France

Programmer Bruce Jenkins to introduce and discuss

A haunting meditation on the aftermath of modern warfare, Lessons of Darkness is set amidst the blazing oil fields of Kuwait at the end of the first Gulf War. Herzog reimagines the scene using a science-fiction scenario crafted from a mix of his inimitable voiceover narrations, passages of classical music, and stunning aerial footage of this otherworldly setting.

Narrative Short. LE PETIT NUAGE is first in the feature-length anthology of 7 SHORT FILMS ABOUT LOVE. Each short will be filmed in a different country and share the central theme of love. While working lighting the set of THE ARTIST, Renée George was inspired by the warmth and charm of that story and her own passion for directing was re-ignited. Renee created a cinematic response with her own black and white silent film, an homage to the beauty of early cinema.

This beautifully animated fable was inspired by the true story of a giraffe gifted from the Pasha of Egypt to the King of France. From under a baobab tree, a village elder narrates this children’s tale: Maki, a Sudanese boy escapes an evil slave trader and befriends an orphaned baby giraffe. On a series of epic adventures from Sudan through Alexandria, Marseille, and the snow-capped Alps, the young boy and giraffe journey to France.

In this funny and moving first-film from director Abdel Messeeh, a professed secularist ventures to Cairo for witnesses to the famous 1968 sighting of the Virgin Mary in Zeitoun. He’s hampered by the Coptic community’s reluctance to talk - not to mention his absent producer’s unwillingness to commit more funds. His traditionalist mother has expressly forbidden Abdel to film her relatives inUpper Egypt, he ignores her wishes.

From famed French animator Jean-François Laguionie comes a highly original feature set in the many worlds of an artist’s oeuvre. Inside an unfinished painting, figures establish a caste system based on how realized their images are as they humorously debate the artist’s intentions. Banished but determined to restore harmony to the capricious painted world, Claire, her beloved Ramo, and friend Lola journey to the edge of the frame. The trio stumbles into the Painter’s studio only to discover more vivid tableaus... but what has become of the painter?

Paving the way for an entirely new type of non-fiction filmmaking, Leviathan is set entirely on board a fishing vessel off the coast of New England, and captures the brutality of sea life in refreshing, breathtaking fashion. Cameras are seemingly everywhere, capturing every minute detail from every possible vantage point, creating less of a narrative than a total immersive experience.

Director Niccoló Bruna Attending
Dust: The Great Asbestos Trial documents how asbestos use has been steadily increasing, despite a large majority of developed countries banning the known carcinogen.

A dream-like elegy about a war-torn part of Colombia as well as a nicely underplayed coming-of-age story, Towrope centers on 19-year-old Alicia. Traumatizing memories invade her mind like a ceaseless storm. Uprooted from her destroyed village by the armed conflict, Alicia tries to start a new life in La Sirga, a decadent hostel on the shores of a great lake in the highlands of the Andes. The house belongs to solitary Oscar, her only family member still living.

In the mountains of Algeria, Islamist groups continue to spread terror. Rashid, a young Jihadist, takes advantage of a national amnesty to rejoin civil society. In keeping with the law “of pardon and national harmony,” he must surrender to the police and give up his weapon. Those who do so are known as “repentants.” But the law can’t erase his crimes. For Rashid, it is the beginning of a journey of violence, secrets and manipulation, especially when he crosses paths with a separated couple whose lives were destroyed five years earlier.