Six of the most successful French films of the last year, selected at the Cannes, Venice and Berlin festivals, will be screened in a special section dedicated to French cinema at the 11th edition of the Ceau, Cinema! Festival in Timisoara, which will take place between July 17-21.
The festival will be opened at Cinema Timis by the latest film by the well-known French director Stéphane Brizé, “Out of Season” (“Hors-saison”, 2023), appreciated by the public and critics in Venice, where it was part of the competition. Guillaume Canet plays an actor who, in a moment of crisis, retreats to a spa resort, where he meets again by chance with an ex-girlfriend from several years ago, a piano teacher (Alba Rohrwacher).
Ceau, Cinema! will bring for the first time in Romania, in an open-air screening at the Capitol Summer Garden, the new unclassifiable feature film by French master Bruno Dumont, “The Empire” (“L’Empire”, 2024), winner of this year’s Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. A small village in northern France becomes the battlefield of undercover extraterrestrial knights. The film stars the famous actor Fabrice Luchini and Anamaria Vartolomei, a young French actress of Romanian origin.
Almost all the films of the last few years of the prolific filmmaker Quentin Dupieux, known for his absurd and uncomfortable humor, were seen at Ceau, Cinema! At this edition, the director will be celebrated with a retrospective that includes his three most recent comedies.
“The Second Act” (“Le deuxième acte”, 2024) opened this year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival and will be presented in Timisoara for the first time in Romania, in an open-air screening at the Capitol Summer Garden. A woman wants to introduce her father to the man she is madly in love with. But the man is not attracted to her and decides to throw her into the arms of his friend. The characters meet in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The cast includes Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard.
The film that will close the 11th edition, also at the Capitol Summer Garden, is “Daaaaaali!” (2023), with which Quentin Dupieux was present last year at the Venice Film Festival, out of competition. A French journalist meets several times with the famous surrealist painter Salvador Dalí for a documentary project that never gets to be made.
The third film of the retrospective dedicated to the French director is “Yannick” (2023), which was part of the competition of the Locarno Festival and can be seen at Cinema Victoria. In the middle of a performance with a bad boulevard comedy, a man in the audience gets up and takes control of the entire evening. The film is brought with the support of the French Institute in Timisoara.
The French section also includes the highly successful comedy “A Difficult Year” (“Une année difficile”, 2023), by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, which will be presented during the open-air screenings with free admission in Traian Square. Two scammers buried in debt infiltrate a group of environmental activists for the free food and drinks they are offered.
The poster of this year’s edition of the Ceau, Cinema! Festival, made by the young artist from Timisoara Andreea Dumuţa, is under the sign of Salvador Dalí and pays homage to the burlesque and absurd humor in the films of Quentin Dupieux and Bruno Dumont.
Subscriptions for the festival can be purchased on the ceaucinema.ro website.
Ceau, Cinema! is a festival dedicated to European film, organized by the Pelicula Culturala Association.
The project is part of the national cultural program “Timisoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is financed through the Legacy Timisoara 2023 program, carried out by the Project Center of the Municipality of Timisoara, with amounts allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.
Sponsors: Groupama Asigurari, Vitas Romania.
International partners: Tribute to a Vision Film Festival (Slovenia and Italy), Floor Plan Croissant Project (Bulgaria).
Partners: Lipoplast, Italian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, German Cultural Center in Timisoara, Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center Bucharest, Spanish Embassy, Cervantes Institute in Bucharest, Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest, Polish Institute Bucharest, Czech Center Bucharest, French Institute in Timisoara, French Institute in Bucharest.
With the support of: Marele Ecran Association, Timisoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture Association, Cinema Timis, Cinema Victoria, Ceva de Spus Association, Cartea Calatoare Foundation, Carturesti Timişoara, La Doua Bufnite, Cartea de Nisip, Animest, Ibis Timisoara City Center, Porsche Timisoara, Ovride, Faber, Timisoara la cutie, Casa Artelor – Timis County Directorate for Culture, Hungarian Film Archive, West University of Timişoara (UVT), Social Fabrics Research Lab (FabLab), Faculty of Political Sciences, Philosophy and Communication Sciences within UVT, GIS Community Association of Timișoara, F-Sides Cineclub, Eventbook, Aualeu, Pulcinella, Aramic Winery, House of Culture of Timișoara, Claudia Rosu.
Media partners: Gen, revistă, Zile şi Nopţi, Films in Frame, West City Radio, CineFan, Tributary Stu, In Bine.