Getforme Singapore FRENCH MOVIES AT THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE IN MARCH 2003

Tuesday, 11 March, 2003 – 9pm

Jonas et Lila, à demain

Jonas et Lila, à demain (2000)

120 min / Drama / Colour / Swiss Film

Sypnosis

The story is set in the first six months of the year 2000. It is not however a futuristic essay, but simply an echo of the 1976 film “Jonas qui aura vingt-cinq ans en l'an 2000”. Indeed Jonas has just celebrated his 25th birthday. He has completed his studies at a film school and married Lila, a young African woman. “Jonas et Lila, à demain” does not tell a story in the traditional sense with a beginning, a middle and an end. Instead the film is a composition of some sixty scenes, each helping to construct and flesh out a picture of the two main protagonists, through chance meetings and incidents which throw them into the midst of the world as it exists at the dawn of the new century, which is in fact little different from the world at the end of the old century. Jonas and Lila, in their relationship with one another and with the filmmaker Anziano who no longer frequents the film world, the Russian actress Irina, Jean, Cécile and the others – rendered vulnerable by the instability of modern life, all these people begin, with the passing days and events, to pull together the threads of what might be called “a little tale of times to come”, rather than a conventional story.

Tuesday, MARCH 18 2003 – 9pm

Patinoire, La (1999)

aka The Ice Rink
80 min / Comedy / Color / Belgium

cover

Directed by: Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Cast: Tom Novembre, Mireille Perrier, Dolores Chaplin, Marie-France Pisier,

Jean-Pierre Cassel

Summary:

``The Ice Rink'' is a riotous comedy about the travails encountered by a film crew trying to shoot a feature about a romance between an international ice-skating star and a hunky hockey player. What makes this charming film a great comedy, reminiscent at times of the Jacques Tati style, is that it was shot on ice, and the stars, director, film crew and gofers slip and slide all over the place.

Novelist and director Jean-Philippe Toussaint (``Monsieur,'' ``La Sevillane'') turns his modest production into an inventive, utterly amusing homage to the tricky process of making movies, and to the resilience of casts and crews who will do almost anything to get that special shot capturing ``the moment.'' But Toussant wisely never pushes a scene to overkill. ``The Ice Rink'' has a winning cast that adds greatly to the vitality and the satire. Tom Novembre plays the dour, full-of-himself director who constantly tries to keep his composure while his ankles wobble from the awkward ice skates he has to wear. The romantic leading lady, a famed figure skater, is stunningly played by Dolores Chaplin, svelte granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin.

American Bruce Campbell is cast as a deep-voiced hockey hulk, Sylvester, who falls for the figure skater. And Marie-France Pisier is the nervous producer trying to wrap the picture to meet a deadline for the Venice Film Festival.

Tuesday, MARCH 25 2003 -9pm

Kirikou et la sorcière (1998)

aka Kirikou and the Sorceress
74 min / Animation / Color / French film

presently jointly with Singapore Film Society

Kirikou

Directed by Michel Ocelot

Summary: In a little village somewhere in Africa, a boy named Kirikou is born into an African village upon which a sorceress called Karaba has cast a terrible spell: the spring has dried up, the villagers are being blackmailed, the men of the village have either been kidnapped or have mysteriously disappeared.

Karaba is a stunning and cruel woman, surrounded by fearless and servile fetishes. But no sooner has Kirikou delivered himself from his mother's womb than he wants to rid the village of Karaba's curse and understand the cause of her wickedness.

His adventure-filled voyage leads Kirikou to the Forbidden Mountain, where the Wise Man of the Mountain, who knows of Karaba and her secrets, awaits him. Captivating, charming tale for young children (and their parents!).

Saturday, MARCH 29 2003 -9pm

Barbecue Pejo (1999)

88 min / Comedy / Color / African film

Directed by: Jean Odoutan

Cast: Jean Odoutan , Laurentine Milébo, Didier Dorlipo, Adama Kouyaté, Koffi Gahou, Cliare Houngo

Synopsis: A crazy comedy in rural Benin,

Jean Odoutan's Barbecue-Pejo follows the misadventures of a married couple in Benin: Dogged by bad luck on the farm, the husband decides to get deeper in debt by purchasing a used Peugeot in hopes of becoming a bush taxi driver. Hovering between black comedy and soap opera (the wife is prostituting herself on the local beach to make ends meet), Barbecue-Pejo is scattered, but it provides a refreshing break from most films about the rural poor.

Content Contributor: Lien

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