Presided over by Sylvie Pialat and managed by artistic director Sophie Mirouze, the La Rochelle Film Festival (Fema) is keeping its original editorial policy focused on its strictly non-competitive identity, a first-rate, eclectic programme and a festive, mainstream spirit for its 53rd edition (27 June-5 July), which will be opened tonight in a joyous and playfully cinephilic atmosphere by Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life [+leggi anche:
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Standing out in the showcase of tributes are Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar (with a total of 18 features on the menu) and his German counterpart Christian Petzold (who will attend a public discussion on 3 July), with seven movies, including his most recent opus, Mirrors No. 3 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christian Petzold
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Among the retrospectives are those dedicated to Claude Chabrol (12 films), Edward Yang (seven), Jacques Demy (four) and Barbara Stanwyck (nine).

Shining bright among the 30 firm favourites from the past year screening in the Ici et Ailleurs (“Here and Elsewhere”) section (in the presence of 20 of the filmmakers) are 14 other movies that were shown on the Croisette in May, including the Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just an Accident [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jafar Panahi, the award winners The Secret Agent [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Sirât [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Óliver Laxe
scheda film] by Oliver Laxe, Sentimental Value [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Joachim Trier
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intervista: Hafsia Herzi
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intervista: Dominik Moll
scheda film] by Dominik Moll, not to mention the Caméra d’Or winner The President’s Cake by Hasan Hadi, Yes [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Nadav Lapid, I Only Rest in the Storm [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pedro Pinho
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intervista: Anna Cazenave Cambet
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intervista: Laura Wandel
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intervista: Alexe Poukine
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This mouth-watering “best of” selection is joined by movies that turned heads at Berlin (Kontinental ’25 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Arnaud Dufeys e Charlotte …
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intervista: Cağla Zencirci e Guillaume…
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intervista: Sébastien Betbeder
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scheda film] by Vladimir de Fontenay), at IFFR (Perla [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alexandra Makarová
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intervista: Laura Carreira
scheda film] by Laura Carreira, Under the Volcano [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Damian Kocur
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The rich menu also includes a day dedicated to Jodie Foster (appearing in five films), a Du côté de la Palestine (“On Palestine’s Side”) programme (comprising seven features and two short films), the 15 flicks in the Au cœur du Doc (“At the Heart of the Doc”) section (including the world premieres of the features Les cahiers Adjani by Cyril Brody and Souvent l’hiver se mutine by Benoît Perraud, alongside titles such as Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk by Sepideh Farsi, Rashid, the Boy from Sinjar by Jasna Krajinovic, My Armenian Phantoms by Tamara Stepanyan, and New Beginnings by Isabelle Ingold and Vivianne Perelmuter) and the D’hier à Aujourd’hui (“From Yesterday to Today”) section of classics.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that animation will also be in the limelight, particularly via a focus on Michel Ocelot (seven films), and the features Death Does Not Exist [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Félix Dufour-Laperrière
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scheda film] by Antoine Lanciaux and Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake [+leggi anche:
intervista: Irene Iborra
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