The 15th Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) presented by Reliance Entertainment and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) scheduled between 17th-24th October is all set to showcase the best of contemporary French cinema and welcome artists for the 6th edition of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema co-organized with The French Embassy in India, Institut Français en Inde and Unifrance films.
As part of the festival highlights, Costa Gavras will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award during the opening ceremony in the presence of His Excellency Mr François Richier, Ambassador of France to India who will grace us with his presence especially for this occasion. Among others, Nathalie Baye, jury member of the international section, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, director of the film “Grigris”, Guillaume Brac, director of the film “Tonnerre” (Competition) and Leos Carax, well known film maker who will be conducting a masters class.
The special section “Rendez-vous with French cinema” seeks to establish an exhilarating platform for showcasing the various facets of French contemporary cinema, helping Indian distributors to promote new French films and celebrate the growing Indo-French ties.
Srinivasan Narayanan, Festival Director, 15th Mumbai Film Festival says “It is my privilege to collaborate with Unifrance films, Institut Français de Paris and the Embassy of France in India for the third consecutive year. The 6th Rendez-vous with the French Cinema which is part of the 15th Mumbai Film Festival will showcase ten beautiful French films including the Palme d’Or film at Cannes. I am glad that the MFF is bestowing the Life Time Achievement Award to one of the greatest French Film makers, Costa Gavras which was for me a dream come true. One of the greatest French actresses, Nathalie Baye is part of our international jury and Leos Carax will be conducting a Masters Class. Hope our patrons will enjoy the best of contemporary French Cinema and we look forward for more collaborations with France”.
Isabelle Giordano, General Manager, Unifrance films says “I am delighted that the French cinema is again in the spotlight of this year’s Festival of Mumbai. It is a great pleasure to see our beautiful cinema crossing all boundaries. It also allows our artists, actors, actresses, film makers to be known outside France which
for me is a cultural issue and of economic importance today, in a world where the business multiplies day by day. I look forward to these wonderful encounters that will be rich and fruitful without any doubt.
Mumbai Film Mart (MFM) : 5 French professionals will be participating at the Mumbai Film Mart. Marc Baschet, Producer (coproducer of the film « Lunchbox »), ASAP Films.
Agilane Pajaniradja, distributor of Indian films in France, Aanna Films. Isabelle Dubar, distributor, Happiness Distribution.
François Da Silva, Producer.
Anne Delseth, Member of the Selection Committee, Director’s fortnight, Cannes Film Festival
List of French Films to be showcased at the 15th MFF
International Competition
Tonnerre (Guillaume Brac)
6th Rendezvous with French cinema
A Castle in Italy / Un château en Italie (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi)
Blue Is the Warmest Color / La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2 (Abdellatif Kéchiche) Grigris (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Jealousy / La jalousie (Philippe Garrel)
Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants / Minuscule (Thomas Szabo, Hélène Szabo) Miss and The Doctors / Tirez la langue, mademoiselle (Axelle Ropert)
Mood Indigo / L’écume des jours (Michel Gondry)
The Nun / La religieuse (Guillaume Nicloux) The Past / Le Passé / (Asghar Farhadi)
Young & Beautiful / Jeune & Jolie (François Ozon)
Other sections
60 going on 12 / 12 ans d’âge (Frédéric Proust) Amen (Costa Gavras)
Bad Blood / Mauvais sang (Leos Carax)
Capital / Le Capital (Costa Gavras)
Eden is West / Eden à l’Ouest (Costa Gavras) Faith Connections (Pan Nalin)
Giraffada (Rani Massalha)
Golden Slumbers / Le Sommeil d’or (Davy Chou) Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
I’m watching over you / Je veille sur vous (Elodie Fiabane)
Michael Kohlhaas (Arnaud des Pallières)
On My Way / Elle s’en va (Emmanuelle Bercot) State of Siege / Etat de siège (Costa Gavras)
Stop-Over / L’escale (Kaveh Bakhtiari)
The Ax / Le Couperet (Costa Gavras)
The Lovers on the Bridge / Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (Leos Carax)
Tom at the Farm / Tom à la ferme (Xavier Dolan) Z (Costa Gavras)
The festival is delighted to welcome the following French Actors and directors:
Costa Gavras: Film maker and recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award
One of the most politically minded and passionate filmmakers of the late 20th century, Greek-born, naturalized French director Costa-Gavras, assailed the forces of corruption, exploitation and power gone wrong in such celebrated films as Z (1969), Missing (1982) and Music Box(1989). Gavras’ childhood, which saw his father – a hero for the Greek Resistance in World War II – stand accused of Communism by a totalitarian military junta, fuelled the intensity of his best work, which took aim at global forces, including America, which conspired to crush freedom of thought and liberty for the common man. He received Oscars for Z and Missing, but found himself something of an outcast after 1983’s Hanna K. (1983), which was perceived as pro-Palestinian. Though his work was seen mostly in Europe after 1997, his best films preserved his status as a major figure in international cinema, and a staunch supporter of human rights.
