20/06/2023 - Independent French and US cinema is on display at the 12th edition of the event, which will unspool in Paris from 20-27 June

Passages by Ira Sachs

Passages [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ira Sachs (selected for both the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale Panorama), who will be one of the guests of honour at the gathering, will today open the 12^th Champs-Elysées Film Festival (founded and presided over by Sophie Dulac), which will be brought to a close on 27 June by The (Ex)perience of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ann Sirot & Raphael Balboni
film profile] by Anne Sirot and Raphaël Balbani (unveiled in the Cannes Critics’ Week). The programme of the festival includes more than 70 independent US and French films that will be shown in several theatres (the Balzac, the Lincoln, Publicis Cinémas, the Gaumont Pathé Champs-Élysées Marignan and the UGC Normandie) along the famous Parisian avenue, where US filmmaker and producer Eliza Hittman will also be present as a guest of honour.

Chaired by French director Bertrand Bonello (who is backed up by Pénélope Bagieu, Irène Drésel, Ellie Foumbie and Rabah Nait Oufella), the feature-film jury will be weighing up the contenders in two competitions dedicated to indie cinema – one bringing together six US flicks and the other the same number of French works. The latter will showcase Vincent Must Die [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphan Castang
film profile] by Stéphan Castang (a star attraction in the Cannes Critics’ Week), Animalia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sofia Alaoui
film profile] by Sofia Alaoui (popular in competition at the Sundance Film Festival), On the Edge [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Nicolas Peduzzi (Special Mention at CPH:DOX, and screened as part of the ACID programme at Cannes last month), the animated movie The Siren [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Sepideh Farsi (which opened the Berlinale Panorama), The Beast in the Jungle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Patric Chiha
film profile] by Patrick Chiha (also presented in the Berlinale Panorama) and the Belgian-French co-production It’s Raining in the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon-Daï
film profile] by Paloma Sermon-Daï (French Touch Jury Prize in the Cannes Critics’ Week).

The programme, which is rounded off by a competition for medium-length films (a new addition this year) and by two competitions for short films, also includes a section dubbed "Girl Power" (revolving around female directors who questioned, filmed and amplified girl power in the 1990s and 2000s) and boasts eight preview screenings, including the documentaries Our Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Claire Simon (popular in the Berlinale Forum) and Dunk or Die by Nicolas de Virieu, The Book of Solutions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Gondry
film profile] by Michel Gondry (unveiled in the Directors’ Fortnight), and the animated title Chicken for Linda! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (first revealed in ACID at Cannes and the big winner at Annecy last Saturday).

(Translated from French)