After its successful launch in Cannes, Thomas Cailley’s gripping film The Animal Kingdom [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Thomas Cailley
scheda film] will tomorrow open the 51st La Rochelle International Film Festival (Fema) (from 30 June to 9 July), an event beloved for the quality and variety of its programme, its popular success and its strictly non-competitive identity.  

Standing out among the festival’s homages to filmmakers are Danish director Lars von Trier (with a full retrospective of his work), Kazakh filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov (seven feature films), French actor Pierre Richard (eight films) and a programme around female Tunisian filmmakers, spearheaded by Kaouther Ben Hania (five films, including Cannes Competition title Four Daughters [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kaouther Ben Hania
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Among the 40 films in the "Ici et ailleurs" section, composed of very recent favourites of the festival directed by Sophie Mirouze and presided by Sylvie Pialat, is a series of 22 high quality films unveiled in May at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Justine Triet
scheda film] by Justine Triet, Competition titles La Chimera [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher, Kidnapped [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by her compatriot Marco Bellocchio, About Dry Grasses [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
scheda film] from Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Fallen Leaves [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, Perfect Days [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Germany’s Wim Wenders and Club Zero [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jessica Hausner
scheda film] by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner, Critics’ Week winner It's Raining in the House [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paloma Sermon-Daï
scheda film] by Belgian director Paloma Sermon-Daï, The (Ex)perience of Love [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ann Sirot e Raphael Balboni
scheda film] by her compatriots Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (which will close the festival), Close Your Eyes [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] from Spanish veteran Victor Erice, as well as The Buriti Flower [+leggi anche:
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intervista: João Salaviza e Renée Nade…
scheda film] by Portugal’s João Salaviza and Brazil’s Renée Nader Messora (Ensemble Prize winner in Un Certain Regard). Also in the programme are Berlinale winners 20,000 Species of Bees [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Estíbaliz Urresola
scheda film] by Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren and Afire [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christian Petzold
scheda film] by German filmmaker Christian Petzold, The Teachers' Lounge [+leggi anche:
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intervista: İlker Çatak
intervista: Leonie Benesch
scheda film] by lker Çatak (named best German film of the year) as well as Slow [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marija Kavtaradze
scheda film] by Lithuanian filmmaker Marija Kavtaradze (winner of the Best Director award at Sundance).

Also worth pointing out is a rish selection of 19 documentaries, which includes among others the world premiere of La Rivière by Dominique Marchais, but also Facing Darkness [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jean-Gabriel Périot
scheda film] by Jean-Gabriel Périot, Cannes selected titles Little Girl Blue [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mona Achache
scheda film] by Mona Achache, On the Edge [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] de Nicolas Peduzzi and In the Rearview [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maciek Hamela (winner in Sheffield recently), Our Body [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Claire Simon and the diptych ​​Scenes from the Labudović Reel: Ciné-Guerrillas [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mila Turajlic
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The very dense menu at Fema also includes a day dedicated (with five films) to Nicole Kidman, a zoom on Czech animation filmmaker Michaela Pavlátová (My Sunny Maad [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Michaela Pavlátová
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scheda film] by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach as well as The Inventor [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon, and a short film programme. Enough to seduce and satisfy the tastes of all audiences.