New Orleans Film Society’s annual French Film Festival kicks off March 13 and features several buzzy titles in the world of French cinema. With various screenings at venues throughout the city such as the Prytania Theatre Uptown and L’Union Française, the 28th edition of the French Film Festival cements its distinction as one of the longest-running foreign language festivals in the country. It will showcase excellence in contemporary and classic francophone cinema March 13-16.
The highly talked about documentary Le berger et l’ours (The Shepherd and the Bear) will screen 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, March 16 at the Prytania Uptown. Set against the breathtaking French Pyrenees, The Shepherd and the Bear explores the growing tensions between tradition and change as brown bears return to a long-standing shepherding community. An aging shepherd struggles to find a successor while protecting his flock, while a teenage boy becomes captivated by the bears’ power, drawn into their world. With stunning cinematography and a moving score, Max Keegan’s debut feature is a visually rich and deeply felt folktale about the fragile balance between heritage and nature in a rapidly changing landscape.
En fanfare (The Marching Band) screens 7 p.m. Thursday, March 13 at the Prytania. Thibaut, an internationally renowned orchestra conductor, is diagnosed with leukemia and desperately in need of a bone marrow transplant. His search for a donor leads him to discover, at 37, that he was, in fact, adopted… and actually has a biological brother somewhere in France.
Their lives may be worlds apart — Thibaut was raised in a posh Parisian suburb and has a seemingly charmed life, while Jimmy lives in a small working-class town, slings hash in a cafeteria and plays trombone in the local marching band. But blood runs thicker than water and it turns out that, each in his own way, they share a profound connection to music. Actors Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin bring them to life with all of their longings, resentments and complexes intact, in Emmanuel Courcol‘s heartfelt ode to the power of music and brotherly love.
For the full list of events and screenings, as well as to purchase tickets for the French Film Festival, visit here.
