchful gaze of teacher and legendary dancer Marianne Bellage (Ma\u00efwenn), Neneh finds herself\u2014and her place\u2014in this inspiring story about overcoming systemic disadvantages on the path to artistic achievement.<\/p>\n Tuesday, March 7 at 6:15pm (Q&A with Ramzi Ben Sliman)<\/p>\n Thursday, March 9 at 1:15pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Night of the 12th \/ La Nuit du 12<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Dominik Moll, 2022, France\/Belgium, 114m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Perhaps best known for stylish thrillers like With a Friend Like Harry\u2026<\/em> (2000) and Only the Animals<\/em> (2019), Dominik Moll takes a starker turn with his latest. The Night of the 12th<\/em> tracks an investigation headed by Yohan (Bastien Bouillon) and his older, recently divorced colleague Marceau (Bouli Lanners) into the murder of Clara, a young woman set on fire one night after leaving a party in a small, quiet Alpine town. That horrific story comes from one section of Pauline Gu\u00e9na\u2019s 18.3, <\/em>a massive chronicle of a year of French murder investigations that was itself partly inspired by David Simon\u2019s Homicide<\/em>: A Year on the Killing Streets. <\/em>Moll\u2019s film combines a French version of Simon\u2019s dizzyingly comprehensive overview with the sweep of Zodiac<\/em> and Memories of Murder<\/em>, delivering the genre hallmarks of true crime while excavating insidious strains of misogyny in contemporary French society. A Film Movement release.<\/p>\n Tuesday, March 7 at 3:30pm<\/p>\n Friday, March 10 at 6:15pm (Q&A with Dominik Moll)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Origin of Evil \/ L’Origine du mal<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n S\u00e9bastien Marnier, 2022, France\/Canada, 123m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n When St\u00e9phane (Laure Calamy of Call My Agent!<\/em>) gets in touch with wealthy Serge (Jacques Weber), announcing that she is his long-abandoned daughter, his immediate family are none too thrilled. As St\u00e9phane embarks on an extended visit in hopes of getting to know Serge, she also becomes entangled with the hostile women who share a tense existence in his beautifully appointed mansion by the sea: the restaurateur\u2019s wife (Dominique Blanc), his other daughter (Doria Tillier), a rebellious granddaughter (C\u00e9leste Brunnquell), and a strangely off-putting housemaid, all of whom are clearly unsettled by the arrival of Serge\u2019s newly announced heir. But St\u00e9phane is a confident liar with secrets of her own, which writer-director S\u00e9bastien Marnier teases out with cool assurance in this wildly entertaining thriller (featuring a number of virtuoso split-screen sequences) that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. An IFC Films release.<\/p>\n Friday, March 3 at 9:15pm (Q&A with S\u00e9bastien Marnier)<\/p>\n Saturday, March 11 at 9:15pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Other People\u2019s Children \/ Les Enfants des autres<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Rebecca Zlotowski, 2022, France, 104m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Acclaimed writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski (An Easy Girl<\/em>, Rendez-Vous 2020) draws from her own life to depict the emotional trajectory of Rachel (Virginie Efira), a schoolteacher whose desire for a biological child seems increasingly unlikely to be fulfilled (as she\u2019s informed by her gynecologist in a delightful cameo from Frederick Wiseman). When Rachel enters into a relationship with car designer Ali (Roschdy Zem), he\u2019s slow to let her know that he\u2019s a single father, but once she finds out she quickly grows to love his precocious daughter, Leila (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves). The stresses and strains of close relationships between adults and children are thoughtfully examined in this drama that\u2019s as romantic in its evocation of new love blossoming in Paris as it is clear-headed about the myriad pressures that societal expectations impose on the lives of middle-aged women. A Music Box Films release.<\/p>\n Friday, March 3 at 6:15pm (Q&A with Rebecca Zlotowski and Virginie Efira)<\/p>\n Sunday, March 12 at 1:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Plough \/ Le Grand chariot<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Philippe Garrel, 2023, France, 97m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Examining family history and turmoil has fueled much of the greatest work of Philippe Garrel (Regular Lovers<\/em>, The Salt of Tears<\/em>), whose new film pays tribute to his late father (and regular cast member) Maurice\u2019s background as a puppeteer. Simon (Aur\u00e9lien Recoing), the head of a puppet troupe, works alongside his children, all played by Philippe\u2019s actual children: son Louis (Louis Garrel) and daughters Martha (Esther Garrel) and Lena (Lena Garrel, making an auspicious first appearance in the Garrel family filmography). Feeling the strain of aging, Simon invites temporary assistant Peter (Damien Mongin) to join the troupe permanently\u2014a responsibility that becomes fraught when Simon dies shortly thereafter. A rare film in color from Garrel, The Plough<\/em> reaffirms his status as one of the great contemporary directors of actors, drawing on impeccably naturalistic performances while delving fearlessly into the tense dynamics of familial bonds and romantic ties.