The New Orleans French Film Festival (NOFS) will host its 26th annual event at the historic Prytania Theatre and The Prytania Theatres at Canal Place from March 9-13 as well as streaming virtual March 9-19.
The festival brings together 13 features alongside 3 short films, presented in French or Kouri-Vini (Louisiana Creole) with English subtitles, from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the USA.
Louisiana is represented twice within the French shorts program this year.
Director Luke Hariss’ narrative short film Tambou, winner of the 2022 #CreateLouisiana French Culture Grant, follows Emmanuel, who takes to the streets to busk with his tambou drum when threatened with losing his home in New Orleans due to unpaid bills. With his grandson Junior in town, Emmanuel navigates the changing city and seeks a path to stay in the city he calls home.
Director Autumn Palen’s documentary short film Voices of Renewal celebrates the modern revitalization movement for Louisiana Creole, which is an endangered language today spoken by around 5,000 people. Interviewing five voices across three generations, the documentary brings together contemporary activists for Louisiana Creole, who share their passion for keeping their language and culture alive.
Individual tickets go on sale to NOFS members February 23 at 12 p.m. and to the general public March 2 at 12 p.m. For tickets and more details on memberships, passes, movie trailers and schedules, visit the New Orleans French Film Festival website.
Below is the New Orleans French Film Festival lineup of films:
OPENING NIGHT FILM: MADELEINE COLLINS
Thursday, March 9, 7:30 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Antoine Barraud | France, Belgium, Switzerland | 2021| 106min. | Narrative
Judith (Virginie Efira) manages a busy double life spanning two countries. In France, she’s the glamorous wife of orchestra conductor Melvil, with whom she has two older boys. In Switzerland, she works as a translator, sharing a home with Abdel and their little girl. Gradually, this delicate facade built on lies, secrets, and constant to-ing and fro-ing starts to crack and Judith’s situation spirals out of control. Writer-director Antoine Barraud’s layered psychological drama explores themes of identity and the need for freedom, all through the eyes of a protagonist whose complicated actions call everything into question.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM: REVOIR PARIS
Monday, March 13, 8 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Alice Winocour | France | 2022| 105min. | Narrative
One Saturday evening in autumn, Mia (Virginie Efira) is caught in a terrorist attack on a Parisian bistro. Three months later, still unable to pick her life back up and remembering only fragments of that night, Mia decides to investigate her memories to find a way back to happiness. A piercing examination of what it means to live through devastating violence, Revoir Paris is at once intimate and expansive, hewing closely to its heroine’s experience of tumult and recovery— and to the unexpected connections she forms in the aftermath.
New Orleans French Film Festival (In-Person Only):
OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN (LES ENFANTS DES AUTRES)
Friday, March 10, 8 PM, Prytania Theatre. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Rebecca Zlotowski | France| 2022 | 103min. | Narrative
Rachel (Virginie Efira) is a teacher in Paris whose new relationship with a single father awakens an intense and unexpected desire for motherhood. The situation is precarious: the more time Rachel spends with her boyfriend’s daughter, Leïla, the more she cannot help but feel like a mother to the child. But Leïla already has a mother (Chiara Mastroianni), with whom she spends half her time. Featuring an incandescent central performance by Efira, Other People’s Children is a moving rumination on the pains caused by the unbudging pillars of traditional parenting.
THE ORIGIN OF EVIL (L’ORIGINE DU MAL)
Saturday, March 11, 7:45 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Sébastien Marnier| France, Canada| 2022 | 123min. | Narrative
When Stephané (Laure Calamy) reconnects with her estranged billionaire father, she struggles to find her place in a world of luxury, bitter jealousies, and dark family secrets… but Stephané also has her own secret to hide. Director Sébastien Marnier expertly combines the dread of psychological horror with the breakneck plot twists and reversals of fortune of high melodrama. The Origin of Evil is an exhilarating skewering of the decadent excesses of the aristocratic class and those who aspire to be among them.
CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7 (CLÉO DE 5 À 7)
Sunday, March 12, 10 AM, Prytania Theatre. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Agnès Varda | France, Italy | 1962 | 90min. | Narrative
Selfish pop singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand) has two hours to wait until the results of a biopsy come back. After an ominous tarot card reading, she visits her friends, all of whom fail to give her the emotional support she needs. Wandering around Paris, she seeks comfort and solace for the news she awaits. Agnès Varda’s second feature, Cléo from 5 to 7 is amongst the most rigorous and delicate films of the French New Wave, in addition to being a gorgeous ode to the side streets of Paris from the early 1960s. Truly a masterpiece of filmmaking.
THREE NIGHTS A WEEK (TROIS NUITS PAR SEMAINE)
Sunday, March 12, 5 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Florent Gouelou | France | 2022 | 103min. | Narrative
29-year-old Baptiste is in a relationship with Samia when he first meets Cookie Kunty, a young drag queen from the Parisian scene who immediately mesmerizes him. Initially motivated by the idea of a photography project, Baptiste becomes immersed into the world of drag and finds himself falling deeper and deeper in love with Cookie—and with Quentin, the man behind Cookie’s drag persona. Embracing the sweetness of romantic comedies, the glitter of drag, and the complications of new and old relationships, director Florent Gouëlou delivers an insightful look at love—in and out of costume. This film is part of Young French Cinema, a program of Unifrance and Villa Albertine.
THE FINAL CUT (COUPEZ!)
Sunday, March 12, 7:45 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Michel Hazanavicius|France| 2020 | 110min. | Narrative
The opening film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the wacky gore-fest Final Cut follows a filmmaker making a no-budget zombie movie in which the cast and crew, one by one, actually turn into zombies. Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) plays that silliness for all it’s worth, and the story unfolds in typical cheesy B-movie fashion—but it’s the off-screen mishaps and debacles that genuinely push the film into the realm of high farce. More comedy than horror film or zombie flick, Final Cut revels in its goofy lowbrow genre-movie fun.
FULL TIME (À PLEIN TEMPS)
Monday, March 13, 6 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Éric Gravel | France| 2021 | 87min. | Narrative
Marie (Laure Calamy) goes to great lengths to raise her two children in the countryside while keeping her job in a Parisian luxury hotel. When she finally gets a job interview for a position she had long been hoping for, a national strike breaks out, paralyzing the public transport system. The fragile balance that Marie has established is jeopardized, and she then sets off on a frantic race against time, at the risk of foundering.
REVOIR PARIS
Monday, March 13, 8 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Not available for streaming.
Dir. Alice Winocour| France| 2022 | 105min. | Narrative
One Saturday evening in autumn, Mia is caught in a terrorist attack on a Parisian bistro. Three months later, still unable to pick her life back up and remembering only fragments of that night, Mia decides to investigate her memories to find a way back to happiness. A piercing examination of what it means to live through devastating violence, Revoir Paris is at once intimate and expansive, hewing closely to its heroine’s experience of tumult and recovery—and to the unexpected connections she forms in the aftermath.
New Orleans French Film Festival (In-Person and Virtual):
MADELEINE COLLINS
Thursday, March 9, 7:30 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Antoine Barraud| France, Belgium, Switzerland | 2021 | 106min. | Narrative
Judith (Virginie Efira) manages a busy double life spanning two countries. In France, she’s the glamorous wife of orchestra conductor Melvil, with whom she has two older boys. In Switzerland, she works as a translator, sharing a home with Abdel and their little girl. Gradually, this delicate facade built on lies, secrets, and constant to-ing and fro-ing starts to crack and Judith’s situation spirals out of control. Writer-director Antoine Barraud’s layered psychological drama explores themes of identity and the need for freedom, all through the eyes of a protagonist whose complicated actions call everything into question.
THE ART OF SILENCE (L’ART DU SILENCE)
Friday, March 10, 6 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Maurizius Staerkle Drux| Switzerland, Germany| 2022 | 52min. | Documentary
The first documentary about legendary mime Marcel Marceau, whose iconic body of work (including the character of “Bip the Clown”) inspired generations of artists, including Marceau’s grandson, whose own work follows in his famous grandfather’s footsteps. Including interviews from those closest to the legendary artist, the film sheds new light on Marceau’s work, and delves into lesser-known aspects of life, including the story of his Jewish father, who was killed at Auschwitz. More than a film about pantomime, the film is about tragedy and comedy, music and silence.
