New French Shorts

Thursday, January 17, 2013

“New French Shorts,” a seven-film sampler of new Gallic cinema presented by IFC Center and Unifrance Films, will be screened Thursday, January 17 at 8:00pm at IFC Center. The program boasts the New York premiere of shorts starring such noted French icons as Nathalie Baye and Gérard Depardieu in comedies, dramas and thrillers that have taken awards at festivals around the world, along with the winner of the 2012 Cesar for best short film. The evening includes a discussion with Slony Sow, the director of the short WINTER FROG; the lineup for the event includes:

BYE BYE (dir. Edouard Deluc, 9 min.) Critics Week, Cannes Film Festival. Nathalie Baye plays a woman whose grown daughters push her to jumpstart her lovelife.

CLICHÉ (dir. Thierry de Clermont and Vincent Lacrocq, 3 min.) In a world where celluloid is harder and harder to score, its pleasures are all the more difficult to deny.

THE DOLL (dir. Lola Doillon, 18 min.) World Premiere. In New York and Paris, a boy embarks upon parallel odysseys to recover his sister’s beloved doll.

FILLE DU CALVAIRE (dir. Stéphane Demoustie, 20 min.) Over the course of many rides, a young man recounts the evolution of a new love to a Metro acquaintance.

IT’S NOT A COWBOY MOVIE (Ce n’est pas un film de cow-boys, dir. Benjamin Parent, 12 min.) Critics Week, Cannes; Best Short, Melbourne International Film Festival. At school, adolescents discuss a troubling film they saw on TV the night before.

THE PIANO TUNER (L’Accordeur, dir. Olivier Treiner, 13 min.), Cesar Award for Best Short Film. Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (Love Songs) is a piano tuner with a secret who finds himself trapped in a complicated situation.

WINTER FROG (Grenouille d’hiver, dir. Slony Sow, 17 min.) Cannes Film Festival. Gérard Depardieu’s grief-stricken winemaker makes an unexpected connection with a young Japanese visitor. Director Slony Sow in person.

Presented in cooperation with Unifrance Films, the showcase coincides with the launch of the third edition of its online “My French Film Festival,” presented January 17-February 17 and available on iTunes, Vudu and Eurocinema. In addition to “New French Shorts,” IFC Center partners every year with Unifrance Films as one of the venues for the popular “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema” program in March.

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.