In the Angoumois furnace, it seems almost incongruous to hear the first refreshing notes of the music composed by Georges Delerue for Le Mépris (1963) by Jean-Luc Godard. Yet it is through this enchanting opening that the organizers of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival have chosen to inaugurate this 16th edition under the sign of Franco-Swiss friendship, by projecting long extracts from one of the most famous films by Godard, with Brigitte Bardot, whose unforgettable reply “And my buttocks, do you like my buttocks?” entered the legend of the seventh art.
This musical inauguration was intended to echo the programming of this edition which honors Swiss cinema, from Claude Goretta to Alain Tanner via Lionel Baier or Barbet Schroeder. The Angoulême orchestra performed during this opening ceremony two other pieces from Swiss artists, Where are the women? (1977) by Patrick Juvet (which makes it clear that seven of the eleven films in competition are signed by female directors) and Déjeuner en paix (1991) by Stéphane Escher.
On the stage of the city theatre, Dominique Besnehard, the co-creator of this meeting with Marie-France Brière, declared: “The number 16, department of Charente, is an important number: at 16, we are counted , we obtain new rights, a vital social security card … It has been 16 years that we have been face to face, Marie-France Brière and I, like smugglers of our love of cinema.
The eleven cinemas of the city are full , announced the organizers, a few minutes before the beginning of the opening ceremony. Online reservations are up 10% compared to the previous edition, proof that the Angoumoisins, like the French, are finding their way back to dark rooms in 2023, after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another tribute was also paid to the president of the jury for this edition, Laetitia Casta, through a very nice video compiling her greatest roles, as Falbala in Asterix at The blue bicycle, through her interpretation of Brigitte Bardot in the film by Joann Sfar Serge Gainsbourg (heroic life) in 2010. “You make me blush”, she reacted to the applause of the public. The actress was also made an honorary citizen of the city.
The festival kicked off with the screening of La Petite, a dramatic comedy about surrogacy (GPA) by Guillaume Nicloux (La Tour, Valley of Love), in the presence of a very spirited Fabrice Luchini.
Of the eleven films in the competition that will be presented to the public, eight are French and seven are directed by women. Among them, Iris et les hommes, a new comedy from the director of Antoinette in the Cévennes, Caroline Vignal, with Laure Calamy again in the title role. Or even The fiancée of the poet of the former “Deschiens” Yolande Moreau. Also note the presence of four films that were presented at the Cannes Film Festival in May: Le temps d’aimer by Katell Quillévéré, Nothing to lose by Delphine Deloget, Rosalie by Stéphanie di Giusto and Augure by Belgian rapper Baloji. Out of competition, the public will discover Yann Gozlan’s new thriller, Visions, two years after the success of Black Box (over a million admissions at the box office).