Nathalie Baye: Actress and International Jury Member
A French film, television, and stage actress. After having dance and dramatic education, she began acting in 1970. She has been nominated a further five times. Her second cinema appearance was in Two People (1973) directed by Robert Wise. She became more widely known as the script girl in La Nuit américaine (Day for Night) by François Truffaut. She has since appeared in more than 70 films. She won four César Awards for Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980), Une étrange affaire (1981), La Balance (1982), and Le Petit Lieutenant (2005). In 1999 she was voted Best Supporting Actress at Venice Film Festival for Une liaison pornographique and since starred in the award-
winning film Vénus Beauté (Institut) by Tonie Marshall and Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan. She has worked with François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Steven Spielberg among numerous others and is considered one of France’s leading actresses, capable of a wide range of roles and demonstrating a constant maturity.
Leos Carax: Film maker
A French film director, critic, he began his film career with a series of short films, and as a film critic, before he released Boy Meets Girl (1984), which saw his first grouping with Denis Lavant and cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier. He followed the piece with the science fiction themed Bad Blood in 1986, which was clearly homage to French New Wave cinema, especially Jean-Luc Godard. The film was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.
Five years later, he returned to directing with Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, which proved to be an expensive undertaking but the movie was released to critical acclaim and opened the door for him to enter more experimental waters with
his fourth feature, Pola X. That film, released in 1999, was an adaptation of Herman Melville’s tale of incest, Pierre: or, The Ambiguities.
His new film titled Holy Motors stars his regular collaborator, Denis Lavant. The film competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Mahamat Saleh Haroun: Film maker
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in Chad. His work was brought to the fore at the 1999 Venice Film Festival, where his first feature film Bye-Bye Africa was awarded the prize for the Best Debut Film. His second film, Our Father, was selected at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2002. Four years later, he was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival for Dry Season, while the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) in New York devoted a retrospective exhibition to his work. In2010, his fourth feature film, A Screaming Man, received the Jury Prize in Cannes. That same year, he also received the prestigious Robert Bresson Award at the Venice Film Festival, as well as the Humanity Prize at the 34th Mostra in São Paolo, Brazil. His newest film Grigris was shown in the official competition of this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
Guillaume Brac: Film maker
Graduating in production from French film school La Fémis, Guillaume Brac made three short films during his time there. He subsequently worked as an assistant director on Shall We Kiss? (2007) by Emmanuel Mouret and Parc (2008) by Arnaud des Pallières. In 2008 he co-founded the company Année Zéro through which he produced and directed the short film Le Naufragé (2009) and the mid-length film Un monde sans femmes (2011). The latter was theatrically released in France, Belgium and Japan, won critical acclaim and was well received at both French and international festivals (and was a César nominee for Best Short 2012). In 2013 Guillaume Brac made Tonnerre, his first feature film, that was screened in competition at this year’s Locarno International Film Festival.