ROSE
Saturday, March 11, 12 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Aurélie Saada| France| 2021 | 102min. | Narrative
Actress and screenwriter Aurélie Saada makes her directorial debut with this life-affirming reminder that it’s never too late to seek fulfillment. The joys of celebrating the birthday of the Goldberg family patriarch give way to sorrow as his sudden death leaves his devoted wife Rose (screen legend Françoise Fabian, who played the title role in Éric Rohmer’s classic My Night at Maud’s) uncertain of how to navigate life as a widow approaching 80. Her family offers little solace, but gradually Rose begins to advocate for her own wishes and pursue her desires, rejecting the societal pressure to “act her age.”
TAMBOU
Saturday, March 11, 2:30 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Luke Harris| USA | 2022 | 22min. | Narrative Short
When threatened with losing his home in New Orleans due to unpaid bills, Emmanuel takes to the streets with his tambou drum to busk for money. With his grandson Junior in town, Emmanuel navigates the changing city and seeks a path to stay in the city he calls home. Winner of the 2022 #CreateLouisiana French Culture Grant.
VOICES OF RENEWAL
Saturday, March 11, 2:30 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Autumn Palen| USA | 2022 | 17min. | Documentary Short
Voices of Renewal celebrates the modern revitalization movement for Louisiana Creole, which is an endangered language today spoken by around 5,000 people. Interviewing five voices across three generations, the documentary brings together contemporary activists for Louisiana Creole, who share their passion for keeping their language and culture alive. Featuring musical performances, poetry in Louisiana Creole (also called Kouri-vini), and heart-felt discussions around the facing the language and culture today.
THE INTERSECTION (LE CARREFOUR)
Saturday, March 11, 2:30 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Daniel Quintanilla, Jessamine Irwin | USA | 2021 | 30min. | Documentary Short
Cecile reconnects with the French of her childhood thanks to recently arrived Franco-African immigrants, like Tresor, seeking asylum in Cecile’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine. Cecile’s Franco roots tie her to the thousands of French-Canadians who came before her to power the local mills, and who suffered from decades of discrimination and oppression. As history repeats itself, Cecile and Trésor develop a close friendship that helps Cecile finally find her pride in being Franco-American.
TWO TICKETS TO GREECE (LES CYCLADES)
Saturday, March 11, 5:15 PM, Prytania Theatre. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Marc Fitoussi| France, Greece, Belgium | 2022 | 110min. | Narrative
Recently divorced, and watching helplessly as her only son leaves home, Blandine is struggling to find her footing again. So when her former best friend Magalie, loud and reckless, suddenly resurfaces, she allows herself to be spontaneous for a change… The two take the trip they always dreamed of as teenagers, to the Greek island of Amorgos, the amazing location where Luc Besson’s The Big Blue was shot. But as they head off towards their destination, it’s soon apparent that Magalie’s very different approach to vacation—and to life—could lead Blandine to her breaking point.
THE CANDIDATE (Municipale)
Sunday, March 12, 12 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Also available to stream online.
Dir. Thomas Paulot | France | 2021 | 110min. | Narrative
The small town of Revin, in the French Ardennes, is preparing to elect a mayor when an unknown character announces he’s running for office. This intruder is none other than an actor, cast by the film’s director, Thomas Paulot, in a social experiment that they document. By doing so, Paulot blurs the line between fiction and reality and he generates a series of contradictions. In a nearly documentary style, inviting us to unravel the truth from the fiction, this political fable shows us the sincerity of the bond that is created between all its protagonists—and what flows out of it is a profound humanity.
EVERYTHING WENT FINE (TOUT S’EST BIEN PASSÉ)
Sunday, March 12, 2:30 PM, Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Also available to stream online.
Dir. François Ozon| France| 2021 | 113min. | Narrative
Written and directed by François Ozon and based on the personal memoir Everything Went
Well by Emmanuèle Bernheim, the film centers around Bernheim (played by a never-better Sophie Marceau) as she is confronted with the declining health of her cantankerous father André, and his request for her help in committing medically assisted suicide. With the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale, Emmanuèle begins sorting through the complicated processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s request. Co-starring legendary actors André Dussollier, Charlotte Rampling, and Hanna Schygulla.
For more information on the New Orleans French Film Festival, visit this website.
