The Department of Modern Languages at Wagner College is very pleased to host a third Tournees French Film Festival.  We will be screening five recent French films between February 4 and February 8, 2008.  We have selected a wide variety of films to appeal to all ages and preferences, and all films have English subtitles.  Admission is free and open to all.  We hope to welcome members of the community and members of other universities in addition to the Wagner College campus.  Venez nombreux!

	Monday 4 February, 2pm LES CHORISTES/THE CHORUS  Directected by Christophe Barratier, 2005.  Monsieur Martin, a music teacher, begins work in a school for juvenile delinquents and is shocked by the strict, repressive practices in place.  Against the will of the school principal, Martin gradually introduces the boys to music and opens up new avenues to them - and to him.
	Tuesday 5 February, 7pm, Spiro 2 PARIS, JE T'AIME  Directed by a series of filmmakers, including Assayas, the Cohn brothers and Depardieu.  This film consists of 18 short films, each by a different director and each situated in a different arrondissement of Paris.  Each portrays the city - and the people who live in it - in a unique and profound way.
	Wednesday 6 February, 2pm, Spiro 2 INDIGENES/DAYS OF GLORY  Directed by Rachid Bouchareb, 2006.  A touching story of four North African soldiers who agree to fight for the French army in the Second World War.  Bouchareb tells the forgotten stories of the dreams, hopes and fates of the real 'indigènes.'
	Thursday 7 February, 7pm, Spiro 2 LA PISCINE/THE SWIMMING POOL  Directed by François Ozon, 2002.  Charlotte Rampling stars as an English mystery writer who takes a vacation in the French countryside in search of calm and tranquility.  Yet her friend's home is already occupied the young, promiscuous and hedonistic Julie. Yet the two are  destined to be united by murder...
	Friday 8 February, 12noon, Spiro 2 LES INVASIONS BARBARES/THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS Directed by Denis Arcand, 2003.  A multi-award winning Canadian film about an ex-radical professor in his fifties looking back at his life.  Arcand's tragi-comedy is a wry comment on human relationships in changing times.

Refreshments will be provided by The Office of the Provost, Wagner College.

Additional support provided by The French Connection,
Wagner College's French society.
For more information about activities organized by The French Connection,
please contact the co-presidents Molly McLeod or Hannah Pechter.

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Fall 2006 Program

	Monday 23 October, 4:30pm, Spiro 2 DE BATTRE MON COEUR S'EST ARRETE Directed by Jacques Audiard, 2005.  The main character of The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a sleazy real estate manager who, under his father's orders, evicts low income tenants from their homes.  But 28 year old Thomas yearns to become a classical musician like his deceased mother.  Thomas runs to piano lessons between evictions as he pursues his dream, but will he ever be able to overcome the tensions between his parents' disparate social spheres?
	Tuesday 24 October, 4pm, Spiro 4 FEUX ROUGES Directed by Cedric Kahn, 2004. In Red Lights, a wealthy Parisian couple drive out of the city to collect their children from camp.  But the journey exacerbates the problems in their marriage, as alcoholic Antoine stops periodically to drink more and more whisky, and Helene gets more and more exasperated.  When Helene leaves the car to take a train, the movie becomes a thriller. How many red lights can Antoine jump unscathed? Will the two be forced to pay a price for their refusal to communicate?  Who is the mysterious hitchhiker that Antoine picks up?  Where does Helene disappear to?
	Wednesday 25 October, 4:30pm, Spiro 4 CACHE Directed by Michael Haneke, 2005. Hidden tells the tale of an adult Frenchman who is haunted by a ghost from his colonial past. Georges and his family are continually being videotaped, but by whom?  As his family appears increasingly under threat, Georges's wife demands to know more but for many unsavory reasons he prefers to keep the past hidden.  An apparent personification of French attitudes towards Algerians and their colonial past, Georges is forced to remember against his will.
	Thursday 26 October, 7pm, Spiro 2 MOOLADE Directed by Ousmane Sembene, 2004. Moolade is the most recent film by Senegalese director Sembene, one of Africa's most successful filmmakers. Originally a creator of hard-hitting social realist films, Sembene has become more humorous over the past few decades.  Therefore, when he announced his intent to direct a film about female circumcision, many critics expected a return to the old, no-nonsense Sembene.  However, Moolade is a colorful, comedic yet serious representation of this important topic. Sembene insists on displaying African people's ability to work together, and remains one of the world's most outspoken male feminists.
	Friday 27 October, 4:30pm, Spiro 2 L'ESQUIVE Directed by Abdel Kechiche, 2003. Games of Love and Chance tells the story of a group of poor, mostly North African immigrant, teenagers who live in a suburburban housing project. As they are involved in a school production of an 18th century French play, tensions between the group arise. We follow the group as they fall in and out of love, discover artistic expression and try to swap their street slang for 18th century rhetoric...

 

 

Spring 2006 Program

	Monday 30 January, 3pm MONSIEUR IBRAHIM Directed by François Dupeyron, 2003.  This poignant and delicate film tells the story of the friendship between a young Jewish boy, Moise, and an elderly Muslim, M. Ibrahim.  Moise does his family's grocery shopping at Ibrahim's store and, despite their problems, an affection develops between them.  Their friendship culminates in a trip to Turkey in M. Ibrahim's new car.  The film is set in a working-class neighborhood in 1960s Paris and contains some stunning shots of the city.
	Tuesday 31 January, 7pm LA FLEUR DU MAL Directed by Claude Chabrol, 2003.  In The Flower of Evil, Francois returns to France after spending four years studying in Chicago.  Back in his wealthy family's Bordeaux estate, he discovers things about his relatives that he would rather not know.  Francois is in love with his cousin, his step-father is a philanderer, his mother is obsessed with being elected mayor of the city and his grandmother may have committed murder.  Between the hate, prejudice, bitterness, mistrust, resentment and deceit, the family provide a very entertaining satire of bourgeois life.
	Wednesday 1 February, 3pm CHAOS Directed by Coline Serreau, 2002.  Chaos is a comical, fast-paced and fantastic film centered upon the treatment of women in contemporary society.  As Paul and Helene drive through Paris, a woman runs up to their car screaming for help.  Helene wants to call the police but Paul refuses.  The following day, Helene traces the woman to a local hospital and assists her recovery.  The woman gradually tells Helene the story of her childhood in Algeria, how she was sold to an older man by her father, how she escaped and was then enslaved by prostitution.  Together, the two plot their revenge...  Followed by a presentation by Dr. Adrian Fielder entitled "Modern Slavery In and Out of the Home: Prostitution, Islam and Marriage in France,as represented in Coline Serreau's Chaos".
	Thursday 2 February, 7pm LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE Directed by Sylvain Chomet, 2003.  The Triplets of Belleville is a very innovative animated film.  Champion is being raised by his grandmother in a gray suburb of 1950s Paris.  In order to brighten his days, his grandmother trains him to compete in bicycle races.  The years pass and Champion eventually enters the Tour de France.  But he is kidnapped during the race!  His grandmother tries to save him, and encounters three women called the triplets of Belleville on the way.  We follow them on their hilarious journey to save Champion.
	Friday 3 February, 3pm UNE FEMME DE MENAGE Directed by Claude Berri, 2002.  The Housekeeeper is a romantic comedy centered around Jacques, a fifty-year-old Frenchman.  When Jacques's wife leaves him, he decides to employ a housekeeper.   But, Jacques soon finds out that his alluring young housekeeper has never cleaned a house in her life...