Cinéfranco, English Canada’s largest celebration of international Francophone cinema returns to The Royal in Toronto from Friday, March 28, 2014 to Sunday, April 6, 2014 for its 17th edition.
Catch up with your favourite stars and directors, and discover new talents through the 25 feature films and 14 shorts screening at Toronto’s beloved annual showcase of the best of Francophone cinema. Films from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Morocco and Portugal will grace the big screen, including 14 North American Premieres, 7 English Canadian Premieres and 2 Canadian Premieres.
This year’s program is a mélange of strong films reflecting cinema’s ability to entertain as well as to inform. The struggle against racism, intolerance and inequality is a major focus of Cinéfranco 2014 reflected in Halal Butcher Shop, The Marchers , Hold Back, Youm ou Lila, and Asphalt Playground. Comedies (Wrestling Queens, 9 Month Stretch, Hôtel Normandy, The Gilded Cage, Quai d’Orsay) and romance (Bright Days Ahead) will buoy our spirits, a classical revival and a swashbuckling period piece will delight us (Angelique, Fanny, Marius), thrillers will take us to new worlds (Back in Crime, The Informant, Jo’s Neighbourhood), dramas will move us (For a Woman, Miss and the Doctors), and our most loved stars will continue to dazzle (Catherine Deneuve, Guylaine Tremblay, Fanny Ardant, Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Jugnot, Sandrine Bonnaire, Nathalie Baye, François Arnaud). Cinéfranco is again proud to present Quebec independent short and feature films and co-productions such as Opening Night’s hilarious Moroccan Gigolos, the captivating thriller The Informant, and the fierce revenge drama The Scar.
Cinefranco 2014 is proud to present three programs of shorts on March 26, March 29, and April 3.
March 26’s program of Francophone Canadian shorts includes Q+A with the filmmakers and is free, courtesy of FRIC and Le Labo. On March 29, FRIC and Le Labo are also sponsoring a program of shorts from young Quebecois and French filmmakers who will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion, and on April 3, FrancoQueer and the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival are sponsoring a program of International and Canadian Francophone shorts.
Marcelle Lean, Founder-Artistic Director of Cinéfranco says of this year’s line-up. “We are very excited to welcome back our loyal audiences and to embrace new lovers of Francophone cinema at Cinéfranco 2014. I am extremely proud to be able to present a program so rich in its variety – a true constellation of celebrated actors, talented newcomers and gifted directors to fill the big screen at Toronto’s Royal Cinema.”
Welcome to Cinéfranco 2014!
Opening Night kicks off Cinéfranco with comedy. Belgian director-writer of Moroccan origins Ismaël Saïdi’s Moroccan Gigolos follows three childhood friends played by Quebec’s François Arnaud (The Borgias), comedian Eddy King and Reda Chebchoubi whose dream to open a sandwich shop is financially out of reach. After getting into a car accident Samir (Chebchoubi) goes to the home of the other driver, an older woman, to fill out the paperwork. She seduces him, and he returns not only with a positive report, but a cash bonus. When he tells the story to his friends, a lightbulb goes off and a new business to fund the sandwich shop is born.
Closing Night film is Katell Ouillévéré’s Suzanne, an unforgettable drama that quietly tugs at the heartstrings. With 5 César Award 2014 nominations and festival showings in 2013 at Cannes, Chicago and London Film Festivals, Ouillévéré’s film follows Suzanne (played by Sara Forestier) through 25 years as a woman “high on” love and eager to be free.
Films with a social conscience
The struggle against racism, intolerance and inequality is a major focus of Cinéfranco 2014.
Iranian-Canadian Babek Aliassa’s Halal Butcher Shop, the story of a Muslim immigrant family’s struggles to integrate in Quebec, provokes our outrage, fears and prejudices, giving context to the current debate in that province. A modern Romeo and Juliet French drama Hold Back, depicts racism and intolerance within the immigrant Muslim Algerian community when Dorcy, a young black Christian wants to marry Algerian Muslim Sabrina. Julien Abraham’s dramedy Asphalt Playground, inspired by the Brazilian film The City of God, depicts young peoples’ daily struggle for a better life in Paris’ northern suburbs. Belgian director Nabil Ben Yadir’s The Marchers recounts the 1983 march for human rights in France spurred by three teenagers inspired by Ghandi and Martin Luther King. And in Moroccan director Naoufel Berraoui’s poignant drama with documentary accents Youm ou Lila, a sheltered traditional Yzza leaves her village for Casablanca to buy the life saving medicine her daughter so desperately needs.
Comedies
Cinéfranco 2014 knows that laughter is the best medicine!
