French Film Festival

Tuesday, Sept. 17
7:00 PM
Opening Reception, 6:30 PM

In a world hit by a wave of mutations that are gradually transforming some humans into animals, François does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, he embarks with Émile, their 16-year-old son, on a quest that will change their lives forever. This science fiction fantasy drama was nominated for 12 and awarded 5 César: Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography. 

Wednesday, Sept. 18
7:00 PM
Introduction by Kimel Fryer, Executive Director, Indie Memphis
Post-screening Q&A facilitated by Dr. Abou Mamah, French and Francophone Studies

Set against the terrestrial majesty of the Sahel, Banel & Adama is a tragic romance following two young lovers as they strive for independence and self-possession in the face of imperious tradition. Neither Senegal nor the rest of the world has known a love like Banel and Adama’s, each eager to begin their adult lives away from the stifling demands of their families and community. The young couple were married by an ostensible combination of chance and duty when Adama’s older brother Yero died, leaving a still-young Banel, his second wife, a too-young widow. Now, the same duty dictates that Adama accept the role of village chief. However, the fated lovers have plans that do not include the expectations of others. That is, until something in the air changes. The rains do not come, the cattle begin to die, the men leave and Banel, once lovelorn and lost in responsibility, surrenders to the call for a life lived beyond prescription. 

Thursday, Sept. 26
7:00 PM
Sponsored by Health Professions Advising

Cinema is no stranger to exposing women’s bodies. But rarely do we experience their corporeal reality, through sickness and health, aging, and change. With access to the examination rooms of a gynecology clinic in Paris, French documentary titan Claire Simon trains her compassionate eye and ear to doctor-patient interactions, both intimate and epic: a young girl candidly divulges an unwanted pregnancy; a trans woman reveals the physiological and emotional challenges of transition; a couple shares their long struggle with infertility; a doctor holds a patient’s hand while breaking the news of terminal illness. Unexpectedly, the filmmaker herself becomes a patient, plunging this omnibus of emotionally engaging stories into even more personal depths. “Ebullient. A realistic celebration…[that] never shies away from the contradictions and complexities of what it means to be alive.” – Slant

Tuesday, Oct. 1
7:00PM

A pillar of the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard’s subversive foray into commercial filmmaking is a star-studded Cinemascope epic with its sun-soaked settings, dazzling seascapes, and complex color scenes. Contempt (Le Mépris) stars Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter torn between the demands of a proud European director (played by legendary director Fritz Lang), a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot), as he attempts to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey. Albertine Cinematheque is proud to present this brilliant study of marital breakdown, artistic compromise, and the cinematic process in a dazzling new 60th anniversary restoration.

Tuesday, Oct. 8
7:00 PM
Introduction by Prof. Etty Terem, Department of History, Rhodes College
Sponsored by JIMES (Jewish, Islamic, Middle East Studies)

One of the year’s most acclaimed releases, this riveting documentary by two-time Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin) uses an audacious formal conceit to tell the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters. Attempting to answer the question of how and why the Tunisian woman’s two eldest were radicalized, Ben Hania reveals a complex history. We watch as the family relives key events in their lives with help from professional actors standing in for the missing girls. Winner of the Best Documentary award at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at the Gotham Awards, and Best Writing at the IDA Documentary Awards, Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction cinema that pushes against the conventional boundaries of the documentary form to explore the nature of memory, rebellion, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

Wednesday, Oct. 9
7:00 PM
Sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program

“Come, come! I’m sick to death of this particular self. I want another.” Taking Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography as its starting point, academic virtuoso turned filmmaker Paul B. Preciado has fashioned the documentary, Orlando: My Political Biography, as a personal essay, historical analysis, and social manifesto which premiered and took home four prizes at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. For almost a century, Woolf’s eponymous hero/heroine has inspired readers for their gender fluidity across physical and spiritual metamorphoses over a 300-year lifetime. Preciado casts a diverse cross-section of more than twenty trans and non-binary individuals in the role of Orlando as they perform interpretations of scenes from the novel, weaving into Woolf’s narrative their own stories of identity and transition. Not content to simply update a seminal work, Preciado interrogates the relevance of Orlando in the continuing struggle against anti-trans ideologies and in the fight for global trans rights.