Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center present the lineup for the 30th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. This celebrated festival offers a dynamic showcase of contemporary French filmmaking, featuring an array of 23 films by both emerging voices—some selected as part of Unifrance’s 10 to Watch 2025 Program, a yearly initiative honoring a new generation of directors and actors who contribute to the vitality of French creation—and seasoned directors that tackle relevant and enduring themes. This selection of North American, U.S., and New York premieres celebrates the energy, innovation, and range of French cinema.

Schedule of Events:

March 6, 2025:

3:00 PM: This Life of Mine - Walter Reade Theater
Sophie Fillières / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 99 minutes

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: Three Friends - Walter Reade Theater
Emmanuel Mouret / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 117 minutes

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.

8:45 PM: Three Friends - Walter Reade Theater
Emmanuel Mouret / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 117 minutes

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.

March 7, 2025:

1:00 PM: Jim’s Story - Walter Reade Theater
Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 101 minutes

Adrift in his early twenties, Aymeric (Karim Leklou) runs into former coworker Florence (Laetitia Dosch), six months pregnant with a child for whom already-married father Christophe (iconic actor and musician Bertrand Belin) refuses to take responsibility. Aymeric proves himself to be a generous partner to Florence and a perfect, loving parent, adored by his adoptive child—but when Christophe decides he wants to build a relationship with his growing son, Jim (Eol Personne), the security of Aymeric’s cherished role in the family unit begins to falter. Equally at ease applying their offbeat vision to thrillers (Love Is the Perfect Crime, Rendez-Vous 2014) and comedies (21 Nights with Pattie, Rendez-Vous 2016), the Larrieu brothers make a triumphant return with this impressive adaptation of Pierric Bailly’s novel of the same name, crafting a heartfelt and realistic portrait of the bonds of fatherhood, beautifully embodied by Leklou in a generous, vulnerable lead performance.

3:30 PM: When Fall Is Coming - Walter Reade Theater
François Ozon / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 102 minutes

Retiree Michelle (Hélène Vincent) lives in the countryside, peacefully enjoying her ample free time with lifelong friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko). Despite being estranged from her hostile daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier), Michelle looks forward to a visit from her grandson Lucas (Garlan Erlos)—but when things don’t go as planned during his stay, a long-simmering mother-daughter conflict erupts. Applying his characteristically destabilizing artistry to the shapeshifting contours of this deceptively low-key drama, Rendez-Vous regular François Ozon (Everything Went Fine, Rendez-Vous 2022; Summer of ’85, Rendez-Vous 2021) devotes loving attention to the complex experiences of an elderly woman whose past keeps rearing its head in unforeseeable ways. Boasting impeccable turns from a strong ensemble cast, the film’s many pleasures include Ozon’s reunion with his Swimming Pool leading lady Sagnier for their first collaboration in more than two decades. A Music Box Films release.

6:00 PM: Cross Away - Walter Reade Theater
Gilles Bourdos / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 77 minutes

Rounding out strong ensemble casts in this year’s Rendez-Vous selections The Quiet Son and The Second Act, the great Vincent Lindon is virtually the entire show in Cross Away. In this Gallic take on Steven Knight’s acclaimed 2013 drama Locke, Lindon is Joseph Cross, a construction foreman who supervises concrete pours. The night before a particularly big job, he’s compelled to leave the worksite in a hurry and set out, for obscure reasons, to an undisclosed destination. As Cross, driving deep into the night while struggling—one phone call at a time—to keep his life and work from falling apart, Lindon crafts a wholly original take on the character indelibly played by Tom Hardy in the original film, resulting in a riveting one-man show that starkly externalizes a long, dark night of the soul.

8:30 PM: Meeting with Pol Pot - Walter Reade Theater
Rithy Panh / 2024 / France/Cambodia/Taiwan/Qatar/Turkey / French and Cambodian with English subtitles / 112 minutes

In 1978, three French journalists arrive in Cambodia to survey the country and interview its leader, Pol Pot—but after a picture-perfect arrival, cracks begin to emerge in the murderous regime’s facade of respectability. For Cambodian-born Rithy Panh, the damage inflicted upon his homeland by the Khmer Rouge has fueled a lifetime of innovative work in the vein of 2013’s The Missing Picture, which reconstructed the period’s events in part through clay-figurine dioramas. This real-life journalistic excursion, based on true events detailed in Elizabeth Becker’s nonfiction book When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, is brought to life thanks to exemplary lead performances from Irène Jacob, Grégoire Colin, and Cyril Gueï, meticulously conjuring the sights and sounds of 1978 Cambodia with the assistance of archival footage and more clay figurines. The result is a unique admixture—historical horror paired with a rich meditation on the impossibility of portraying it—that only Panh could make. A Strand Releasing release.

