07/10/2024 - The 12th edition of the only film festival offering reflection upon conflict and its consequences is unspooling in Champagne between 7 and 13 October

At a time when a number of very real wars are flaring up and devastating too many regions of the world, today marks the first day of the 12th War on Screen gathering (unspooling 7 – 13 October), which is the only film festival wholly dedicated to providing a space to reflect upon conflict and its consequences. The event will feature Costa-Gavras (who’ll be delivering a masterclass) as its guest of honour and will present a hundred or so movies in the Châlons-en-Champagne showcase, including opening film The Flood [+see also:
film review
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interview: Gianluca Jodice
film profile] by Italy’s Gianluca Jodice (unveiled in Locarno’s Piazza Grande) and Michel Hazanavicus Cannes competitor The Most Precious of Cargoes [+see also:
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interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] occupying the festival’s closing slot.

Ten feature films are set to battle it out in competition, of which six are works of fiction, including French-German-Belgian co-production Rabia [+see also:
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interview: Mareike Engelhardt
film profile] by Mareike Engelhardt (recently awarded the Ornano-Valenti Prize in Deauville), From Hilde, With Love [+see also:
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interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile] by Germany’s Andreas Dresen (unveiled in competition at the Berlinale), The Fourth Wall [+see also:
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interview: David Oelhoffen
film profile] by French director David Oelhoeffen, Mexico 86 [+see also:
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interview: César Díaz
film profile] by Belgian-Guatemalan Cesar Diaz (screened in Locarno’s Piazza Grande) and two titles well-received in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section: The Damned [+see also:
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film profile] by Italy’s Roberto Minervini (who scooped the Best Director prize) and the majority European production The Village Next to Paradise [+see also:
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film profile] by Somalia’s Mo Harawe. Added to these are four documentaries: the German-American movie Hollywoodgate [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ibrahim Nash’at
film profile] by Egypt’s Ibrahim Nash’at (presented out of competition in Venice), Intercepted [+see also:
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film profile] by Ukraine’s Oksana Karpovych (discovered in the Berlinale Forum), Journey Into Gaza by Italian-French director Piero Usberti, and French animated title Le Parfum d’Irak by Feurat Alami and Léonard Cohen.

Worth a mention in the Perspectives section are the Cannes attractions The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+see also:
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interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Mohammad Rasoulof
film profile] by Iran’s Mohammad Rasoulof, Limonov: The Ballad [+see also:
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film profile] by Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, Ghost Trail [+see also:
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interview: Jonathan Millet
interview: Pauline Seigland
film profile] by French director Jonathan Millet, In His Own Image [+see also:
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interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile] by fellow Frenchman Thierry de Peretti, and Meeting With Pol Pot [+see also:
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film profile] by French-Cambodian director Rithy Panh, not to mention the documentaries Bye Bye Tibériade [+see also:
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interview: Lina Soualem
film profile] by French-Algerian filmmaker Lina Soualem and Voyage Along the War [+see also:
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interview: Antonin Peretjatko
film profile] by France’s Antonin Peretjako, among other works.

The jam-packed War on Screen agenda also includes a modest retrospective entitled "War through the eyes of… Frederick Wiseman", as well as special screenings of the immersive fiction film Champ de bataille, directed by François Vautier (who’ll also be delivering a masterclass on “How to film war in Virtual Reality") and the first two episodes of season 2 of Jean-Philippe Amar’s Sentinelles series.

The remainder of the festival’s copious line-up falls under a variety of sections by the names of "Rock N’War/Art N’War" (featuring the documentaries Dahomey [+see also:
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film profile] by French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, Ernest Cole, Lost and Found [+see also:
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film profile] by Haiti’s Raoul Peck and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat [+see also:
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interview: Johan Grimonprez
film profile] by Belgium’s Johan Grimonprez), "Shared Memories", "Space Conquest: between progress and propaganda",  "80th Anniversary of the Liberation",  "30 Years Since the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda" and "Natural Environment, Paradoxes and Emergencies #3 - the neo-detective movie has returned: water and corruption".

(Translated from French)