Date & Time: Thursday September 2nd / 8.30pm (Opening night film) & Friday September 3rd / 3.30pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Yamina Benguigui / 2020 / 100 mins

Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Rachida Brakni, Maïwenn

Synopsis: The relationship of three sisters is shaken when Zorah (Isabelle Adjani), decides to write a play based on the events of their Franco-Algerian childhood which have haunted them all their lives. The search for their young brother, kidnapped by their father, takes a turn when they discover their father is dying. Returning to modern day Algeria, they face their own and their family’s past. The sisters have no choice but to put their differences aside. The three stars of French cinema, Adjani, Brakni and Maïwenn deliver towering performances, in this powerful drama. A film about family, relationships and recovery – and also a testament to the power of art to transform.

“Adjani’s return to cinema is a real pleasure. The three actresses deliver impeccable performances in this film that asks questions about identity and culture, and the legacy of family disaster” – Bulles de Culture.

Date & Time: Friday September 3rd / 6.00pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette / Canada / 2020 / 105 mins

Starring: Kelly Depeault, Caroline Néron, Normand D’Amour

Premiere: Irish Premier

Awards: Official Selection Berlin Film Festival, 2021

Synopsis: Growing up in the spectacular chaos of the teenage grunge scene in rural Quebec, sixteen-year-old Catherine is given the book Christiane F and permission to go to the mall. It’s also the day her father deliberately drives her mother’s Jeep into a wall. It’s 1994, Kurt Cobain has left the building, Pulp Fiction has just been released and Catherine’s parents are going through a scorched-earth divorce. Doing her best not to care, Catherine is busy coping with the school bully and climbing the social ladder, eager to learn everything. From one misadventure to the next, she finds her gang and sets off to explore the world with no opportunity left unturned. At the heart of this coming-of-age story is the astounding performance of newcomer Kelly Depeault, who crafts an authentic portrayal of Catherine in all her tender misadventure.

“What Barbeau-Lavalette puts on-screen, is a truth beyond cause and effect. It’s our youthful desire to be free.” – Film Stage.

Date & Time: Friday September 3rd / 8.30pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Christophe Blanc / France / 2020 / 109 mins

Starring: Kacey Mottet, Andrea Maggiulli, Anna Maria Vartolomei

Synopsis: In a Grenoble courthouse, three siblings are facing the consequences of the loss of their parents. At the heart of the story is ten year old Mathis, a unique character who acts as the touchstone for his siblings life journeys, as he figures out how this new world looks. His sister heads to the South to escape the family ghosts, but Mathis and his older brother Jack are going to see this one out together. With terrific energy and verve, the film unfolds their adventures, their father’s dark past, their trip to Spain and ultimately both the excitement of freedom, and the emotional reconfiguration needed for this family. The real star is young Andrea Maggiulli , depicting Mathis’ emotional turmoil throughout the chaos, the heavy metal, the parties and a notable visit to Grandad.

‘‘Just Kids is a moving, dynamic film. Christophe Blanc explores with great psychological accuracy and formal inventiveness the journey of grieving siblings left to their own devices” – Cineuropa.

Date & Time: Saturday September 4th / 1.00pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Nicole Védrès / France / 1947 / 71 mins

Premiere: Irish Premiere

Synopsis: This charming and authentic documentary shows Paris through unique archival footage, immersing us in a range of politic, social and artistic stories from 1900 to 1914. A city of artists in La Belle Epoque is unspooled, with unique and little seen footage of key figures in the cultural life of the city and international figures. Often held up as a key example of how to edit film, Alain Resnais worked on the film as assistant director. A classic example of the historical montage film, Paris 1900 is both a visual chronicle of a great city and a meditative essay about the passing of time.

“Nicole Vedrès and her little unit have achieved something immensely beautiful that shatters the visual conventions of cinema as profoundly as Marcel Proust’s oeuvre succeeded in transforming the novel.” – André Bazin.

“I owe everything to Nicole Vedrès.” – Chris Marker.

Presented with the support of the French Embassy in Ireland and Institut Français.

Date & Time: Saturday September 4th / 3.30pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Eric Barbier / France, Belgium / 2020 / 113 mins

Starring: Jean-Paul Rouve, Djibril Vancoppenolle, Dayla De Medina

Awards: Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay – César awards 2021

Synopsis: This memoir of childhood is adapted from the bestselling book by Gaël Faye and narrated by Gabriel aged 10, a joyful child living in a nice neighbourhood in Burundi. Set in 1993, the tensions in neighbouring Rwanda spill over, made doubly complicated by the fact that his mother is Rwandan and his father is French. Gabriel (newcomer Djibril Vancoppenolle) is a happy young boy who enjoys his carefree existence of going to school and playing with his friends. Such days are not to last as the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups starts to spill over into Burundi. A powerful story of conflict viewed through a child’s eyes.

“Small Country is probably the best cinematographic adaptation possible made about this wonderful novel from the rappeur, composer and author Gaël Faye” – Le Monde.

Presented with the support of the French Embassy in Ireland and Institut Français.

