From Lincoln to the Present Day: a history of the United States in film
Cinéma La Comète
1863. The American Civil War is devastating the United States. Young Robert Gould Shaw is promoted to colonel of the first all-black regiment of volunteers, who signed up to fight a war they thought was theirs. They were wrong. Given menial tasks, despised by their officers, they revolt with Shaw as their leader. Volunteers in the assault of the impenetrable Fort Wagner, these heroes will pay a high price to retrieve their dignity.
Serbia, 1996. During the student demonstrations against the Milosević's regime, 15-year-old Stefan has to go through the hardest revolution of all. He has to confront his beloved mother, spokesperson and accomplice of the corrupted government that his friends are rising against.
Commedia all’italiana goes to war: an irresistible antidote
Lycée Bayen
It is 1943 and Rome is being bombed. Cesira, a young widow, flees the capital with her 13-year-old daughter, Rosetta. She returns to her native village of Santa Eufemia in the mountainous region of Ciociaria. She entrusts her grocery store to Giovanni, her coal-mining neighbour. The journey is dangerous, under a hail of bullets. Life is hard for the refugees. Michele, a young idealist, falls in love with Cesira and turns the head of Rosetta.
The Buriti Flower – João SALAVIZA – Renée NADER MESSORA – 16:10 (Portugal)
Feature Films International Competition
Théâtre La Comète
PREMIERE
Through her child’s eyes, Patpro will go through three periods of the history of her indigenous people, in the heart of the Brazilian forest. Tirelessly persecuted, but guided by their ancestral rites, their love of nature and their fight to preserve their freedom, the Krahô never stop inventing new forms of resistance.
Grand Central – Rebecca ZLOTOWSKI – 16:45 (France)
Natural habitat, Paradoxes and crises #2
Lycée Bayen
After a succession of odd jobs, he’s taken on at a nuclear power plant. There, amongst the reactors and their high doses of radioactivity, he finally finds what he’s been looking for: money, a team, a family. But the team also includes Karole, Toni’s wife, with whom he falls in love. Forbidden love and radiation slowly contaminate Gary. Each day is menacing.
Commedia all’italiana goes to war: an irresistible antidote
Cinéma La Comète
1940 in Libya. Lupi, a young sub lieutenant specialised in psychiatry, works in the medical service of the Italian army. There he meets Oscar Pilli, a medical officer with odd behaviour who is particularly disliked by his colleagues. Soon Lupi will find out why Oscar Pilli is being kept in the medical service…
The Vanishing Soldier – Dani ROSENBERG – 18:45 (Israel)
Feature Films International Competition
Théâtre La Comète
With director Dani Rosenberg in person.
PREMIERE
Shlomi, an eighteen-year-old Israeli soldier, flees the Gaza battlefield and heads to his girlfriend in Tel Aviv only to discover that the IDF elite is convinced he was kidnapped in the fog of war. This is a tragi-comic journey, taking place over a period of 24 hours in the hot and humid streets of Tel Aviv, shifting from terror to hope, from romance to nightmare.
Summer Of Soul (...Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – Ahmir "Questlove" THOMPSON – 20:05 (United States)
From Lincoln to the Present Day: a history of the United States in filmRock'n' War/Art'n'War #7
Cinéma La Comète
Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Marcus Garvey Park — an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. The footage was never seen and largely forgotten—until now. Summer of Soul shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest.
Mississippi Burning – Alan PARKER – 22:30 (United States)
From Lincoln to the Present Day: a history of the United States in film
Lycée Bayen
1964. Three civil rights activists mysteriously disappear in Mississippi. Ward and Anderson, two F.B.I. agents with different but complementary approaches, are sent to investigate. Their inquiries soon begin to ruffle feathers and violent incidents break out against a backdrop of racism in a town where the Ku Klux Klan kindles hatred and violence…
The Siege of Sarajevo lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. Young men were called up to protect their city, a few of them chose to take along their cameras to face the violence they witnessed throughout those grueling 1,425 days. Now, 30 years later, they show us their films and share their wartime filming experiences and thoughts on cinema as a means of survival and resistance.
Four Daughters – Kaouther BEN HANIA – 22:30 (France)
Points of view 2023
Cinéma La Comète
With the director Kaouther Ben Hania and the producer Nadim Cheikhoura in person.
Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and invents a unique cinema experience that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daughters’ life stories. An intimate journey of hope, rebellion, violence, transmission and sisterhood that will question the very foundations of our societies.
