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FESTIVALS / AWARDS La Roche-sur-Yon 2019

La Roche-sur-Yon turns ten

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- The 10th edition of the festival in Vendée, directed by Paolo Moretti, will take place from 14 to 20 October with a flurry of 30 French premieres

La Roche-sur-Yon turns ten
Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa

Though nominated General Delegate of the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes (where he passed his baptism of fire last May), Paolo Moretti has remained director of La Roche­-sur­-Yon International Film Festival, for which he has once more put together a quality programme exploring the diversity of arthouse cinema worldwide (more than 60 features, including 30 French premieres and 8 previews) for the 10th edition of the event which will unfold in Vendée from 14 to 20 October.

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In the international competition, the jury (featuring actress Lolita Chammah and directors Lionel Baier and Nicolas Pariser) will be judging eight titles (six having their French premieres at the festival) including four European films: Vitalina Varela [+see also:
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from Portuguese director Pedro Costa (winner in Locarno), the documentary Collective [+see also:
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by Romanian director Alexander Nanau (revealed out of competition in Venice and shown in Toronto), the Franco-German film Only the Animals [+see also:
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interview: Dominik Moll
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by Dominik Moll (which opened the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice) and the Irish/Belgian/Finnish production The Hole in the Ground [+see also:
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by Lee Cronin. Facing them will be four North American titles: the Canadian film Jeune Juliette by Anne Émond, and the American films Clemency by Chinonye Chukwu, American Woman by Jake Scott and Light of My Life by Casey Affleck.

Among the 13 feature-length, medium-length and short films featured in the Nouvelles vagues competition, all of them having their French premiere at the festival, a few titles stand out: Arguments [+see also:
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, from French director Olivier Zabat; Gold Is All There Is [+see also:
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from Italian filmmaker Andrea Caccia, Hellhole [+see also:
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interview: Bas Devos
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from Belgian director Bas Devos, and three Swedish films: X&Y [+see also:
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interview: Anna Odell
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by Anna Odell, Reconstructing Utøya [+see also:
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by Carl Javér and John Skoog’s hybrid documentary Ridge [+see also:
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.

Standing out in the Special Screenings section (which features seven French premieres) are several films well received in Venice (the award-winning An Officer and a Spy [+see also:
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by Roman Polanski, Martin Eden [+see also:
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interview: Pietro Marcello
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by Italian director Pietro Marcello and About Endlessness [+see also:
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interview: Roy Andersson
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from Swedish director Roy Andersson, the contestant The Truth [+see also:
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interview: Hirokazu Kore-eda
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from Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, and the excellent Adults in the Room [+see also:
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interview: Costa-Gavras
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by Costa-Gavras), but also Perfect Nanny [+see also:
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from French director Lucie Borleteau, Play [+see also:
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by her compatriot Anthony Marciano (which will open the festival), the documentary Earth [+see also:
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interview: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
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by Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter and the Indian/German/American production Photograph [+see also:
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by Ritesh Batra.

Dedicated to singular and accessible points of view, the Perspectives section, composed of five films having their French premiere at the festival, will offer The August Virgin [+see also:
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interview: Jonás Trueba
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from Spanish director Jonás Trueba (award winner in Karlovy Vary), Psychobitch [+see also:
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from Norwegian director Martin Lund and the Portuguese documentary Sacavém by Julio Alvés.

Finally, standing out among the six titles brushing with genre cinema and fantasy in the Variété section (three of them having their French premiere at the festival) are the UK/Belgian production A Good Woman Is Hard To Find by Abner Pastol and the US/UK production I See You by Adam Randall.

The guest of honour at this 10th edition of the festival will be French actor Lambert Wilson. Also in the programme are conversations with Adèle Haenel, Bulle Ogier, Lorenzo Mattotti and Pedro Costa, homages to Bernardo Bertolucci and Peter Fonda, and a programme for the younger public featuring the animated films The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily [+see also:
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interview: Lorenzo Mattotti
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, Marona's Fantastic Tale [+see also:
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from Romanian director Anca Damian, and The Prince’s Voyage [+see also:
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by Jean-François Laguionie and Xavier Picard.

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