Date & Time: Saturday September 4th / 8.30pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Fabienne Berthaud / France, Belgium / 2019 / 100 mins

Starring: Cécile de France, Narantsetseg Dash, Ludivine Sagnier

Premiere: Irish Premiere

Synopsis: Cécile de France gives a breathtaking performance based on the true story of a musicologist who travels to Mongolia and discovers her shamanic powers. To overcome the death of Paul, the love of her life, Corine leaves Paris for a few weeks to work in Mongolia. But her meeting with the shaman Oyun upends her plans, as Oyun proclaims that Corine has received a rare gift. Back in France, she cannot refuse what is now seems her destiny. She must go back to Mongolia to begin her initiation, and discover a bigger world. Beautifully shot in both Paris and the Mongolian Steppes the film is based on the book by Corine Sombrun, Mon Initiation Chez les Chamanes.

“Carried by an excellent performance from Cécile de France, the film fully leverages the spectacular landscapes of Mongolia and the fascinating trance sequences, shrouding its story in a well-balanced cover between ethnographic immersion and classical cinematic narrative.” – Cineuropa.

Date & Time: Saturday September 4th / 6.00pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: We present this quite brilliant animated short film programme from Paris based producer Autour de Minuit as they celebrate their 25th anniversary.

Obras

Hendrick Dusollier / France / 2004 / 12 mins

In one single shot, Obras is a poetic and graphic journey through time and space, exploring Barcelona’s wild irreversible destruction and reconstruction. In a virtual 3D space, Obras offers a plastic interpretation of urban mutations.

Flesh

Edouard Salier / France / 2005 / 10 mins

The Empire unveils everything but sees nothing. Its enemies idealize everything but tolerate nothing. What if it all came down to flesh?
Selected at over 60 international festivals and winner of Best Short film at Gijon and Best Animated short film at Sonar.

Logorama

François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, Ludovic Houplain / France / 2009 / 16 mins

Spectacular car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city, and even more in Logorama! Winner of numerous awards including a César and Academy Award .

Reruns

Rosto / France, Belgium / 2018 / 14mins

Everything is different, but nothing has changed. A trip in a submerged labyrinth, made of dreams and memories.

Scenery (Decorado)

Alberto Vázquez / Spain, France / 2016 / 11 mins

The world is a wonderful stage, but its characters are disgraceful.

Bavure

Donato Sansone / France / 2018 / 4 mins

In the beginning was the Stain. A paintbrush reveals a being of gouache, opens him, transforms him, twists him, completes him. From this accelerated evolution arises a conquering being…

Peripheria

David Coquard-Dassault / France / 2015 / 12 mins

A journey into the heart of a large and abandoned council estate. Peripheria portrays an urban environment becoming wild: a modern Pompeii where the wind blows and dogs roam, tailing the remains of human life.

Date & Time: Sunday September 5th / 1pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Jean-Luc Godard /France / 1965 / 99 mins

Starring: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff

Synopsis: Alphaville is name of the critical journal published by the Film and Screen Media at University College Cork, just one example of the continued reach of the new wave masterpiece by Jean-Luc Godard. Godard’s influence on cinema has been immeasurable and we’re delighted to give cinéphiles an opportunity to see his dystopian sci-fi classic on the big screen, a screening not to be missed. As with all futuristic films, it’s interesting to see how they endure over time and how they comment on contemporary society. As Guardian writer Richard Williams wrote ten years ago “ Jean-Luc Godard’s film – “a science fiction film without special effects” in the words of the critic Andrew Sarris; “a fable on a realistic ground” in Godard’s own description – is a cry of protest aimed at the worshippers of science and logic. Unlike Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which now resembles a picturesque relic of long-abandoned aspirations, Alphaville still seems to be watching the world come to meet it. And the world is very much closer to the director’s creation than it was back in 1965.”

Date & Time: Sunday September 5th / 3.00pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Gabriel Le Bomin / France / 2020 / 110 mins

Starring: Lambert Wilson, Isabelle Carré, Olivier Gourmet, Catherine Mouchet

Premiere: Irish Premiere

Synopsis: Paris 1940. De Gaulle is confronted with the military and political collapse of France. This look at the life of one of the 20th Century’s most important leaders covers the brief period of April to June 1940 – a few critical months when de Gaulle made his way to London to ask Churchill for support in his bid to establish a French force to work against the Vichy Government’s armistice with Germany. It was the beginnings of the French resistance and a pivotal point in the war. As threat advances, his wife Yvonne and their children are soon forced to flee to Brittany. The transformative interpretation of De Gaulle by Lambert Wilson, earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the César awards 2021.

Presented with the support of the French Embassy in Ireland and Institut Français.

Date & Time: Sunday September 5th / 6.00pm

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Richard Minier & Edouard Salier / France / 2020 / 81 mins / Documentary

Synopsis: In the midst of the Cold War in 1964, ten promising young musicians from Mali were invited to Cuba for musical training and went on to invented a whole new genre, Afro- Cuban Music. This documentary follows in the footsteps of the musicians who became a founding group of world music, the legendary Maravillas of Mali. Fifty years later, this forgotten group is resurrected thanks to Maestro Boncana Maïga, its historical leader. Africa Mia is a journey in search of the soul of Afro-Cuban music; from the communist friendships of the Cold War to today, from Havana to Bamako.

Presented with the support of the French Embassy in Ireland and Institut Français.