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Bonjour
Cinema: From France with love The festival is a joint cultural promotion effort organised by the Consulate of Belgium, the High Commission of Canada, the Embassy of Switzerland, the Embassy of Romania and the Embassy of France with the collaboration of the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka. The festival comes in the wake of two successful French Film Festivals held in 2002 and 2003. The French Embassy organised the annual French - Sri Lankan film festival with great success. Encouraged by the response of Sri Lankan audience in past festivals, the diplomatic missions have extended their efforts in order to let the Sri Lankan public discover the richness and diversity of the cinema industries of several French speaking countries. In addition to the French language films, the diplomats have not forgotten to add a Sri Lankan film directed by a celebrated filmmaker that will also be screened during this year's festival. This year's festival will feature a total of nine films and each film is scheduled to be screened once. The festival will be opened with Romania direction ‘Bless you, Prison’, which will be screened on March 15 at 6.30 pm. Directed by Nicolae Margineanu the film tells the true-life story of Nicole Valery-Grossu, a Romanian political prisoner in the 1950s. Though she suffered great duress, including torture, Valery-Grossu survived her experience through her newfound faith in God. Clinging to the Psalms she memorized as a child, her spiritual beliefs carried her through the most difficult time in her life, and this film beautifully captures her religious awakening and her inspirational story. The
‘Heart of Men’ (Le cœur des homes), the French
direction of Marc Esposito will be screened at 4.30 pm on Thursday,
March 16. At
7.00pm on the same day, Swiss and Belgian co-production 'One long
winter without Fire' (At Tout un hiver sans feu) will be screened.
After losing his young daughter in a fire, Swiss landowner Jean
struggles to rebuild his life. His wife Laure, though, is poised
on the verge of a breakdown, unable to cope with her loss. As the
couple grow more estranged, Jean's friendship with a workmate (a
refugee from Kosovo) leads him into a new community of exiles as
well as a tentative, faltering relationship with his new friend's
sister and - almost despite himself - a renewed sense of engagement
with the world. Nicolas,
a handsome, young waiter, is befriended by Frédéric
Delamont, a wealthy middle-aged businessman. Delamont, a man of
power, influence and strictly refined tastes, is immediately smitten
by Nicolas' charm. Lonely and phobic, Delamont offers Nicolas a
lucrative job as his personal food taster. In spite of their differences,
a close friendship begins to emerge between the two men. However,
their bond of trust and admiration soon spirals downward into a
dangerous game of deceit and obsession for which neither is prepared.
Roger Closset is the photographer for a tabloid newspaper in a small, uneventful Belgian factorytown. Between monitoring the police for accidents and crimes, and tricking hapless subjects into posing for incriminating photos, Roger dreams of making a mark on the world far beyondwhere his means or his run-down motorbike can take him. His big chance comes when a local merchant's group sponsors a competition for new world records; the prize: a gleaming new car,sure to transform his life into a blissful new utopia. With
no notable talent of his own -save an utterlack of scruples- Roger
bullies his 15 year-old son Michel into training for the title of
dooropening/closing champion of the world. While poor Michel's real
passions are dressing as Elvis and poring through old movies for
editing bloopers, he dutifully submits to his father's Olympian
efforts to launch him into international acclaim. The film was screened
at Cannes on the occasion of the 52nd Cannes film festival. (1999)
Seducing Dr Lewis (La grande seduction) of Jean-François Pouliot will screened at 7.00 pm on Saturday March 18. The residents of the tiny port village of Sainte-Marie-La- Mauderne try to convince a multinational corporation to set up a factory in their town that has fallen on hard times. The catch is that the company requires that a doctor set up practice in the village. Led by Germain, the 150 villagers do everything in their power (including learning to play cricket) to "seduce" a young doctor to settle in the community. François Favrat's The role of a lifetime (Le rôle de sa vie) will be screened on Sunday march 19 at 2.30 pm. While an assistant at a fashion magazine, Claire Rocher meets movie star Elisabeth Becker. Everything seems to push them apart, their way of life, relationships, wealth and of course fame. When Claire is hired as Elizabeth's personal assistant, her life goes into a tailspin. The two women start to bond, or so Claire assumes.... Asoka Handagama's ' Letter of fire' will be screened at 5.00 pm and the film will be (On invitation only). Beyond the appearance of a wealthy life in a beautiful mansion in Colombo, a prestigious family of three, the father, the mother and their 12 year old son, happen to be the victim of a long past childhood dream. This story comes to light from an incredible, tragic, accident which involves the boy in the murder of a prostitute. The affair causes a sensation, all the more as the boy's mother, a well known magistrate, happens to be in charge of the case. She picks up the trial for her son, who is sheltered in the house of a security guard of a museum. She asks the guard to hide her son for some time. While the city is in a real turmoil, the boy holes up in the company of the guards 13 year old daughter. His mother desperately tries to save time, the father is just absent... Time passes, strange relationships develop between the mother and the guard and between the two children. Tension reaches a peak when the mother's secret is revealed and her long contained pain is suddenly relieved in a violent, expiatory way. |
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