March 8, 2025:

12:30 PM: Holy Cow - Walter Reade Theater
Louise Courvoisier / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 92 minutes

Following the sudden death of his farmer father, hard-partying 18-year-old Totone (Clément Faveau) is abruptly obliged to step into the role of man of the house in Louise Courvoisier’s directorial debut, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Taking a job at a nearby dairy farm, where he quickly falls for the farmer’s daughter, Totone makes up his mind to jump-start his family’s future via an unorthodox shortcut: winning a 30,000 Euro prize for producing the best Comté in the region. In this warm, lived-in coming-of-age fable—a treat for cheese-loving cinephiles in particular—Courvoisier brings together a cast of non-professional actors from the Jura region where she herself grew up, creating a rich depiction of rural agricultural life that’s also a crowd-pleasing story about the unlikely detours that shape the utterly unpredictable process of growing up. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber.

3:00 PM: Visiting Hours - Walter Reade Theater
Patricia Mazuy / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 108 minutes

Two of France’s greatest working actresses—the legendary Isabelle Huppert and The Secret of the Grain star Hafsia Herzi—are paired in this moving drama from Patricia Mazuy. Affluent Alma (Huppert) meets working-class Mina (Herzi) during visits to the prison facility where both of their husbands are serving time. Despite their different backgrounds, the two women quickly form a close connection—but can their bond survive the conflicting pressures of their respective circumstances? Revered at home but sadly under-celebrated here, co-writer and director Patricia Mazuy has proven exceptionally adept at repurposing conventions of tone and genre to her own ends in films like the offbeat police-comedy-thriller Paul Sanchez Is Back! (Rendez-Vous 2019) and the grim neo-noir Saturn Bowling. With her new film, Mazuy once again demonstrates her mastery of tonal shifts and her steadfast refusal to be pigeonholed in this trenchant depiction of the French carceral system and the shaky relationships it engenders.

5:00 PM: Free Talk: Producers Shaping the Future of Film - EBM Film Center (AMPH)

This panel unites trailblazing film producers from France and the U.S. to examine how they are redefining the craft and business of filmmaking as leaders in today’s dynamic landscape. Producers Flore Biet (DJ Mehdi: Made in France), Muriel Meynard (Holy Cow), Alex Lo (Being Maria), and Gabriel Mayers (A Different Man) will discuss navigating unprecedented challenges in the film industry—from shifting distribution models to the rise of AI—while championing innovative storytelling. Taking place on International Women’s Day, the conversation is organized in collaboration with French in Motion and Gotham Film & Media Institute.

6:00 PM: The Quiet Son - Walter Reade Theater
Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin / 2024 / France/Belgium / French with English subtitles / 118 minutes

Pierre (Vincent Lindon), a widower who has dedicated his life to his two children, is shaken to discover that his older son Fus (Benjamin Voisin) has begun hanging out with violent right-wing nationalists. Whereas their previous collaborations (17 Girls, Rendez-Vous 2012; The Stopover, Rendez-Vous 2016) trained an eye on the experience of women in France, for their third feature the Coulin sisters have applied an equally analytical and empathetic perspective to a decidedly masculine environment. This sobering contemplation of radicalization takes a nuanced look at two equally strong, competing impulses: loyalty to family on one hand, and responsibility toward the greater social good on the other. At its center is the typically masterful Lindon, delivering a career-best performance for which he was awarded Best Actor at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

9:00 PM: The Second Act - Walter Reade Theater
Quentin Dupieux / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 80 minutes

A movie-within-a-movie (or is it?), the latest quirkily imaginative feature from Quentin Dupieux (Smoking Causes Coughing, Rendez-Vous 2023) is, among other things, a showcase for some of France’s most talented working performers to riff on their own personas to hilarious effect. Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard are among the actors attempting to make their way through the production of a movie none of them seems to like very much. Repeatedly breaking the fourth wall and irreverently lampooning everything from AI to Paul Thomas Anderson, Dupieux’s meta-movie—the opening night selection at last year’s Cannes Film Festival—is an ebullient and thought-provoking behind-the-scenes comedy that gleefully deconstructs itself, inciting plenty of belly laughs along the way.

March 9, 2025:

1:00 PM: Souleymane’s Story - Walter Reade Theater
Boris Lojkine / 2024 / France / French, Fulah, and Malinka with English subtitles / 94 minutes

In the opening scenes of Boris Lojkine’s urgent third feature, a Guinean immigrant bicycles frantically from one food delivery pickup to another, the camera racing along just behind him, revealing a singular new view of Paris from the perspective of some of its most underappreciated workers. Over the two days that follow, Souleymane (played by non-professional actor Abou Sangaré in a riveting first performance) struggles to stay afloat while preparing for a crucial immigration asylum interview. Stylistically inspired in part by Cristian Mungiu’s 2007 Cannes winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Lojkine’s bracing, artful realism offers an equally affecting account of a migrant laborer’s experience finding himself caught up in the mechanisms of an uncaring and unforgiving society. Shooting on city streets with concealed cameras, Lojkine creates a simultaneously pulse-pounding and heartrending view of contemporary Parisian life.

