EVENEMENTS

Sport de filles

Patricia Mazuy
2011 - France - 101mn
With Marina Hands, Bruno Ganz, Josiane Balasko, Amanda Harlech, Isabel Karajan, Olivier Perrier, Lionel Dray, Muftie Aplin, Matthias Alexander Rath
Disgusted by the show jumper she was promised being sold, Gracieuse, an extremely gifted rider, leaves the stud farm she works at. She goes to work as a stable girl in the dressage stables where the owner, Joséphine de Silène, exploits the international fame of trainer Franz Mann, a cynical former trainer, to attract rich female riders from around the world. In this environment of power and money, Gracieuse has to overcome many obstacles to achieve her aim: having her own horse to take her to the top.

After her first short, La Boîteuse, in 1984, Patricia Mazuy became a editor and also made her first feature, Peaux de Vaches with Sandrine Bonnaire, which was nominated for the César for Best First Film and won the Audience Award at Premiers Plans in 1989. After making documentaries and films for television, she made Saint Cyr, selected for Un Certain Regard and winner of the Prix Jean Vigo, followed by Basse Normandie. Her new film, Sport de filles, will be released on 25 January 2012.

In her new film, Patricia Mazuy depicts characters who will do anything to succeed. “They all have specific objectives and have no reasons to be nice to anyone else to achieve them. Quite the contrary, all the characters have good reasons for stabbing everyone else in the back. Sport de filles is above all a situational film, not at all a psychological one” (Patricia Mazuy). “Patricia was very precise in her direction, as soon as things were not going well she would put me back on line straight away. For Gracieuse I had to play on the discrepancy between her brutality and her innoncence. Sometimes she is totally out of her depth. It’s very touching, comic even” (Marina Hands).

38 témoins

Lucas Belvaux
2012 - France - 104mn
With Yvan Attal, Sophie Quinton, Nicole Garcia
When she returns from a trip to China, Louise discovers that her street is a crime scene. No witnesses, everyone was asleep. Apparently. But as time goes by Louis discovers that 38 people saw or heard something, and that Pierre, her husband, is one of them…

Born in Belgium, Lucas Belvaux became known for his role in Yves Boisset’s film Allons z’enfants in 1980. He followed this with La Truite by Joseph Losey, Poulet au Vinaigre and Madame Bovary by Claude Chabrol, Hurlevent (Wuthering Heights) by Jacques Rivette and Désordre (Disorder) by Olivier Assayas, produced by Claude-Eric Poiroux. He continued with films by Hervé Le Roux, Chantal Akerman, Christian Carion, Régis Wargnier and Robert Guédiguian. After directing his first feature, Parfois trop d’amour in 1991, Lucas Belvaux directed Jean-Pierre Léaud and Ornella Muti in Pour rire ! (Just for Laughs). In 2002 he directed a trilogy made up of Cavale (Trilogy: One), Un couple épatant (Trilogy: Two), and Après la vie (Trilogy: Three) for which he was nominated for a César for Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, and received the Prix Louix-Delluc. His following film, La Raison du plus faible, was in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival. After Rapt in 2009, nominated at the Césars for Best Director and Best Film, he once again worked with Yvan Attal in 38 témoins (One Night) with Sophie Quinton and Nicole Garcia. The film, which will be opening the Rotterdam Festival, is due for release in French cinemas next March. Lucas Belvaux was president of the features jury at Premiers Plans in 2010.