Never too Short!
French Film Festival, 1998

The biggest festival of French films will be held in the city from
September 18, says Sai R.Vaidyanathan

It’s that time of the year, folks ! Just as we enjoyed it for the last three years, the French Film Festival is back again. And it has gotten bigger. This time, it is the biggest French Film Festival in the country.

The festival titled Never too short ! features 35 films,of which 26 are short films and nine are feature films alongwith a lecture on cinema. Organised by Alliance Française "Le Corbusier" de Chandigarh with the support of the French Embassy, the venue of the festival will be Kiran Cinema, Chandigarh,. The festival will end on September 24.

The Festival will be inaugurated by Mr Jagdish Sagar, Advisor to the Administrator, Chandigarh on September 18. Bernard Malauzat, Cultural Advisor of the French Embassy will be the chief guest and Xavier Guerard, the Audio-visual attaché of the French Embassy will be the guest of honour.

The inaugural film of the festival is The latest of the short, a collection of 8 short films, the latest from France. An awarded short film each by Bernard Nissille and Thierry Binisti, the two film directors from France who will also be present at the inauguration, forms a part of this 8-film package.

The lecture on The literary aspects of French Cinema by Dr Jean-Pierre Pagliano, a renowned cinema historian, will take place at 6.00 pm on September 21 in the Alliance Française Conference Hall. Using relevant excerpts from movies, the lecture will deal with the connections between novel writing and writing for films, connections which go far beyond the problem of adaptation of novels for screen.

Most of the films to be screened have won awards in various categories at major festivals around the globe. The feature film section titled The best of the long contains nine films. The spotlight is on director, Louis Malle. As many as six films directed by him, feature in the week- long festival.

In all of his six films, the uneasiness of his growing up alone as a grand bourgeoisie child is visible. Hence, the themes of his films or their treatment is provocative but his classical style softens the blow. All his films are technically superb and have stories with proper beginnings and endings.

His contradictions show in his treatment of World War II. In a France, where every family lost someone dear, his choosing to make the film Will o’ the wisp on a book by Drieu la Rochelle, a collaborator of the Nazis during World War II was provocative.

On the other hand, in Lacombe Lucien, the protagonist despite being fully convinced of his German affiliations loves a Jewish girl. He was not without his share of tragedies during World War II which he was able to come to terms with only as late as 1987. This he depicts in Goodbye Children.

He has been continually involved in scandal throughout his career. In Zazie in the metro, he has retained the elaborate language, full of abuses used by Queneau in his book. Mouthed by Zazie, a 10- year- old, it created a furore in France of that time. He shocked his fellow Frenchmen with the depiction of intimate scenes in The Lovers. The sixth film from the selection, Elevator to the gallows is a superb thriller where the murderer gets stuck in an elevator.

The New New Wave is represented in this section with a film each by directors, Jean-Pierre Rappeneau, Claude Sautet and Laetitia Masson.

In the short films category titled Some like it short !, 26 short films, varying in duration from as less as 5 minutes to 26 minutes, are being screened.

These 26 films have been thematically grouped into 4 categories; The latest of the short, Youth, Strange and From short to long. Apart from Bernard Nissille and Thierry Binisti, other directors whose work will be screened are Jan Kounen, Michel Dudok de Wit, Yvan Attal, Roberto Cazelli, Eric Rochant among others.

France produces around 400 short films every year in a variety of style, theme, content and narration. The reasons for making short films are money, or rather the lack of it and the desire for self expression, as it would be anywhere in the world. The remarkable thing about short movies is their density. "The difference between a short film and a feature film is the same as that of a novel and a short story.

Both of them have complete stories to tell but the difference is the quantity of the content. A short film will take considerably less time to tell the audience about the characters, plot and the climax so they tend to be dense and very crisp", explains Gilles Guey, Director, Alliance Française, Chandigarh.

The beautiful Jeanne Moreau stars in two of Louis Malle’s films. Philippe Noiret, Juliette Binoche, Emmanuelle Béart, Michel Sarrault and Maurice Ronet are the other famous stars in the feature film section.

The short film section too has its share of big names in Emmanuelle Béart and Michel Piccoli. They among many others form the galaxy of stars for the festival.

Passes for the festival are available at the Alliance Française, Sector 36, Chandigarh.