The Classic French Film Festival Begins Thursday in St. Louis

My, those Cinema St. Louis guys are tres occupé! Hot off the heels of their Q-Fest (the St. Louis Gay and Lesbian Film Festival), the Classic French Film Festival starts up this week at the same location. Discover the French culture!  The Classic French Film Festival is sponsored by TV5MONDE USA , the French channel in the US. I’ve never watched it but I’m sure it’s very French!

A downloadable PDF of the fest’s program can be found HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2013/fffest2013_3lores.pdf

The Cinema St. Louis page about the event is HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/classic-french-film-festival

All films will be shown in the Winifred Moore Auditorium, Webster University’s Webster Hall, 470 E. Lockwood Ave.

$12 general admission, $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members, free for Webster U. students

This is the Fifth Annual Classic French Film Festival, put on to celebrate St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The fest is annually highlighted by significant feature restorations. This year’s restored films include Julien Duvivier’s “The Ladies’ Paradise,” Claude Lelouch’s “A Man and a Woman,” Pierre Etaix’s “Yoyo” and “The Great Love” (plus two shorts), and Claude Sautet’s “Max and the Junkmen.”

Max and the Junkmen

The festival again explores France’s major contributions to the silent era and pairs the works with live music: The new-music ensemble Hearding Cats Collective performs with a selection of five avant-garde shorts, and the Poor People of Paris accompany “The Ladies’ Paradise.”

Four programs feature newly struck 35mm prints: the restorations of “A Man and a Woman” and “Max and the Junkmen,” Jacque Rivette’s “Le Pont du Nord” (available in the U.S. for the first time), and Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Little Soldier.” Another three films will also be presented in 35mm: Max Ophuls’ “The Earrings of Madame de …” and Francois Truffaut’s “The Story of Adele H.” and “Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me.”

Le Pont du Nord

The fest is rounded out by Raymond Bernard’s epic “Les Misérables” and Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Leon Morin, Priest.”

Every program features introductions and discussions by film scholars and critics. Those discussions will place the works in the contexts of both film and French history and provide close analyses of thematic content.

The Earrings of Madame de …

The films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1970s (with a particular focus on filmmakers from the highly influential New Wave), offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. A pair of films – “A Man and a Woman” and “Leon Morin, Priest” – celebrate Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, the stars of “Amour,” the recent Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film. And we’re pleased to present a selection of little-seen comedic masterpieces, all recently restored, by writer-director-star Pierre Etaix.

Two of the featured works are adapted from major literary sources: “Les Misérables” from Victor Hugo and “The Ladies’ Paradise” from Emile Zola; in addition, “The Story of Adele H.” is based on the true story of one of Hugo’s daughters. And the program of avant-garde shorts features films by the visual-arts and literary luminaries Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Germaine Dulac, and Jean Epstein.

Opening night is Thursday and the fest kicks off with The Ladies’ Paradise