3:15 PM: Ghost Trail - Walter Reade Theater
Jonathan Millet / 2024 / France/Belgium/Germany / French, Arabic, Turkish, and English with English subtitles / 108 minutes

Two years after being released from Syrian jail, Hamid (Adam Bessa) is making ends meet as a construction worker in the French city of Strasbourg, where, haunted by the memory of his imprisonment, the young man searches tirelessly for the man who tortured him, determined to get his revenge—but what’s the real price of vengeance for the person seeking it? Inspired by true events, Jonathan Millet’s deeply researched thriller excavates the too-little-examined moral dilemmas and political negligence that traumatized migrants must confront amid the struggle to rebuild their lives and take control of their destinies at the margins of contemporary French society, inviting audiences to better empathize with France’s newest residents, and to better understand their place in the world—and our own. A Music Box Films release.

6:00 PM: DJ Mehdi: Made in France - Walter Reade Theater
Thibaut de Longeville / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 240 minutes
The runtime includes a 15 minute intermission.

A key figure of French music in the last 30 years, DJ Mehdi bridged the worlds of hip-hop and electronic dance music in his too-brief 34 years, mirroring the French music industry’s journey from stagnation to unprecedented heights of international prominence and success. Directed by one of his closest friends, this remarkable six-episode documentary miniseries is a deep-dive treat for music fans and the uninitiated alike. Getting his start as a child prodigy who built his own sampler in early adolescence, Mehdi was launched to prominence as a DJ for the rap group Ideal J when he was just 13—an appropriately meteoric origin story for a generational talent. Bringing viewers along for a detailed celebration of his legacy and his enduring influence on musicians across genres, ranging from foundational hip-hop group 113 to mega dance stars Justice, DJ Mehdi: Made in France also tells a larger story about how rap broke out of the banlieue to reshape the national cultural landscape.

March 10, 2025:

1:30 PM: Cross Away - Walter Reade Theater
Gilles Bourdos / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 77 minutes

Rounding out strong ensemble casts in this year’s Rendez-Vous selections The Quiet Son and The Second Act, the great Vincent Lindon is virtually the entire show in Cross Away. In this Gallic take on Steven Knight’s acclaimed 2013 drama Locke, Lindon is Joseph Cross, a construction foreman who supervises concrete pours. The night before a particularly big job, he’s compelled to leave the worksite in a hurry and set out, for obscure reasons, to an undisclosed destination. As Cross, driving deep into the night while struggling—one phone call at a time—to keep his life and work from falling apart, Lindon crafts a wholly original take on the character indelibly played by Tom Hardy in the original film, resulting in a riveting one-man show that starkly externalizes a long, dark night of the soul.

3:30 PM: Wild Diamond - Walter Reade Theater
Agathe Riedinger / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 103 minutes

Nineteen-year-old Liane (Malou Khebizi) lives with her mother and sister in a small southern town and harbors dreams of achieving fame as a reality TV contestant. When she auditions for Miracle Island, her breakout moment seems imminent—but anticipation soon curdles into disillusionment, and Liane’s hopes start crashing as she spirals into self-doubt. Scouting nonprofessional performers for her feature debut (the only first film selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival), writer-director Agathe Riedinger treats potentially sensationalistic material with an authentic and refreshingly non-judgmental gaze, bringing a complex perspective to a subject often reduced to well-worn sound bites, and introducing viewers to the lesser-known rhythms of life in the workaday small cities of the Côte d’Azur region. A Strand Releasing release.

6:00 PM: This Life of Mine - Walter Reade Theater
Sophie Fillières / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 99 minutes

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.

8:30 PM: Visiting Hours - Walter Reade Theater
Patricia Mazuy / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 108 minutes

Two of France’s greatest working actresses—the legendary Isabelle Huppert and The Secret of the Grain star Hafsia Herzi—are paired in this moving drama from Patricia Mazuy. Affluent Alma (Huppert) meets working-class Mina (Herzi) during visits to the prison facility where both of their husbands are serving time. Despite their different backgrounds, the two women quickly form a close connection—but can their bond survive the conflicting pressures of their respective circumstances? Revered at home but sadly under-celebrated here, co-writer and director Patricia Mazuy has proven exceptionally adept at repurposing conventions of tone and genre to her own ends in films like the offbeat police-comedy-thriller Paul Sanchez Is Back! (Rendez-Vous 2019) and the grim neo-noir Saturn Bowling. With her new film, Mazuy once again demonstrates her mastery of tonal shifts and her steadfast refusal to be pigeonholed in this trenchant depiction of the French carceral system and the shaky relationships it engenders.