<\/p>\n Saturday, March 4 at 9:30pm (Introduced by Louis Garrel)<\/p>\n Sunday, March 12 at 3:45pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Saturn Bowling \/ Bowling Saturne<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Patricia Mazuy, 2022, France\/Belgium, 114m<\/p>\n English and French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Police detective Guillaume (Arieh Worthalter) decides to gift the family bowling alley to his estranged half-brother, Armand (Achille Reggiani), following the death of their father. Their already contentious relationship is further strained by a series of murders that transform a tense drama into a twisty neo-noir as Guillaume\u2019s investigation brings him deeper into conflict with his brother. Deservedly named one of last year\u2019s 10 best films by Cahiers du cin\u00e9ma<\/em>, the latest from always-original auteur Patricia Mazuy (Paul Sanchez Is Back!<\/em>, Rendez-Vous 2018) marks a somber change of pace. With the filmmaker\u2019s flair for unusual gestures firmly in place, Saturn Bowling<\/em> is one of Mazuy\u2019s darkest and most confident visions to date, a thriller with the force of a modern tragedy. A Dark Star Pictures release.<\/p>\n Sunday, March 5 at 6:30pm (Q&A with Patricia Mazuy)<\/p>\n Monday, March 6 at 3:45pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Smoking Causes Coughing \/ Fumer fait tousser<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Quentin Dupieux, 2022, France, 82m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n The adventures of a curiously low-rent band of superheroes\u2014the Captain Planet-esque Tobacco Force, who swear they\u2019re actually against smoking\u2014are merely the starting point for this gloriously goofy new outing from the relentlessly imaginative Quentin Dupieux (Mandibles<\/em>, Rendez-Vous 2021). After the five fighters defeat a gigantic turtle in the middle of a desert, their chief (a puppet rat) has bad news\u2014metadata indicates that their group cohesion skills are disastrous\u2014and sends them off on a retreat to fix the problem. Once they arrive, in lieu of self-improvement exercises, the campfire stories begin, setting into motion a shaggy-dog series of wild, unpredictable comic sketches performed by an all-star cast that includes Ad\u00e8le Exarchopoulos, Vincent Lacoste, Gilles Lellouche, Ana\u00efs Demoustier, Alain Chabat, and one very erratic robot. A Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing release.<\/p>\n Friday, March 10 at 9:15pm<\/p>\n Sunday, March 12 at 9:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Three Nights a Week \/ Trois nuits<\/strong> par<\/strong> semaine<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Florent Gou\u00eblou, 2022, France, 103m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Baptiste (Pablo Pauly) first meets drag performer Cookie Kunty (Romain Eck) on the streets while volunteering at a public-health clinic alongside his girlfriend, Samia (The Secret of the Grain<\/em>\u2019s Hafsia Herzi). Trapped in a dead-end retail job while trying to develop his photography portfolio, Baptiste is in search of a subject for his art\u2014but, in writer-director Florent Gou\u00eblou\u2019s feature debut, the choice to follow Cookie and document the rituals of the drag world ultimately leads him on a profound journey of self-discovery. Himself a drag performer under the name Javel Habibi, Gou\u00eblou takes Baptiste and viewers on a deep dive into the world of drag performance and culture, depicted with loving, joyous accuracy thanks to the contributions of 40 French drag artists at work both in front of and behind the camera.