17/03/2017 - The 18th edition of Europe’s only festival dedicated entirely to film scores and young filmmakers unspools from 20-25 March

With the UK’s Rachel Portman, the first woman ever to have won an Oscar for Best Original Score back in 1997, as guest of honour, the 18^th Aubagne International Film Festival, Europe’s only gathering dedicated entirely to film scores and promoting young film creators, will kick off on Monday 20 March. 

Ten titles have been selected for the fiction feature competition, including three French movies: A Taste of Ink [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Morgan Simon
film profile] by Morgan Simon (original score by Selim Aymard and Julien Krug), Back in Business [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Gérard Pautonnier (co-produced by Belgium and Poland; set to be released in French theatres on 28 June; music by Christophe Julien) and Souffler plus fort que la mer [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marine Place (music by Emile Parisien – on general release from 10 May).

Other titles in the running are Waldstille [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martijn Maria Smits
film profile] by the Netherlands’ Martijn Maria Smits (music by Rutger Reinders), Flemish Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Monsaert
film profile] by Belgium’s Peter Monsaert (music by Frederic Van de Moortel), Tonic Immobility [+see also:
trailer
interview: Nathalie Teirlinck
film profile] by his fellow countrywoman Nathalie Teirlinck (co-produced by the Netherlands and Denmark; music by John Parish), Mellow Mud [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Vaska
interview: Renars Vimba
film profile] by Latvian director Renars Vimba (original score by Eriks Esenvalds) and two features hailing from Germany: Rocket Perelman by Oliver Alaluukas (music by D Glatzel, I Galiot and R Pilgram) and Jonathan [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Piotr J Lewandowski (music by Lenny Mockridge). The line-up is rounded off by the Canadian title 1:54 by Yan England (music by C Nation, M Lafontaine, R Reed and T Buron). 

Also of note on the programme are a competition comprising 77 short films (17 animations, six documentaries and 50 fiction titles hailing from 31 countries, 48 of which have original scores) and “cartes blanches” granted to three European festivals (the Czech Republic’s Brno 16, Germany’s Oberhausen and Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato).

This edition’s master class will be led by Jérôme Lemonnier (a regular collaborator with director Denis Dercourt, and who also recently composed the score for Ceasefire [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Emmanuel Courcol – set to be released in France on 19 April), whereas the Music Lesson will be taught by Nathaniel Méchaly (who has the score for The Grandmaster [+see also:
trailer
film profile] under his belt, among others). Finally, a number of Q&As are also on the agenda, including with French actress-director Noémie Lvovsky, Romanian-born filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu and his French-Algerian colleague Lyes Salem.

(Translated from French)