March 11, 2025:

1:00 PM: The Quiet Son - Walter Reade Theater
Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin / 2024 / France/Belgium / French with English subtitles / 118 minutes

Pierre (Vincent Lindon), a widower who has dedicated his life to his two children, is shaken to discover that his older son Fus (Benjamin Voisin) has begun hanging out with violent right-wing nationalists. Whereas their previous collaborations (17 Girls, Rendez-Vous 2012; The Stopover, Rendez-Vous 2016) trained an eye on the experience of women in France, for their third feature the Coulin sisters have applied an equally analytical and empathetic perspective to a decidedly masculine environment. This sobering contemplation of radicalization takes a nuanced look at two equally strong, competing impulses: loyalty to family on one hand, and responsibility toward the greater social good on the other. At its center is the typically masterful Lindon, delivering a career-best performance for which he was awarded Best Actor at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

3:30 PM: Winter in Sokcho - Walter Reade Theater
Koya Kamura / 2024 / France/Korea / French, Korean, and English with English subtitles / 94 minutes

Having never met her long-absent French father, Son-ha (Bella Kim) is startled when artist Yan Kerrand (Roschdy Zem) arrives to stay at the small hotel where she works in a Korean seaside town. The half-Korean literature student and the French outsider form a tentative bond, but Son-ha can’t help but wonder about the truth behind his identity and his reason for visiting. An intimate drama set against the naturally majestic background of its wintry setting, Koya Kamura’s understated triumph sketches out a nascent parental relationship in which newcomer Kim proves a real discovery, more than holding her own against veteran performer Zem (The Innocent, Rendez-Vous 2023). The delicately rendered result is a story of tentative beginnings, cross-cultural bonding, and the never-ending search for self-understanding.

5:00 PM: Free Talk: Frames of Change: Judith Godrèche and Moi Aussi - EBM Film Center (AMPH)

French actress Judith Godrèche has emerged as a leading figure and force for change for the MeToo movement in the French film industry. Godrèche filed a complaint in 2024 against two French directors for sexual violence when she was a minor (the investigation is still ongoing). She was also one of the first women in France to go public about her experience with Harvey Weinstein. Her powerful short film Moi Aussi, inspired by the over 6,000 messages she received after testifying, premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 81st Cannes Film Festival in 2024. Join Godrèche in a conversation about how her actions impacted her career and shook up the French film industry. A screening of her film Moi Aussi will precede the conversation.

6:15 PM: The Marching Band - Walter Reade Theater
Emmanuel Courcol / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 103 minutes

They couldn’t be more different: Thibault (Benjamin Lavernhe) is a world-famous orchestra conductor and pianist; Jimmy (Pierre Lottin) is a blue-collar kitchen worker who plays trombone in the local marching band. Separated in their infancy, the two brothers are reunited unexpectedly as adults and, after some initial friction, find themselves growing closer when Thibault decides to help nurture Jimmy’s nascent musical talent. An equally hilarious and affecting crowd-pleaser from Emmanuel Courcol (The Big Hit, Rendez-Vous 2021), this Cannes favorite draws equally nuanced and sensitive portraits of affluence and working-class life in the northern town of Lille to bring texture and substance to a universally resonant story about the power of family. At its center are a pair of sparkling performances from Lavernhe and Lottin, two of France’s most promising rising stars.

9:00 PM: Ghost Trail - Walter Reade Theater
Jonathan Millet / 2024 / France/Belgium/Germany / French, Arabic, Turkish, and English with English subtitles / 108 minutes

Two years after being released from Syrian jail, Hamid (Adam Bessa) is making ends meet as a construction worker in the French city of Strasbourg, where, haunted by the memory of his imprisonment, the young man searches tirelessly for the man who tortured him, determined to get his revenge—but what’s the real price of vengeance for the person seeking it? Inspired by true events, Jonathan Millet’s deeply researched thriller excavates the too-little-examined moral dilemmas and political negligence that traumatized migrants must confront amid the struggle to rebuild their lives and take control of their destinies at the margins of contemporary French society, inviting audiences to better empathize with France’s newest residents, and to better understand their place in the world—and our own. A Music Box Films release.

March 12, 2025:

1:00 PM: Foreign Tongue - Walter Reade Theater
Claire Burger / 2024 / France/Germany / French and German with English subtitles / 101 minutes

When Fanny (Lilith Grasmug) meets her German pen pal Lena (Josefa Heinsius), their initial rapport is rocky: the shy, insecure French teen has arrived from Strasbourg for an extended visit at a difficult moment for the more assertive Lena. With time, however, the two girls’ relationship grows and deepens into real friendship; when Lena agrees to visit Fanny in France, their shared interest in political activism takes a troubling turn. In her third feature, Claire Burger (co-director of Party Girl, Rendez-Vous 2015) casts an up-to-the-moment eye on two young women exploring their desires and discovering themselves in the context of dangerously charged political and societal circumstances. With outstanding supporting performances from Nina Hoss and Chiara Mastroianni as the two girls’ mothers, Foreign Tongue is at once intimate in its portrait of two differently wounded girls at vulnerable moments in their lives, and thrilling in the unexpected revelations and twists that propel the two through the upheavals of young adulthood.

