19/01/2007

The 19th Angers Premiers Plans Festival opened its doors today. Until January 28, the event devoted to young European cinema has a packed programme with 55 debut films lined up, including nine competition titles.

Heading the bill is DarkBlueAlmostBlack [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Spanish helmer Daniel Sánchez Arévalo (see interview), which was well-received at Venice Days; Slawomir Fabicki’s Polish film Retrieval [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], presented in the Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes 2006 (see article); and Ça rend heureux [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabrizio Rongione
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] by Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse (see Focus).

Also in the running are Dans les cordes by French director Magaly Richard-Serrano, As the Shadow by Italian helmer Marina Spada, Reprise [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
interview: Karin Julsrud
film profile] by Norway’s Joachim Trier, the German production Sehnsucht by Valeska Grisebach and two Russian films.

The festival will be opened this evening by Martial Fougeron’s My Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], winner of Best Film and Best Actress (Nathalie Baye) at San Sebastian, while Emanuele Crialese’s Italian/French co-production Golden Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Mallet-Guy
interview: Charlotte Gainsbourg
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Fabrizio Mosca
film profile] will close the event.

Films that will have their preview screenings at Angers are: Olivier Peyon’s Les Petites Vacances, Private Property [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Joachim Lafosse, Tête d’or by Gilles Blanchard and Carine Tardieu’s La tête de Maman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

A final mention goes to Stefan Westerwelle’s German feature While You Are Here, which will compete in the Figures Libres section; and Albert Serra’s Spanish title Honour of the Knights [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which screened in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (see article).

In addition to the traditional competitions of first shorts and productions from European films schools, for the first time Premiers Plans will present a panorama of European animation through 20 shorts.

The line-up also features a focus on the vitality of British animated film, a Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective, a panorama of European documentaries, script reading and film lessons in the form of conference-debates. Speakers include Nick Park, Abderrahmane Sissako, Olivier Ducastel, José Luis Guerin, Nicolas Philibert, Olivier Assayas, Bertrand Bonello and Jean-Paul Civeyrac.

(Translated from French)