Palouse French Film Festival

The Palouse French Film Festival is about to present its 14^th edition this October at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow, Idaho.

 

Price $5 per film or $12 for a festival pass; free to students.

Films are in French with English subtitles.

Films start at 7PM. There will be a reception with French wine and cheese at 6:15PM on opening night.

For more information about the theater, check the KPAC website.

 

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Here is the line-up for this year’s edition:

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant / The Taste of Things

Tuesday October 8

Directed by Anh Hung Tran

Drama/Romance  –  135 min. (2023)

The relationship between Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), an esteemed cook, and Dodin, (Benoit Magimel) the gourmet she has been working for over the last 20 years. Growing fonder of one another, their bond turns into a romance and gives rise to delicious dishes that impress even the world’s most illustrious chefs. When Dodin is faced with Eugénie’s reluctance to commit to him, he decides to start cooking for her.

 

Le Tableau volé / Auction

Tuesday October 15

Directed by Pascal Bonitzer

Comedy/Drama  –  91 min.  (2024)

In this thrilling satire about the highbrow art world of Parisian auctioneers, André Masson, a hotshot art broker at a premiere auction house, receives a letter from a lawyer claiming that a working-class family in the suburb of Mulhouse owns a painting by Egon Schiele. He realizes instantly that the painting is a genuine masterpiece that went missing in 1939. With the help of his colleague and ex-wife, a compulsively lying intern, and a provincial lawyer, André races to find a buyer for the prized work in what proves to be a delicate dance of deceit.

 

La Syndicaliste / The Sitting Duck

Tuesday October 22

Directed by Jean-Paul Salomé

Drama/Thriller  –  121 min.  (2022)

The true story of Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert), the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistle-blower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders, tooth and nail, to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs. Her life was suddenly turned upside down when she was violently assaulted in her own home.

 

Les Trois Mousquetaires : D’Artagnan / The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan

Tuesday October 29

Directed by Martin Bourboulon

Action/Adventure/History  –  121 min.  (2023)

The most recent screen adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ famous novel. D’Artagnan (François Civil) arrives in Paris trying to find his attackers after being left for dead, which leads him to a real war where the future of France is at stake. He aligns himself with Athos (Vincent Cassel), Porthos (Pio Marmaï) and Aramis (Romain Duris), three musketeers of the King.

 

 

These are the films from last year’s edition:

• October 3^rd L’Innocent – The Innocent  by Louis Garrel (2022)
• October 10^th Eiffel by Martin Bourboulon (2021)
• October 17^th Celle que vous croyez  –  Who You Think I Am by Safy Bebbou (2019)
• October 24^th Twist à Bamako  –  Dancing the Twist in Bamako  by Robert Guédiguian (2021)

 

A little bit of history

This event was initiated through the collaboration between two French Professors: Sarah Nelson from the University of Idaho and Sabine Davis from Washington State University. After receiving a grant from the  Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture in 2010, the festival made its debut on the Palouse, featuring recent French and Francophone films in French with English subtitles.

After receiving the grant for five consecutive years, the festival became an independent university event funded by the yearly financial support from both Washington State University (WSU) and the University of Idaho (U of I). In particular, the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race and the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington State University and the Department of Modern Languages & Cultures  and College of Letters, Art &Social Sciences at the University of Idaho were generous loyal donors to the festival. These institutions combined with other units at both universities, as well as personal donations from community members have contributed over $33,000 to this local film event.

The purpose of the festival was and still is two-fold: to bring French cinema to the Palouse and to offer an insight into French and Francophone culture to the students and community members in the region. Over the past twelve years, the festival has featured a total of 48 films delving into a variety of societal topics such as history, arts, gender relations, immigration, homelessness, racial tensions, religion, death, family dynamics, friendship, and love through the interpretive lens of French, Canadian, Belgian, Senegalese, Mauritanian, and Chadian film directors. Insightful introductions of the films by university faculty and community members, as well as academic discussions in classes on both U of I and WSU campuses, have provided a stimulating context in which community members and students can learn about another culture and reflect on their own.

With a total audience of over 7000 from its inception, the Palouse French Film Festival has become the highlight of the Pullman and Moscow cultural calendar in the fall!