Author: Admin

Screening

UK/FRA | 2020 | 97 mins | dir. Florian Zeller, with Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams | In English | cert. 12A

The Father won director Florian Zeller and co-screenwriter Christopher Hampton both the 2021 Academy Award and BAFTA for best adapted script along with best actor for Anthony Hopkins. On the one hand, 83 years old Anthony (Hopkins) lives alone in his London flat and refuses all the carers his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) tries to impose upon him as his reality gradually dissolves to finally become something that can’t be trusted. On the other, Anne grapples with the painful question of what to do with her father as she’s decided to move to Paris with a man she’s just met.

The preview screening will be preceded by a recorded introduction by director Florian Zeller and followed by a Q&A moderated by Jason Solomons with screenwriter Christopher Hampton & production designer Peter Francis.

Please note that the doors of the Institut français will only open to the public at 8pm on Mon 17 May and Café Tangerine will open from Tue 18 May at 5pm.

See also The Father June screenings here

Screening

USA | 2020 | dir. Chloé Zhao, with Frances McDormand and David Strathairn | in English cert 15A

Winning the Oscar for best picture and best directing, Chloé Zhao’s engrossing and humane film Nomadland also won its lead Frances McDormand the award for best actress at this years Academy Awards.

Fern (Frances McDormand) is a woman in her sixties who has lost everything – her money to the recession and her beloved husband to an early death. Kitting out a van as a home and following temporary work from place to place, she embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a modern-day nomad. This elegiac drama depicting the subcultures in the US’ western wildlands is an adaptation of the non-fiction book by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century.

Talk & Readings

One of the most anticipated novels of the year, Painting Time by Maylis de Kerangal follows the life of Paula Karts, a young artist in Brussels that tries to grapple with what it means to be an artist. She decides to reject the allure of high art to focus on the demanding art of craftsmanship in a journey that leads her to Paris, Moscow, Italian movie sets and finally Lascaux IV, the facsimile of the most famous Paleolithic cave. Join best-selling author Maylis de Kerangal and Rosie Goldsmith, director of the European Literature Network, for this conversation on art in literature.

Hybrid event
Onsite: Rosie Goldsmith
Online: Maylis de Kerangal

This discussion is organised in partnership with

Related / Latest Publication:

Painting Time, Maylis de Kerangal (translated into English by Jessica Moore, published by MacLehose Press)

Talk & Readings

Two years ago, the whole world was in shock upon seeing images of Notre-Dame de Paris in flames. The profound emotion opened up a series of questions: Why was everyone so deeply moved? What makes Notre-Dame, the soul of a nation and a symbol of human achievement?

In answer, writer, critic and broadcaster Agnès Poirier turns to the defining moments in Notre-Dame’s history in her book Notre-Dame: The Soul of France, published last year in English, and this year in French. She will be in conversation with award-winning historian, biographer and BBC Radio 4’s Making History presenter Tom Holland.

Onsite: Agnès Poirier, Tom Holland, Olivia Ross

Related / Latest Publications:

	Notre-Dame, the Soul of France, Agnès Poirier
	Notre-Dame, L'Âme d'une nation, Agnès Poirier
	Les chrétiens, comment ils ont changé le monde, Tom Holland (translated by Olivier Salvatori)

Screening

Les Sauvages

FRA | 2019 | 2x52 mins | dir. Rebecca Zlotowski, with Roschdy Zem, Marina Foïs, Amira Casar, Souheila Yacoub | in French with EN Subs

Discover the two first episodes of the groundbreaking French series Les Sauvages! Co-created by French author Sabri Louatah and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (Planetarium, An Easy Girl), the series is based on Louatah’s Savages novels and brings to the screen a great ensemble of actors including Roschdy Zem, Marina Foïs and Amira Casar. In present-day France, the first presidential candidate of Algerian descent is on the brink of power. But on the night of the election, he is shot, creating turmoil and throwing the entire nation into disarray. Savages deals with six days in the life of a country tearing itself apart.