With 3 César nominations, Master French director Bernard Tavernier doesn’t disappoint with Quai d’Orsay, delivering a fast paced hilarious satire on political power with a stellar cast including Julie Gayet and Thierry Lhermitte. With a César nomination for Best First Film The Gilded Cage is Ruben Alves’ charming story of a Portuguese couple who struggle with their strong work ethic when trying to retire back to Portugal after working for a lifetime France. In Wrestling Queens, former prisoner Rose recruits her new co-workers to form a women’s wrestling team so she can get close again with her son. Nathalie Baye, Isabelle Nanty, Marilou Berry, Audrey Fleurot, Corinne Masiero and André Dussllier as their grumpy old coach, actually trained together for 3 months to get all the moves down! Sparks fly in 9 Month Stretch, nominated for 5 Césars including Best Film, with the comedic mis-match between Ariane, a proud single judge who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and Nolan, a repeat offender in her court. Anything is possible at the Hôtel Normandy when best friends secretly conspire to set up widowed Alice with a man for her 40th birthday
The Female Eye
There are many notable films by women directors at Cinefranco 2014
Emmanuelle Bergot’s On My Way stars the incomparable Catherine Deneuve as a sixty-something
woman fed up with her failing restaurant and relationship, who steps out for a break one day, gets in her car and drives away to unknown adventures. Nominated for a César for Best Actress, Deneuve’s performance debunks her own myth of the icy blonde icon. Sandrine Bonnaire and Gérard Jugot star in Adieu Paris, Franziska Buch’s drama about strangers coming together amidst hardships and grief. A beautiful romance unfolds in Marion Vernoux’s Bright Days Ahead starring Fanny Ardant as a dentist in her sixties and Patrick Chesnais. Their sparks light up the screen and prove that there are truly second chapters and second chances. Both actors are nominated for Césars. Inspired by her family history in the aftermath of the Holocaust, acclaimed director Diane Kurys’ For A Woman is a captivating, deeply moving and beautifully crafted film. Paris’ Chinatown is the centre of Axelle Ropert’s drama Miss and the Doctors. When two aging bachelor brothers and doctors respond to the night call of a diabetic little girl, their lives are turned upside down when they both fall madly in love with the girl’s single mother.
A muffled rivalry tinged with humour and melancholy threatens their bond.
Boys to Men
Teen crime and bullying reap their harvest……
Helier Cisterne’s “Vandal” is a tribute to the power of art to transform. When 15 yr old Cherif is caught by police for speeding in a stolen car, his mom is at her wit’s end and pleads with the judge for permission to send him away to live with his aunt and uncle. Cherif finds himself bristling under the harsh discipline of his uncle and his training as a bricklayer but finds freedom and passion when his introduces him to the clandestine world of street art. Jimmy Larouche’s The Scar is a searing drama about the vicious cycle of the bullied who bullies. At a hockey game, Richard recognizes Paul who bullied him mercilessly as a boy. Though a grown man the emotional pain is still palpable and Richard seeks his revenge. In Jo’s Neighborhood, Jo returns to his neighborhood Menilmontant after 15 in prison to find that things have changed. Gangsters are now in control and no one is spared. Director Alain Minier still lives in this tough Parisian neighborhood of his childhood and skillfully and knowingly intertwines humour in the midst of harsh crimes, suspense and humanity.
Policiers
In the France-Canada co-production “The Informant” an indebted Marc Duval, a French expat in Gibraltar and bar owner where drug dealers ply their trade becomes an informant for French Customs. Caught in a web of political intrigue and illicit drug trade he becomes a pawn in an international power play among drug lords and customs officials and struggles to save his skin. Tension mounts in Julien Leclercq’s thriller based on the real life 80’s story of Marc Fievet. Tahar Rahim as the conflicted customs agent, the dangerously charismatic Ricardo Scarmacio and Gilles Lellouche are the dream cast in this thrilling game of chess and dirty tricks. Germinal Alvarez’s first feature film “Back In Crime”, is a thriller with a twist – time travel. Chief inspector Richard Kemp (a powerful performance by Jean-Hugues Anglade) investigates a homicide that strangely reminds him of murders committed by a serial killer in 1989 and he is propelled back in time to try and keep the murders from taking place but he’s thwarted by an ambitious, tenacious investigator – none other than himself 20 years ago. The always dazzling Melanie Thierry plays Helene Batistelli, a key witness Kemp needs in his inquiries.
A Classic Revival
Actor-director Daniel Auteuil brings new life into Marcel Pagnol’s classics in his remake of
La trilogie marseillaise. “Marius” sets the scene at the Old Marseille Port where Cesar (Auteuil) and his son Marius manage the Bar de la Marine and are witness to all the gossip including the rumours about Marius’s love Fanny who is also the object of fifty yr old Mr Panisse’s affection and marriage proposal.
“Fanny” takes up where “Marius” leaves off with the Bar de la Marine and it’s patrons in a state of turmoil between Mr Panisse’s marriage proposal, Fanny’s swoons, her mother’s hysterical reaction and the upcoming wedding plans. Auteuil, his marvelous cast and Alexandre Desplat’s mournful score brings the magic back to a classic love story.
A Swashbuckling Period Drama
Director Ariel Zeitoun’s film adaptation of Anne Golon’s historic novel “Angelique” brims with adventure, gorgeous period costumes and a sumptuous sound track. As well, stellar performances by the magnificent Gerard Lanvin and the beautiful Nora Arnezeder are the focus of this love story against the backdrop of Louis XIV court where power struggles and plots threaten the happiness of the lovers devoted to fighting against oppression and injustice.
Cinéfranco 2014 Box Office Information:
Tickets: $12; Students and Seniors: $10; Festival Pass: $99
FOR ADVANCED TICKETS (available until midnight, the day before the screening):
Walkup: T.O.TIX*, 1 Dundas Street East, Yonge-Dundas Square – Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Online, 24 hours a day: www.cinefranco.com or www.totix.ca
TICKETS (for the screenings of the day):
The Royal, 608 College Street, Toronto
Every day from March 28 to April 6 – starting 60min prior to the screening
Walkup and cash only
For further information:
Box office, ticketing, schedule and program: www.cinéfranco.com
All films at Cinéfranco are screened with English subtitles.