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FESTIVALS France

Closing of the 5th Lumière Festival in Lyon

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- Quentin Tarantino: “I don’t know what I would have done if the Lumière Brothers hadn’t met!”

Closing of the 5th Lumière Festival in Lyon
Quentin Tarantino and Bertrand Tavernier

On Sunday October 20, the Lumière Festival 2013 ended in Lyon with the screening of Pulp Fiction, in the presence of its director Quentin Tarantino… and what a week!

Indeed, the winner of the Lumière Prize 2013 literally hyped-up this edition! Tarantino surprised everyone as of Monday night with his unexpected arrival during the opening ceremony in tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo, during which Un singe en Hiver by Henri Verneuil was screened. Throughout the week, the director presented, in person and with warmth and availability, films he selected himself that were screened in the town’s theatres. On Friday night, it was with tears in his eyes and surrounded by his friends - Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Mélanie Laurent, Lawrence Bender and Harvey Weinstein – that his muse Uma Thurman gave him the Lumière Prize, the same award which Ken Loach received last year (news). This was a perfect occasion for the director to express his love for France: “Cinema is my religion and France is my Vatican” – and his public: “To see so many young people in Lyon who are receptive to my films is proof that I managed to renew myself every 5 years […] while at the same time managing to keep my fans!”

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While Tarantino will remain this week’s superstar, many other events marked this festival, such as the first classical film market, the Ingmar Bergman and Hal Ashby retrospectives, as well as the tribute to the 25 years of the Studio Ghibli and the avant-première of Miyazaki’s latest film: Le vent se lève… il faut tenter de vivre. It is also worth mentioning the cycles « Art of Noir » with the screening of Gun Crazy in the presence of Peggy Cummins, as well as a cycle dedicated to silent film illustrated by the cineconcerts Blackmail by Hitchcock and Le Chanteur de jazz Alan Crosland, restored for the occasion.

As for the famous people present, James B. Harris and Tim Roth came to present masterclasses in a packed room while all the guest filmmakers and actors re-filmed for this 5th anniversary of the festival the first film in the history of the cinematograph: Sortie d’Usine by the Lumière Brothers. Several versions of the film were directed by Jerry Schatzberg, Michael Cimino, Fatih Akin and of course… Quentin Tarantino!

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(Translated from French)

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