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 / 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 / 8.30pm (Closing night film)

Location: The Gate Cinema

Details: Ann Sirot & Raphaël Balboni / Belgium / 2020 / 87 mins

Starring: Jo Deseure, Jean Le Peltier, Lucie Debay

Premiere: Irish Premiere

Awards: Best Film Audience Award, Bergamo Film Festival 2021

Synopsis: Alex and Noémie, both in their thirties, want a child. But their plans are upset when Alex’s mother, Suzanne, starts acting rather bizarrely. It is due to her suffering from “semantic dementia,” a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that influences her behaviour. She spends money recklessly, visits her neighbours in the middle of the night to eat slices of bread, and cobbles together a fake driver’s license for herself with scissors and glue. Suzanne the mother becomes an uncontrollable child. An unexpected and unusual parenting boot camp for Noémie and Alex!

“Raphaël Balboni and Ann Sirot deliver a delicately balanced work, tackling a serious subject with imagination and determination” – Cineuropa.

Date & Time: Online

Location: Online

Tickets: Limited tickets available at: https://watch.eventive.org/franceinireland

Details: Nicolas Pariser / France / 2019 / 105 minutes

Starring: Fabrice Luchini, Anaïs Demoustier, Nora Hamzaw

We are delighted to partner with the French Embassy in Ireland, AllianceFrançaise Networkand Access cinema, in this specialfreeonline presentation.

Awards: Best Actress, César awards 2019 & Winner Europa Cinemas award, Cannes Film Festival 2019.

Synopsis: The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he has run out of ideas, overcome by an existential emptiness. He hires a young and brilliant philosopher, Alice Heimann. Alice enters the political fray and a philosophical dialogue between her and the Mayor blossoms. Literature, and political theory are on one hand, while on the other are technocrats and bureaucratic jargon. Dialogue is at the heart of this classy, lively comedy, with fascinating glimpses into the life of a public figure and the bureaucracy surrounding him.

“Talky in the best possible way, this is a classy but accessible piece of entertainment which is also food for thought.” – Screen International.