19/01/2024 - From 20 to 28 January, the 36th edition of the French festival will shine a light on emerging European filmmakers and pay homage to Isabelle Huppert, Ken Loach and Carla Simón

The out-of-competition world premiere of La nouvelle femme [+see also:
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film profile] by Léa Todorov will tomorrow open the 36th edition of Angers' Premiers Plans Film Festival (from 20 to 28 January) directed by Claude-Eric Poiroux, an event that has revealed many young European filmmakers who later became established arthouse talents from the Old Continent. 

The 10 feature films in the International Competition will be judged by a jury presided by French filmmaker Robin Campillo (alongside director Nathan Ambrosioni, actress Zita Hanrot and composer Julie Roué) who will also deliver a masterclass. Among the films are The Rye Horn [+see also:
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interview: Jaione Camborda
film profile] by Spain’s Jaione Camborda (winner in San Sebastián), Elaha [+see also:
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film profile] by Germany’s Milena Aboyan (unveiled in Perspektive Deutsches Kino at the Berlinale), Through the Night [+see also:
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interview: Delphine Girard
film profile] by Belgium’s Delphine Girard (winner of the Giornate degli Autori audience award in Venice) and Slow [+see also:
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interview: Marija Kavtaradze
film profile] By Lithuania’s Marija Kavtaradze (winner of the Best Director award at Sundance). 

Also selected are Upon Entry [+see also:
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interview: Alejandro Rojas and Juan Se…
film profile] by Venezuela's Juan Sebastián Vásquez and Alejandro Rojas (who are based in Spain; nominated for the 2024 Goya awards for Best Debut Film, meilleur acteur et meilleur scénario), the documentary Riverboom by Switzerland’s Claude Baechtold, The Hypnosis [+see also:
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interview: Asta Kamma August
interview: Ernst De Geer
film profile] by Dutch director Ernst De Geer (winner in Karlovy Vary by the award for Best Actor and the Europa Cinemas Label), My Wonderful Stranger by Finnish-Danish director Johanna Pyykkö, Excursion [+see also:
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interview: Una Gunjak
film profile] by Bosnian filmmaker Una Gunjak (winner of a special mention in Cineasti del Presente at Locarno) and the French-Algerian production Six Feet Over by Karim Bensalah.

The competitive section Diagonale, centred on particularly audacious work, includes among others the feature films The End (Artificial Fragments of Humankind) by Aurélien and Olivier Héraud, Knit's Island [+see also:
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film profile] by Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L'helgoualc'h, and The Permanent Picture [+see also:
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interview: Laura Ferrés
film profile] By Spain’s Laura Ferrés.

The edition will also include various competitions for short films (with a main jury presided by French director Lola Quivoron), graduation films, animated works and young audiences titles. The festival, which will close with Sidonie in Japan [+see also:
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interview: Élise Girard
film profile] by Élise Girard, will also offer genre cinema in the Vertiges section, featuring among other titles the Venice competition title The Beast [+see also:
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interview: Bertrand Bonello
film profile] by Bertrand Bonello.

Among the many premieres are three French films: Out of Season [+see also:
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interview: Stéphane Brizé
film profile] by Stéphane Brizé, Le Tableau volé by Pascal Bonitzer and Nouveau monde by Vincent Cappello.

Finally, the programme also includes homages and retrospectives (dedicated to Isabelle Huppert, Ken Loach, Carla Simón, Jane Birkin), a sports and cinema programme, and the usual script reading sessions (which this year include, among the feature films, Or rouge by Mathieu Volpe and Des preuves d'amour by Alice Douard), an encounter with producer Anaïs Bertrand on the theme "Producing a debut film” with Junkyard Dog [+see also:
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film profile] by Jean-Baptiste Durand as an example, all without forgetting the Ateliers d’Angers residency with five selected projects which Cineuropa will discuss in more detail later on. 

(Translated from French)