Schedule:

3:00 PM - This Life of Mine
Introduction by producer Julie Salvador
A beloved performer, the late Sophie Fillières was also an influential writer-director, cited as a key influence by filmmakers including Anatomy of a Fall’s Justine Triet. For her final feature—which she finished shooting shortly before her death—Fillières cast another important French actress-writer-director to inhabit a leading role inspired by Fillière’s own experience. Agnès Jaoui (The Taste of Others, Look at Me) stars as Barbie, a middle-aged writer whose mental health is unraveling. Alienated from her grown children, the single woman is forced to confront her problems when an uncanny encounter with a man who claims to know Barbie lands her in the hospital. Simultaneously fearless, exasperating, and endearing, Jaoui’s performance probes the obscure inner life of a woman whose complexities and contradictions ultimately lead her on a journey of discovery, growth, and rebuilding; the resulting film is as hilarious as it is poignant—a fitting last work from a great filmmaker.

6:00 PM and 8:45 PM - Opening Night Film
Three Friends

Introduction by Emmanuel Mouret and India Hair at 6pm screening

After the death of her husband Victor (Vincent Macaigne), widow Joan (India Hair) is stricken with guilt: Just before his untimely demise, she had come to the realization that she was unhappy in the marriage, and disclosed those feelings to Victor. In his latest meticulously observed study of the unpredictable path of love, writer-director Emmanuel Mouret reunites with his Diary of a Fleeting Affair (Rendez-Vous 2023) star Macaigne, who serves as the fulcrum for this incisive, empathetic study of three conflicted women. As Joan begins to rebuild, her best friends Alice (Camille Cottin) and Rebecca (Sara Forestier) negotiate unstable affairs while keeping each other company through each surprising emotional development. Setting his fable in scenic Lyon, Mouret delivers a charming, prototypically French take on the romantic drama, demonstrating the mastery of the genre he’s honed over the last two decades.