3:30 PM: Planet B - Walter Reade Theater
Aude Léa Rapin / 2024 / France / French, English, and Arabic with English subtitles / 118 minutes

2039: after a group of environmental activists known only as “R” are arrested in the midst of an attempted bombing, they wake up on Planet B—the world’s first virtual prison. R’s members, among them Julia (Adèle Exarchopoulos), struggle to figure out how to escape, but soon find that the greatest challenge of all might be resisting the temptation to turn on each other; meanwhile, undocumented Iraqi journalist Nour (Souheila Yacoub) learns of the facility’s existence and sets about finding her way in. Unnervingly tapping into contemporary anxieties about VR and climate change, Aude Léa Rapin’s innovative thriller looks slightly into the future to offer a disturbingly convincing vision of what could be in store. Alongside cutting-edge visual effects, Planet B boasts a typically ominous and atmospheric score from director-composer Bertrand Bonello (director of NYFF61 Main Slate selection The Beast).

6:00 PM: In His Own Image - Walter Reade Theater
Thierry de Peretti / 2024 / France / French, English, and Corse with English subtitles / 115 minutes

An acclaimed actor and, in his capacity as director, a Rendez-Vous regular dating back to his first feature, 2013’s Apaches, Thierry de Peretti returns to that film’s Corsican setting in his latest, an ambitiously sweeping account of recent Corsican history that operates in an intimate register. Adapted from the acclaimed novel by Jérôme Ferrari, de Peretti’s retelling follows Antonia (Clara-Maria Laredo), an enigmatic but driven photographer, from the 1980s to the moment, bearing witness to her love affair with the increasingly radical activist Pascal (Louis Starace) as it intersects with the intricacies of the island’s often-violent fight for independence. Shooting in masterfully controlled long takes to evoke decades of turmoil, de Peretti conjures a vision of a woman who remains deeply and passionately engaged with the realities of her place and time, steadfastly refusing to separate the political from the personal.

9:00 PM: Winter in Sokcho - Walter Reade Theater
Koya Kamura / 2024 / France/Korea / French, Korean, and English with English subtitles / 94 minutes

Having never met her long-absent French father, Son-ha (Bella Kim) is startled when artist Yan Kerrand (Roschdy Zem) arrives to stay at the small hotel where she works in a Korean seaside town. The half-Korean literature student and the French outsider form a tentative bond, but Son-ha can’t help but wonder about the truth behind his identity and his reason for visiting. An intimate drama set against the naturally majestic background of its wintry setting, Koya Kamura’s understated triumph sketches out a nascent parental relationship in which newcomer Kim proves a real discovery, more than holding her own against veteran performer Zem (The Innocent, Rendez-Vous 2023). The delicately rendered result is a story of tentative beginnings, cross-cultural bonding, and the never-ending search for self-understanding.

March 13, 2025:

1:00 PM: And Their Children After Them - Walter Reade Theater
Ludovic Boukherma , Zoran Boukherma / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 140 minutes

Taking place against the backdrop of widespread deindustrialization in ’90s France, And Their Children After Them dramatizes the long-lasting consequences for two boys following a fight at a party. Anthony (Paul Kircher) is the son of a stern, embittered alcoholic father (Gille Lellouche) and disconnected mother (Ludivine Sagnier); coming from a differently fraught family background, Moroccan immigrant Hacine (Sayyid El Alami) is more vulnerable before the law. One of the most important French novels of recent years, Nicolas Mathieu’s 2018 winner of the prestigious French literary award Prix Goncourt comes to epic life in this adaptation from twin writer-directors Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma. Inspired equally by the works of Émile Zola and Bruce Springsteen, the Boukhermas anchor their saga with pitch-perfect realism in a vividly evoked mid-’90s period setting. At the film’s center is Kircher, who, following breakout roles in Winter Boy (Rendez-Vous 2023) and Animal Kingdom (Rendez-Vous 2024), confirms his promise as one of the most charismatic and compelling young actors in France today.

4:00 PM: The Second Act - Walter Reade Theater
Quentin Dupieux / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 80 minutes

A movie-within-a-movie (or is it?), the latest quirkily imaginative feature from Quentin Dupieux (Smoking Causes Coughing, Rendez-Vous 2023) is, among other things, a showcase for some of France’s most talented working performers to riff on their own personas to hilarious effect. Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard are among the actors attempting to make their way through the production of a movie none of them seems to like very much. Repeatedly breaking the fourth wall and irreverently lampooning everything from AI to Paul Thomas Anderson, Dupieux’s meta-movie—the opening night selection at last year’s Cannes Film Festival—is an ebullient and thought-provoking behind-the-scenes comedy that gleefully deconstructs itself, inciting plenty of belly laughs along the way.

