28/06/2019 - Unspooling from 28 June-7 July, the 47th edition will pay tribute to Dario Argento, Caroline Champetier, Jessica Hausner, Jean-François Laguionie and Elia Suleiman, among others

It Must Be Heaven by Elia Suleiman

Today marks the opening of the 47^th La Rochelle International Film Festival, a popular non-competitive film gathering (which recorded 86,000 admissions last year) offering a high-quality yet very eclectic menu. Running until 7 July, the event (the patron of which this year is Canadian actress Alexandra Stewart) will present around 200 movies, including the opening film, the Cannes-awarded It Must Be Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elia Suleiman
film profile] by Elia Suleiman. The festival will pay tribute not only to the Palestinian filmmaker (with a screening of all four of his features to date), but also to cult Italian helmer Dario Argento (with nine of his movies and the documentary Dario Argento: Soupirs dans un corridor lointain [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jean-Baptiste Thoret), French DoP Caroline Champetier (seven films), Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner (all five of her features, including Little Joe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile], which won the Best Actress Award at Cannes in May) and French animation director Jean-François Laguionie (eight short films and six features, including the premiere of The Prince’s Journey [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which he co-directed with Xavier Picard), all of whom will be in attendance.

Other highlights on the line-up include a focus on Icelandic cinema, with 13 films that have been made since 2008 (including A White, White Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile] by Hlynur Pálmason, which earned actor Ingvar E Sigurðsson the Rising Star Award in the 2019 Cannes Critics’ Week), ten silent films by Swede Victor Sjöström (ten movies), retrospectives dedicated to French-US actor Charles Boyer (five films), US filmmaker Arthur Penn (ten movies) and Ukrainian director Kira Mouratova (six films), plus a section dubbed "Demented Slapstick" with Louis de Funès (ten titles) and Jim Carrey (six movies).

Standing out in the "Near and Afar" section, featuring 46 firm favourites from the year so far, is a slew of Cannes titles: Atlantics [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mati Diop
film profile] by Mati Diop, Les Misérables [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ladj Ly
film profile] by Ladj Ly, Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile] by Céline Sciamma, Bacurau [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juli…
film profile] by Brazilian duo Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, The Traitor [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Marco Bellocchio
film profile] by Italy’s Marco Bellocchio, Oh Mercy! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile] by Arnaud Desplechin, The Whistlers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile] by Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu, Sorry We Missed You [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Ken Loach
film profile] by Brit Ken Loach, Fire Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile] by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe, On a Magical Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christophe Honoré
film profile] by Christophe Honoré, Alice and the Mayor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Pariser
film profile] by Nicolas Pariser, An Easy Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rebecca Zlotowski
film profile] by Rebecca Zlotowski, Oleg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juris Kursietis
film profile] by Latvia’s Juris Kursietis, Tlamess [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ala Eddine Slim
film profile] by Tunisia’s Ala Eddine Slim, Burning Ghost [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Stéphane Batut, Blind Spot [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Patrick-Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic, and the documentaries Living and Knowing You’re Alive [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Alain Cavalier and Kongo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Hadrien La Vapeur and Corto Vaclav. Also of note are the Romanian films Monsters. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marius Olteanu
film profile] by Marius Olteanu and A Decent Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hadrian Marcu
film profile] by Hadrian Marcu (both as-yet unreleased in France), as well as the animated feature Marona’s Fantastic Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by their fellow countrywoman Anca Damian, Flesh Out [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Italy’s Michela Occhipinti, Stitches [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miroslav Terzić
film profile] by Serbia’s Miroslav Terzić, The Souvenir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Brit Joanna Hogg and the Dutch doc Miel-Emile [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Peter van Houten, not to mention Rojo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamín Naishtat
film profile] by Benjamín Naishtat, Belmonte [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Federico Veiroj, Monos [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Alejandro Landes and the documentary Talking About Trees [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Suhaib Gasmelbari.

(Translated from French)