Festival Paris Cinéma

Eclectic film choice at Paris festival

by Rosslyn Hyams

Article published on the 2009-07-09 Latest update 2009-07-14 15:41 TU

Festival Paris Cinéma offers Baccarat crystal prize trophies that reflect the glitter of the world of cinema for long fiction or documentary films and for short films. There are three competition categories, the Jury Prize, the Public Prize and the Prize of the Future awarded by a panel of students. Seven years since it began, aside from the competition entries, it's a complete festival. Its programme is vast, varied and vibrant. Old films, brand new films and less new films, and star-smattered at that.

Festival guests of honour in 2009 are French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, Barcelona-born producer Lluìs Miñarro, Tsai Ming-liang and Japanese producer and writer Naomi Kawase. The president is British actress Charlotte Rampling.

Jean-Pierre Léaud in Truffaut's Les 400 coup, 1959
© André Dino

Thirty films in which Jean-Pierre Léaud stars - including one documentary about the actor who charmed Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, by director Serge Le Péron (Léaud l'Unique), are being shown until 14 July at the Reflets Médicis cinema, an art house cinema in the student quarter of Paris that shows mainly golden oldies.

It's a chance to catch up with the French movie landmarks such as Les 400 Coups (1959) where Léaud brings to life the rascally character of Antoine Doinel, who he plays 11 years later as an expectant father in Domicile Conjugal, or Jean Cocteau's (Le Testament d'Orphée).

Jean-Pierre Léaud in Truffaut's Domicile Conjugal, 1970
© Pierre Zucca

Turkey is the country of honour this year and the festival's programme highlights not only Turkish directors who have gained international notoriety in recent years, such as Nuri Bilge Ceylan whose Three Monkeys won a prize in Cannes in 2008 for best director, but also those who were behind the camera in the 1970s, such as Erden Kiral (On Fertile Lands, 1979), or Yilmaz Atadeniz (Kilink in Istanbul, 1967 and Kilinik vs Superman, 1967).

If Turkish films aren't your bag, there are plenty more for spectators who appreciate another style, another country or a custom-made international cocktail.

The Three Monkeys, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008

The Festival Paris Cinéma, provides an opportunity to get around Paris, as six venues are taking part, including the auditorium in the Louvre Museum (retrospective Tsai Ming-liang). For aspiring filmmakers or actors, or movie fans in general, there are masterclasses led by the stars themselves. And a special section for children at the Studio des Ursulines cinema which usually screens films for kids - that often bigger people like too.