6:00 PM: Foreign Tongue - Walter Reade Theater
Claire Burger / 2024 / France/Germany / French and German with English subtitles / 101 minutes

When Fanny (Lilith Grasmug) meets her German pen pal Lena (Josefa Heinsius), their initial rapport is rocky: the shy, insecure French teen has arrived from Strasbourg for an extended visit at a difficult moment for the more assertive Lena. With time, however, the two girls’ relationship grows and deepens into real friendship; when Lena agrees to visit Fanny in France, their shared interest in political activism takes a troubling turn. In her third feature, Claire Burger (co-director of Party Girl, Rendez-Vous 2015) casts an up-to-the-moment eye on two young women exploring their desires and discovering themselves in the context of dangerously charged political and societal circumstances. With outstanding supporting performances from Nina Hoss and Chiara Mastroianni as the two girls’ mothers, Foreign Tongue is at once intimate in its portrait of two differently wounded girls at vulnerable moments in their lives, and thrilling in the unexpected revelations and twists that propel the two through the upheavals of young adulthood.

8:45 PM: Meeting with Pol Pot - Walter Reade Theater
Rithy Panh / 2024 / France/Cambodia/Taiwan/Qatar/Turkey / French and Cambodian with English subtitles / 112 minutes

In 1978, three French journalists arrive in Cambodia to survey the country and interview its leader, Pol Pot—but after a picture-perfect arrival, cracks begin to emerge in the murderous regime’s facade of respectability. For Cambodian-born Rithy Panh, the damage inflicted upon his homeland by the Khmer Rouge has fueled a lifetime of innovative work in the vein of 2013’s The Missing Picture, which reconstructed the period’s events in part through clay-figurine dioramas. This real-life journalistic excursion, based on true events detailed in Elizabeth Becker’s nonfiction book When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, is brought to life thanks to exemplary lead performances from Irène Jacob, Grégoire Colin, and Cyril Gueï, meticulously conjuring the sights and sounds of 1978 Cambodia with the assistance of archival footage and more clay figurines. The result is a unique admixture—historical horror paired with a rich meditation on the impossibility of portraying it—that only Panh could make. A Strand Releasing release.

March 14, 2025:

1:30 PM: In His Own Image - Walter Reade Theater
Thierry de Peretti / 2024 / France / French, English, and Corse with English subtitles / 115 minutes

An acclaimed actor and, in his capacity as director, a Rendez-Vous regular dating back to his first feature, 2013’s Apaches, Thierry de Peretti returns to that film’s Corsican setting in his latest, an ambitiously sweeping account of recent Corsican history that operates in an intimate register. Adapted from the acclaimed novel by Jérôme Ferrari, de Peretti’s retelling follows Antonia (Clara-Maria Laredo), an enigmatic but driven photographer, from the 1980s to the moment, bearing witness to her love affair with the increasingly radical activist Pascal (Louis Starace) as it intersects with the intricacies of the island’s often-violent fight for independence. Shooting in masterfully controlled long takes to evoke decades of turmoil, de Peretti conjures a vision of a woman who remains deeply and passionately engaged with the realities of her place and time, steadfastly refusing to separate the political from the personal.

4:00 PM: Souleymane’s Story - Walter Reade Theater
Boris Lojkine / 2024 / France / French, Fulah, and Malinka with English subtitles / 94 minutes

In the opening scenes of Boris Lojkine’s urgent third feature, a Guinean immigrant bicycles frantically from one food delivery pickup to another, the camera racing along just behind him, revealing a singular new view of Paris from the perspective of some of its most underappreciated workers. Over the two days that follow, Souleymane (played by non-professional actor Abou Sangaré in a riveting first performance) struggles to stay afloat while preparing for a crucial immigration asylum interview. Stylistically inspired in part by Cristian Mungiu’s 2007 Cannes winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Lojkine’s bracing, artful realism offers an equally affecting account of a migrant laborer’s experience finding himself caught up in the mechanisms of an uncaring and unforgiving society. Shooting on city streets with concealed cameras, Lojkine creates a simultaneously pulse-pounding and heartrending view of contemporary Parisian life.

6:15 PM: Suspended Time - Walter Reade Theater
Olivier Assayas / 2024 / France French with English subtitles / 105 minutes

“Never have I felt like less of a filmmaker,” frets Paul Berger (Vincent Macaigne). It’s April of 2020, and the film director has escaped to the provinces, living in lockdown with his brother Etienne (Micha Lescot), a middle-aged music journalist, and their respective romantic partners. The couples try to maintain their sanity in the midst of extended isolation in this tonally masterful dramedy from the great Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep, Personal Shopper). In an autobiographical vein, Assayas presents a disarmingly personal (and often very funny) perspective on the pandemic, taking place at the director’s very own family house. Amassing a wealth of insights into the foundational relationships and rural background that shaped him, Assayas is equally adept at thoughtfully reconstructing an unprecedented moment in our shared history with the grace and compassion that only a master filmmaker can bring.

