16/10/2023 - The 14th edition of the event will take place from 16 to 22 October with a very high end programme of auteur cinema, including ten films in international competition

Madame de Sévigné by Isabelle Brocard will today open the 14th La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival (headed by Charlotte Serrand) which will take place from 16 to 22 October and feature many talents, with encounters organised with Emmanuelle Devos (present with The Dreamer [+see also:
film review
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interview: Anaïs Tellenne
film profile] by Anaïs Tellenne and A Silence [+see also:
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interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] by Joachim Lafosse, among other films), Damien Bonnard (for the world premiere of Splendid Hotel [+see also:
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film profile] by Pedro Aguilera), Barbet Schroeder (Ricardo and Painting [+see also:
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film profile]) and editor Nelly Quettier (La chimera [+see also:
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film profile]). Also worth noting are tributes to the recently departed Kenneth Anger, Jane Birkin, Sophie Fillières, William Friedkin, Jacques Rozier and Ryūichi Sakamoto.

In International Competition, the jury (composed of French director and casting director Antoinette Boulat, French actress Maud Wyler and Swiss-Italian programmer Giovanni Marchini Camia) will have to decide between ten titles, two of which were in Competition in Venice (the Golden Lion Poor Things [+see also:
film review
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interview: Suzy Bemba
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile] by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, and the fascinating The Beast [+see also:
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interview: Bertrand Bonello
film profile] by France’s Bertrand Bonello), Puan [+see also:
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interview: Benjamín Naishtat and María…
film profile] by Argentina’s María Alché and Benjamin Naishtat (winner of two awards in San Sebastián) and a Berlin competition title (the Chinese animated film Art College 1994 by Liu Jian). Also competing are three titles first unveiled in Sundance (When It Melts [+see also:
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interview: Veerle Baetens
film profile] by Belgium’s Veerle Baetens, The Fishbowl [+see also:
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film profile] by Puerto Rican director Glorimar Marrero Sánchez, and Drift [+see also:
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film profile] by Singapore’s Anthony Chen), the documentary The Echo [+see also:
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film profile] by Mexican-Salvadoran filmmaker Tatiana Huezo (winner of the Encounters award for Best Director) and two films discovered in Giornate degli Autori in Venice: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person by Canadian director Ariane Louis-Seize (winner of the Best Director award) and Sidonie in Japan [+see also:
film review
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interview: Élise Girard
film profile] by French director Elise Girard.

Among the feature films in the Nouvelles Vagues competition (whose jury includes French filmmaker Nathan Ambrosioni, Belgian programmer Juliette Duret and Spanish director of photography Artur Tort Pujol), we can mention the French premieres of Camping du Lac [+see also:
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interview: Éléonore Saintagnan
film profile] by Belgium’s Eléonore Saintagnan, Knit’s Island [+see also:
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film profile] by France’s Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L’helgoualc’h, Foremost by Night [+see also:
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interview: Víctor Iriarte
film profile] by Spain’s Víctor Iriarte, of the documentary In Ukraine [+see also:
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interview: Piotr Pawlus, Tomasz Wolski
film profile] by Piotr Pawlus and Tomasz Wolski, and of The Human Surge 3 [+see also:
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film profile] by Argentine director Eduardo Williams.

Dedicated to singular and accessible isions, the Perspectives section will offer the French premieres of Maret [+see also:
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film profile] by Luxembourg’s Laura Schroeder, Bitten [+see also:
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interview: Romain de Saint-Blanquat
film profile] by Romain de Saint-Blanquat, and of the documentary Songs of Earth [+see also:
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film profile] by Norway’s Margeth Olin, but also The Girls Are Alright [+see also:
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interview: Itsaso Arana
film profile] by Spain’s Itsaso Arana and Scrapper [+see also:
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film profile] by British director Charlotte Regan among other films.

Standing out in the Variété section (which focuses on films closer to genre cinema and fantasy) are The Invisible Fight by Estonian filmmaker Rainer Sarnet and Polite Society by British director Nida Manzoor. Worth mentioning, too, are the Special Screenings (which include Me Captain [+see also:
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film profile] by Italy’s Matteo Garrone and Green Border [+see also:
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film profile] by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, among others) and the programmes Music Hall and En Famille ! (with animation titles such as Chicken for Linda! [+see also:
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film profile] by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach).

(Translated from French)