French Film Festival
Enjoy the best of French Cinema at Calvin University each fall. This year's French Film Festival features four recent French films that address large questions about life and sometimes death: C'est la vie!
The films will be shown at 7:30 pm in the Recital Hall located at the Covenant Fine Arts Center. Visitor parking is available in lots 9 & 10 (map). All films are subtitled in English. Films are free and open to the public.
For more information call (616) 526-6361. Sponsored by the Calvin French section of the World Languages of Calvin University, the Alliance française of Grand Rapids, the Calvin Honors Program and the English Department of Calvin University.
French Film Festival Fall 2023
Yannick is a caregiver in a nursing home and manages the pressures of his job with good humor, until the day he is forced to share his residents’ cafeteria with a local elementary school. Conflict ensues between Yannick and Aude, the students’ activity supervisor. The nursing home residents and the students, however, start to make connections. Starring Vincent Macaigne and Aïssa Maïga. Dir. Andréa Bescond and Eric Métayer. 2023. 99 min.
Rama, novelist and professor, attends the trial in Saint Omer of Laurence Coly, a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. But as the trial continues, the words of the accused and witness testimonies will shake Rama's convictions and call into question our own judgement. Based on a 2016 court case. Starring Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanda. Dir. Alice Diop. 2022. 122 min.
At 85, André suffers a serious stroke. While facing a difficult recovery, he speaks privately with one of his adult daughters, Emmanuèle, to make a devastating final wish. With her older sister Pascale, Emmanuèle is forced to reconcile her past with him and face heart-wrenching ethical and legal decisions. Based on a memoir by Emmanuèle Bernheim. Starring Sophie Marceau and André Dussolier. Dir. François Ozon. 2023. 113 min.
Julie goes to great lengths to raise her two children in the countryside while keeping her job in a Parisian luxury hotel. When she finally gets a job interview for a position she had long been hoping for, a national strike breaks out, paralyzing the public transport system. The fragile balance that Julie has established is jeopardized and she sets off on a frantic race against time to meet the needs of her work and her family. Starring Laure Calamy. Dir. Eric Gravel. 2021. 88 min.