The out-of-competition world premiere of La nouvelle femme [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Jaione Camborda
scheda film] by Spain’s Jaione Camborda (winner in San Sebastián), Elaha [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Germany’s Milena Aboyan (unveiled in Perspektive Deutsches Kino at the Berlinale), Through the Night [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Delphine Girard
scheda film] by Belgium’s Delphine Girard (winner of the Giornate degli Autori audience award in Venice) and Slow [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marija Kavtaradze
scheda film] By Lithuania’s Marija Kavtaradze (winner of the Best Director award at Sundance). 

Also selected are Upon Entry [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alejandro Rojas e Juan Seb…
scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Asta Kamma August
intervista: Ernst De Geer
scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Una Gunjak
scheda film] by Bosnian filmmaker Una Gunjak (winner of a special mention in Cineasti del Presente at Locarno) and the French-Algerian production Six Feet Over [+leggi anche:
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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 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L'helgoualc'h, and The Permanent Picture [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laura Ferrés
scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Élise Girard
scheda film] by Élise Girard, will also offer genre cinema in the Vertiges section, featuring among other titles the Venice competition title The Beast [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bertrand Bonello
scheda film] by Bertrand Bonello.

Among the many premieres are three French films: Out of Season [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Stéphane Brizé
scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] 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.