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LES ARCS 2016

Top-drawer films and female directors heading for Les Arcs

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- The Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the programme for its eighth edition, which will unspool from 10-17 December 2016

Top-drawer films and female directors heading for Les Arcs
Home by Fien Troch

Now an unmissable rendezvous for European professionals involved in the seventh art, the Les Arcs European Film Festival has revealed the programme for its eighth edition (10-17 December 2016).

Eight French premieres are on the competition menu rustled up by artistic director Frédéric Boyer, and the ten features set to duke it out for the 2016 Crystal Arrow will offer a spectacular "best of" from the current crop of European arthouse films, with titles that screened at Venice (Home [+see also:
film review
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interview: Fien Troch
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]
by Belgian director Fien Troch, which snagged the Best Director Award in the Mostra’s Orizzonti section), Locarno (Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petar Valchanov
interview: Petar Valchanov, Kristina G…
film profile
]
by Bulgarian duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, which was popular in competition, and Daydreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Caroline Deruas
film profile
]
by French director Caroline Deruas, in Filmmakers of the Present), Karlovy Vary (the award-winning Zoology [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ivan I Tverdovsky
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]
by Russia’s Ivan Tverdovsky), Zurich (Miséricorde [+see also:
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interview: Fulvio Bernasconi
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]
by Swiss filmmaker Fulvio Bernasconi) and Toronto: Layla M [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Dutch director Mijke de Jong, Pyromaniac [+see also:
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interview: Erik Skjoldbjærg
film profile
]
by Norway’s Eric SkjoldbjaergThe Fixer [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Adrian Sitaru
interview: Tudor Aaron Istodor
film profile
]
by Romania’s Adrian Sitaru, Clair obscur [+see also:
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film profile
]
by Turkey’s Yesim Ustaoglu and Lady Macbeth [+see also:
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interview: William Oldroyd
film profile
]
by British filmmaker William Oldroyd (which also took home the FIPRESCI Award in competition at San Sebastián).

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This year, the gathering has decided to focus in on ten European female directors, who will come to discuss their vision of cinema and who will each have one of their films screened: French directors Houda Benyamina (Divines [+see also:
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interview: Houda Benyamina
film profile
]
) and Rachel Lang (Baden Baden [+see also:
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]
), Austria’s Jessica Hausner (Lourdes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile
]
), Ireland’s Rebecca Daly (Mammal [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Italy’s Laura Bispuri (Sworn Virgin [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Laura Bispuri
film profile
]
), Germany’s Veronica Franz (Goodnight Mommy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Severin Fiala and Veronika …
film profile
]
), Hungary’s Agnes Kocsis (Fresh Air [+see also:
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film profile
]
), German-based South African filmmaker Pia Marais (Layla Fourie [+see also:
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film profile
]
), Lithuania’s Alanté Kavaïté (The Summer of Sangaile [+see also:
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interview: Alanté Kavaïté
film profile
]
) and the Netherlands’ Nanouk Leopold (Brownian Movement [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
). This young generation of female filmmakers will also be thrust into the limelight through a series of round-tables, a study, workshops and a master class that one of them will oversee.

The guest of honour at this year’s edition of the festival will be French director Bertrand Bonello, who will lead a master class and will be given a “carte blanche” to present three films of his choosing.

The “Hauteurs” (“Heights”) section will allow audiences to enjoy Sleeping Beauty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ado Arrietta
film profile
]
by Spaniard Ado Arrieta, It's Not the Time of My Life [+see also:
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interview: Szabolcs Hajdu
film profile
]
by Hungary’s Szabolcs Hajdu, Brotherhood, A Life with Saint Francis [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Renaud Fély and Arnaud Louvet, Orphan [+see also:
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interview: Arnaud des Pallières
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]
by French director Arnaud des Pallières, Quit Staring at My Plate [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile
]
by Croatia’s Hana Jusi and The Last Family [+see also:
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interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
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]
by Poland’s Jan Matuszynski.

Films on the “Playtime” programme include Indivisible [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Edoardo de Angelis
film profile
]
by Italy’s Edoardo de Angelis, King of the Belgians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Woodworth, Peter Br…
film profile
]
by Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens, The Oath [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Iceland’s Baltasar Kormakur, three movies by French directors (Miss Impossible [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Emilie Deleuze, Elementary [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Hélène Angel and Une vie ailleurs [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Olivier Peyon), the French-Belgian production Lost in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon
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]
by Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel, and The Commune [+see also:
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interview: Thomas Vinterberg
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]
by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, which will have the honour of closing the festival.

An interesting new addition to the 2016 edition is the creation of a section devoted to documentaries, which includes such titles as Eat that Question - Frank Zappa in His Own Words [+see also:
trailer
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]
by Germany’s Thorsten Schütte, the Norwegian film Magnus [+see also:
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]
by Benjamin Ree, The Graduation [+see also:
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]
by French director Claire Simon and the Dutch production Ants on a Shrimp by Maurice Dekkers.

The Frayeurs (“Frights”) section includes some special screenings, with the now infamous Raw [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia Ducournau
film profile
]
by young French director Julie Ducourneau, In the Forest [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by her fellow countryman Gilles Marchand and Cave [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Norway’s Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken. In addition, there will be the documentaries A Young Girl in Her Nineties [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Yann Coridian, and While They Watched by Jake J Smith. Also of note on the educational programme is Little Wing [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Finland’s Selma Vilhunen and a film debate intended for young audiences, which revolves around the movie Layla M.

Last but not least, we should mention the professional events that will be outlined in more detail soon, with the 20 projects in the Coproduction Village, the 15 films in Work In Progress, a focus on Quebec, the Music Village Pro, workshops, debates, and the Distributors and Exhibitors’ Summit (with a line-up including 11 features, such as Hamé & Ekoué’s Paris Prestige and Tramontane [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Lebanese director Vatche Boulghourjian). 

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(Translated from French)

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