Tue 18 May 9.15 pm | Ciné Lumière III
Wed 19 May 7.30pm | Ciné Lumière III

Screening

FRA/UK | 1930–41/1936 | 65 mins/8 mins | dir.s Irène & Ladislas Starewitch/dir.s Anthony Gross & Hector Hoppin | in French with EN subs

Based on the medieval fable Reynard the Fox—as well as Goethe's late 18th century adaptation—Irène & Ladislas Starewitch's The Story of the Fox was the first animated feature film made in France throughout the 1930s and released in 1941. Reynard the cunning fox causes mischief among the animals of the kingdom, forcing King Lion to have him arrested and summoned before the throne, the beginning of a fierce battle for power.

This screening will be preceded by the restored version of Anthony Gross & Hector Hoppin’s delightfully choreographed 8-min short animated film Fox Hunt, a Technicolor follow-up to the modernist cartoon classic Joie de Vivre.

Screenings introduced by Jez Stewart, Animation Curator, BFI

As part of Anima(c)tion

Screening

USA | 2020 | dir. Chloé Zhao, with Frances McDormand and David Strathairn | in English cert 15A

Winning the Oscar for best picture and best directing, Chloé Zhao’s engrossing and humane film Nomadland also won its lead Frances McDormand the award for best actress at this years Academy Awards.

Fern (Frances McDormand) is a woman in her sixties who has lost everything – her money to the recession and her beloved husband to an early death. Kitting out a van as a home and following temporary work from place to place, she embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a modern-day nomad. This elegiac drama depicting the subcultures in the US’ western wildlands is an adaptation of the non-fiction book by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century.

Talk & Readings

In The War of the Poor, Goncourt Prize-winning author Éric Vuillard follows the steps of the charismatic preacher Thomas Müntzer, who opposed both Luther and the Catholic Church to lead a plebeian uprising. Closer to our time, in Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart explores the life of Hugh Bain in the run-down public housing of Glasgow amid Thatcher’s policies putting the city out of work. Tune in as they consider whether and how literature can build a history of the wretched in a discussion interspersed with readings by actor David Mildon. Chaired by Boyd Tonkin.

Hybrid event
Onsite: Boyd Tonkin, David Mildon
Online: Douglas Stuart, Éric Vuillard

photo: Éric Vuillard © Melania Avanzato

Related / Latest Publications:

	The War of the Poor, Éric Vuillard (translated by Mark Polizzotti, published by Picador).
	Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart (translated into French by Charles Bonnot, published by Ed. Globe)

Talk & Readings

From Tintin to Asterix, the love of comics unites both sides of the Channel! The genre has also become a prized method to convey the lives of great historical figures from Sigmund Freud to Emil Zatopek. Illustrators and artists Lionel Richerand and writer Jan Novák join comics veteran Paul Gravett to examine what makes "biographics" so popular and what more can they offer in the exploration of the lives of history’s greats.

Online event: Paul Gravett, Jan Novák, Lionel Richerand

This discussion is organised in partnership with

Related / Latest Publications:

	Frink and Freud, Lionel Richerand (translated by Edward Gauvin)
	Zátopek, Jan Novák (published in the UK by SelfMadeHero)

Screening

ESP | 30 mins + 45 mins | dir. Pedro Almodóvar, with Tilda Swinton | cert. 15 | in English

Madness and melancholy intersect to thrilling effect as Almodóvar reimagines Jean Cocteau’s short play The Human Voice for an era in which isolation has become a way of life. Laws of desire become the rules of the game as Tilda Swinton’s unnamed woman paces and panics in a glorious Technicolor apartment where décor offers a window into her state of mind. A short, sharp shot of distilled Almodóvar: passion, emotion, heartbreak, wit, and melodrama exquisitely bound up in a tale for our times.

Shot over nine days in Madrid in July and recently premiered to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival, The Human Voice is Almodóvar’s first work in English.

Followed by an exclusive recorded Q&A with Tilda Swinton and Pedro Almodóvar hosted by Mark Kermode

See also other screenings of The Human Voice on:
26 May
29 May as part of the Spanish Spring Weekend