The 28th edition of the Cork French Film Festival has announced an exciting line-up with plenty of contemporary talent, with Yann Arthus-Bertrand as the special guest star
The Cork French Film Festival is set to sate the appetites once again of all those who love French cinema, running from the 5th to the 12th of March 2017 in the City by the Lee.
The organisers have announced a programme “bursting with creative vitality, from a host of dynamic French film-makers: a programme packed with premiers, previews screenings, special events, masterclasses, and much more.”
Festival Director, Nora Callanan, together with Festival Curator, Julien Planté, certainly seem to have come up with a programme this year that strikes a strong contemporary note. In recent years, this festival has been accused of a certain propensity towards older films but following on last year’s memorable event that featured Mathieu Almaric, the line-up for 2017 is a great celebration of the vital force of the 7th Art. It’s a must-see event for anyone feeling starved of French cinema in a Hollywood-swamped world.
Opening this year’s Festival is the high-profile biopic of the legendary French underwater explorer, Jacques-Yves Cousteau – The Odyssey (L’Odyssée), directed by Jérome Salle and starring Lambert Wilson and Audrey Tautou.
Special Festival Guest is internationally acclaimed photographer, director and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand, who will introduce his latest documentary Human at the Lord Mayor’s Screening, which is free to the public. This remarkable artist and humanitarian will also present a Masterclass in UCC.
Lebanese ingénue Manal Issa, who will be appearing at the festival
Other unmissable events include Cine-Concert with live commissioned score by Cork’s award-winning artist and composer, Ray Scannell. He will score and perform a specially commissioned work for 28th Cork French Film Festival, on the silent classic L’Appel du Sang, in the Curtis Auditorium at CIT Cork School of Music.
Cork French Film Festival also continues its enduring link between food and cinema with a line-up of culinary events to take cinema-goers on an accompanying gastronomic journey. These events include a candlelit dinner in Ballymaloe Grainstore (followed by a screening of the comedy Les Saveurs du Palais/ Haute Cuisine), a chocolate demonstration at the CIT with Kerry-based French chocolatier Benoît Lorge (followed by a screening of Kings of Pastry) and a French dining and wine-pairing event that follows the screening of Red Obsession at The River Lee Hotel.
French composer and accordionist, Christophe Rohr, will ensure a lively atmosphere throughout the week. Keep an eye and ear out for pop-up parties at the Festival Club Arthur Mayne’s on Pembroke Street.
This Nationally Acclaimed Festival, whose Principal Funder is the Arts Council, Grant-Aided by Cork City Council, and supported by RTÉ Supporting the Arts, is the ideal event to savour the best in French cinema, while enjoying the unique French ambiance that it brings to Cork.
Nora Callanan, Festival Director, said: “Alliance Franҫaise de Cork is all set to present this year’s sensational edition. We are deeply honoured to have His Excellency Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, as sole Patron of the 28th edition. The Festival is a unique opportunity to experience cinema in a personal and close-up sense
– to feel the pulse of le 7ème art. Enjoy a fantastique cinematic experience !”
Julien Planté, Film Programmer, said: “It is a huge honour for me to be invited back to curate the 28th edition of this remarkable Festival, and to work with a fantastic team. This programme is one of the most diverse to date, featuring iconic French actors, talented newcomers, award-winning films, premiers, preview screenings and many other treats. This Festival is about cinema in all its diversity, and that is what we want to celebrate with the wonderful public of Cork.”
For further details and bookings, click on the website of the Cork French Film Festival here.