<\/p>\n Saturday, March 11 at 3:15pm (Q&A with Florent Gou\u00eblou)<\/p>\n Sunday, March 12 at 6:15pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Winter Boy \/ Le Lyc\u00e9en<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Christophe Honor\u00e9, 2022, France, 122m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n \u201cMy life has become a wild animal that I can\u2019t approach without getting bitten,\u201d explains young Lucas (Paul Kircher) at the beginning of the latest from Rendez-Vous alumnus Christophe Honor\u00e9 (last year\u2019s Guermantes<\/em>, Love Songs<\/em>). In the wake of his father\u2019s sudden death, adolescent Lucas is plunged into deep grief, leading his mother, Isabelle (Juliette Binoche), to send him to live temporarily with his brother, Quentin (Vincent Lacoste), in Paris. Manic in his mourning, Lucas tumultuously explores his queer sexuality as his brother and mother deal with their own emotional turmoil. Inspired by Honor\u00e9\u2019s experience of losing his own father at the age of 15, Winter Boy<\/em> stands as one of the director\u2019s most autobiographical films yet, a story that he\u2019s updated and set in the present day\u2014rendering his past both immediate and universal in this raw, tender, and gorgeous work.<\/p>\n Thursday, March 9 at 3:30pm<\/p>\n Saturday, March 11 at 6:15pm (Q&A with Christophe Honor\u00e9)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Worst Ones \/ Les Pires<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, 2022, France, 99m<\/p>\n French with English subtitles<\/p>\n Belgian director Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh) and his crew (including Matthias Jacquin)<\/a>[1]<\/a>\u00a0[2]<\/a>\u00a0[3]<\/a>\u00a0[4]<\/a>\u00a0 arrive in the small town of Boulogne-sur-Mer to cast non-professional teenagers for his debut feature. The plan is to fill out a loosely sketched script with local performers scouted from working-class northern France, and Gabriel lands on four talented teens: Lily (Mallory Wanecque), Ryan (Tim\u00e9o Mahaut), Jessy (Lo\u00efc Pech), and Maylis (Melina Vanderplancke). Concerned with improving their town\u2019s image in the media, some residents disapprove of these seemingly disreputable representatives of the housing projects being chosen for the production. Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret\u2019s thorny, complex debut (winner of the Un Certain Regard section at last year\u2019s Cannes) walks a remarkably fine line between fact and fiction, allowing their young performers to give star-making turns as \u201cthemselves\u201d while considering the ways in which ostensibly well-meaning documentary and fiction films can exploit nonperformers in the name of authenticity. A Kino Lorber release.<\/p>\n Sunday, March 5 at 12:30pm (Q&A with Lise Akoka and actor Matthias Jacquin<\/a>[5]<\/a>\u00a0[6]<\/a>\u00a0[7]<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n Tuesday, March 7 at 1:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n FREE TALKS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n All talks are held at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 W. 65th St.)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Free Talk: Alice Winocour <\/a><\/strong>and Sophie Barthes<\/strong><\/p>\n Alice Winocour, the acclaimed director of Proxima<\/em> (2019) and Disorder<\/em> (2015), <\/em>returns to Rendez-Vous with French Cinema with this year\u2019s Opening Night selection, Revoir Paris<\/em>, an urgent, visceral, and profoundly life-affirming character study that probes the inner workings of memory, grief, and hope. We\u2019re excited to bring together Winocour and filmmaker Sophie Barthes (The Pod Generation<\/em>, Cold Souls<\/em>, Madame Bovary<\/em>) for an extended conversation about their vibrant body of work, artistic influences and collaborations, and unique storytelling sensibilities.<\/p>\n Thursday, March 2 at 5:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Free Talk: Virginie Efira<\/strong><\/p>\n Actor Virginie Efira has attracted a dedicated following in recent years with her rigorous, singularly sensitive performances, including star-making turns in NYFF selections Benedetta<\/em> (NYFF59) and Sibyl<\/em> (NYFF57) and Rendez-Vous favorite Madeleine Collins<\/em> (2022)\u2014and in this year’s edition of Rendez-Vous she takes center stage, with lead roles in Alice Winocour\u2019s Revoir Paris<\/em> (the Opening Night selection) and Rebecca Zlotowski\u2019s Other People\u2019s Children<\/em>. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation in which we\u2019ll discuss the evolution of Efira\u2019s craft and her approach to portraying profoundly complicated, endlessly compelling women.<\/p>\n Friday, March 3 at 5:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Free Talk: Louis Garrel, moderated by Owen Kline<\/strong><\/p>\n By the time multi-hyphenate talent Louis Garrel made his directorial debut with Two Friends<\/em> (Rendez-Vous 2016), followed just two years later by NYFF56 selection A Faithful Man<\/em>, he had already cemented his status as one of the most acclaimed French actors of his generation. In this career-spanning conversation moderated by filmmaker Owen Kline (Funny Pages<\/em>), we\u2019ll explore Garrel\u2019s distinctive sensibility, his thematic and stylistic interests, and the ways in which his work as an actor informs, and is shaped by, his process behind the camera.<\/p>\n Saturday, March 4 at 5:00pm<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n