8:45 PM: Planet B - Walter Reade Theater
Aude Léa Rapin / 2024 / France / French, English, and Arabic with English subtitles / 118 minutes

2039: after a group of environmental activists known only as “R” are arrested in the midst of an attempted bombing, they wake up on Planet B—the world’s first virtual prison. R’s members, among them Julia (Adèle Exarchopoulos), struggle to figure out how to escape, but soon find that the greatest challenge of all might be resisting the temptation to turn on each other; meanwhile, undocumented Iraqi journalist Nour (Souheila Yacoub) learns of the facility’s existence and sets about finding her way in. Unnervingly tapping into contemporary anxieties about VR and climate change, Aude Léa Rapin’s innovative thriller looks slightly into the future to offer a disturbingly convincing vision of what could be in store. Alongside cutting-edge visual effects, Planet B boasts a typically ominous and atmospheric score from director-composer Bertrand Bonello (director of NYFF61 Main Slate selection The Beast).

March 15, 2025:

12:30 PM: Wild Diamond - Walter Reade Theater
Agathe Riedinger / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 103 minutes

Nineteen-year-old Liane (Malou Khebizi) lives with her mother and sister in a small southern town and harbors dreams of achieving fame as a reality TV contestant. When she auditions for Miracle Island, her breakout moment seems imminent—but anticipation soon curdles into disillusionment, and Liane’s hopes start crashing as she spirals into self-doubt. Scouting nonprofessional performers for her feature debut (the only first film selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival), writer-director Agathe Riedinger treats potentially sensationalistic material with an authentic and refreshingly non-judgmental gaze, bringing a complex perspective to a subject often reduced to well-worn sound bites, and introducing viewers to the lesser-known rhythms of life in the workaday small cities of the Côte d’Azur region. A Strand Releasing release.

3:15 PM: And Their Children After Them - Walter Reade Theater
Ludovic Boukherma , Zoran Boukherma / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 140 minutes

Taking place against the backdrop of widespread deindustrialization in ’90s France, And Their Children After Them dramatizes the long-lasting consequences for two boys following a fight at a party. Anthony (Paul Kircher) is the son of a stern, embittered alcoholic father (Gille Lellouche) and disconnected mother (Ludivine Sagnier); coming from a differently fraught family background, Moroccan immigrant Hacine (Sayyid El Alami) is more vulnerable before the law. One of the most important French novels of recent years, Nicolas Mathieu’s 2018 winner of the prestigious French literary award Prix Goncourt comes to epic life in this adaptation from twin writer-directors Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma. Inspired equally by the works of Émile Zola and Bruce Springsteen, the Boukhermas anchor their saga with pitch-perfect realism in a vividly evoked mid-’90s period setting. At the film’s center is Kircher, who, following breakout roles in Winter Boy (Rendez-Vous 2023) and Animal Kingdom (Rendez-Vous 2024), confirms his promise as one of the most charismatic and compelling young actors in France today.

6:45 PM: Being Maria - Walter Reade Theater
Jessica Palud / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 103 minutes

“Actors don’t choose roles,” actor Daniel Gélin (Yvan Attal) tells his daughter Maria Schneider (Anamaria Vartolomei). “Roles choose them!” After her galvanizing performance as a young woman seeking out an illegal abortion in Audrey Diwan’s Happening (ND/NF 2022), Vartolomei delivers another indelible portrait of a woman in extremis with writer-director Jessica Palud’s second feature, moving beyond Schneider’s encounter with director Bernardo Bertolucci on the set of Last Tango in Paris, during the shoot of the infamous “get the butter” scene (which the actress repeatedly identified as a violation of her consent), to contemplate the actress’s larger life and legacy. The shoot itself is meticulously reconstructed—featuring a remarkable turn by Matt Dillon as Schneider’s significantly more famous costar and scene partner, Marlon Brando—in order to contextualize the private and public fallout from Schneider’s equally iconic and traumatizing breakout performance. Palud was herself an assistant director for Bertolucci at age 19 (the same age Schneider was during the production of Last Tango) and brings a welcome eye for complexity to an unsparing, compassionate reframing of a much-discussed incident—rooted firmly in the perspective of the actress at its center. A Kino Lorber release.

9:30 PM: Jim’s Story - Walter Reade Theater
Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 101 minutes

Adrift in his early twenties, Aymeric (Karim Leklou) runs into former coworker Florence (Laetitia Dosch), six months pregnant with a child for whom already-married father Christophe (iconic actor and musician Bertrand Belin) refuses to take responsibility. Aymeric proves himself to be a generous partner to Florence and a perfect, loving parent, adored by his adoptive child—but when Christophe decides he wants to build a relationship with his growing son, Jim (Eol Personne), the security of Aymeric’s cherished role in the family unit begins to falter. Equally at ease applying their offbeat vision to thrillers (Love Is the Perfect Crime, Rendez-Vous 2014) and comedies (21 Nights with Pattie, Rendez-Vous 2016), the Larrieu brothers make a triumphant return with this impressive adaptation of Pierric Bailly’s novel of the same name, crafting a heartfelt and realistic portrait of the bonds of fatherhood, beautifully embodied by Leklou in a generous, vulnerable lead performance.

March 16, 2025:

12:30 PM: Arenas - Walter Reade Theater
Camille Perton / 2024 / France / French and English with English subtitles / 94 minutes

When his father is no longer able to provide for the family, ultra-talented 18-year-old Brahim (Ilies Kadri) faces new pressure to embark on a long-anticipated career as a professional soccer player. Frustrated that his longtime manager and friend Mehdi (Sofian Khammes) hasn’t managed to close a deal for a spot on his dream team, Brahim is intrigued by the services offered by shadowy power player Francis (Édgar Ramírez), whose promises of career advancement may prove all too costly. An immersive exploration into the shadier business dealings that animate the world of professional youth soccer, Camille Perton’s debut feature travels from Brahim’s native Lyon to the glittering waters of Nice and beyond, navigating thorny ethical dilemmas within the narrative framework of a nerve-racking thriller. The typically magnetic Ramírez looms large, delivering a masterful turn as a well-heeled but enigmatically sinister figure who may or may not have his client’s best interest at heart.

3:15 PM: The Marching Band - Walter Reade Theater
Emmanuel Courcol / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 103 minutes

They couldn’t be more different: Thibault (Benjamin Lavernhe) is a world-famous orchestra conductor and pianist; Jimmy (Pierre Lottin) is a blue-collar kitchen worker who plays trombone in the local marching band. Separated in their infancy, the two brothers are reunited unexpectedly as adults and, after some initial friction, find themselves growing closer when Thibault decides to help nurture Jimmy’s nascent musical talent. An equally hilarious and affecting crowd-pleaser from Emmanuel Courcol (The Big Hit, Rendez-Vous 2021), this Cannes favorite draws equally nuanced and sensitive portraits of affluence and working-class life in the northern town of Lille to bring texture and substance to a universally resonant story about the power of family. At its center are a pair of sparkling performances from Lavernhe and Lottin, two of France’s most promising rising stars.

5:45 PM: When Fall Is Coming - Walter Reade Theater
François Ozon / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 102 minutes

Retiree Michelle (Hélène Vincent) lives in the countryside, peacefully enjoying her ample free time with lifelong friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko). Despite being estranged from her hostile daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier), Michelle looks forward to a visit from her grandson Lucas (Garlan Erlos)—but when things don’t go as planned during his stay, a long-simmering mother-daughter conflict erupts. Applying his characteristically destabilizing artistry to the shapeshifting contours of this deceptively low-key drama, Rendez-Vous regular François Ozon (Everything Went Fine, Rendez-Vous 2022; Summer of ’85, Rendez-Vous 2021) devotes loving attention to the complex experiences of an elderly woman whose past keeps rearing its head in unforeseeable ways. Boasting impeccable turns from a strong ensemble cast, the film’s many pleasures include Ozon’s reunion with his Swimming Pool leading lady Sagnier for their first collaboration in more than two decades. A Music Box Films release.

8:15 PM: Suspended Time - Walter Reade Theater
Olivier Assayas / 2024 / France / French with English subtitles / 105 minutes

“Never have I felt like less of a filmmaker,” frets Paul Berger (Vincent Macaigne). It’s April of 2020, and the film director has escaped to the provinces, living in lockdown with his brother Etienne (Micha Lescot), a middle-aged music journalist, and their respective romantic partners. The couples try to maintain their sanity in the midst of extended isolation in this tonally masterful dramedy from the great Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep, Personal Shopper). In an autobiographical vein, Assayas presents a disarmingly personal (and often very funny) perspective on the pandemic, taking place at the director’s very own family house. Amassing a wealth of insights into the foundational relationships and rural background that shaped him, Assayas is equally adept at thoughtfully reconstructing an unprecedented moment in our shared history with the grace and compassion that only a master filmmaker can bring.

Dates: March 6 - 16, 2025

Location:

Walter Reade Theater,
165 West 65th Street,
New York, NY 10023.

Ticket Prices:

General Public: $19
Students, Seniors, and Persons with Disabilities: $17
FLC Members: $14
Opening Night - General Public: $25
Opening Night - FLC Members: $20

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