French Cinéma
The Tournées Festival at Buffalo State College
Free Admission
Click on French Film Festival (PDF) for more information
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2011
7:00-9:30pm
BURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER AUDITORIUM
White Material
Set in an unnamed African country during an unspecified time, White Material centers
on Maria Vial, a coffee-plantation owner who is blindly determined to continue her
business while civil war rages on around her. White Material unfolds as a fever
dream, casting a haunting, enigmatic look at the horrors of colonialism’s legacy in
chronicling Maria’s obstinate stance as chaos engulfs the nation
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011
7:00-9:30pm
BURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER AUDITORIUM
Des Dieux et des Hommes
A sublime tale of faith and doubt based on a real incident, Of Gods and Men chronicles
the story of eight French Trappist monks living in an impoverished Algerian village.
When faced with threats of violence from fundamentalist terrorists and the Algerian
military, the monks must decide whether to seek safety or risk their lives and stay
with the local villagers who have come to trust them and rely on their aid
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2011
7:30-10:00pm
BULGER WEST 2
Un homme qui crie
Adam, a 55-year-old former swimming champion, takes great pride in his work as the
pool attendant at a luxury hotel in N’Djamena. His life is upended, however, when his
boss tells him that his son will be replacing him as the sole pool attendant. Working
on a scale both intimate (a father’s wounded ego) and epic (a nation torn apart by
civil war), writer-director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun creates a remarkable portrait of
present-day Chad.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011
7:00-9:30pm
BURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER AUDITORIUM
Potiche
Potiche (which translates as “trophy wife”) stunningly recreates the world of the
1970s in telling the story of potiche Suzanne’s transformation from submissive housewife to intrepid leader. As Suzanne – wonderfully played by the reigning queen of
French ??ilm Catherine Deneuve – breaks free of her coddled life, she realizes, just like many other women who discovered feminism in the 1970s, that the personal really is
political.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2011
7:00-9:30pm
BURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER AUDITORIUM
La belle endormie
The Sleeping Beauty provocatively deconstructs a classic fairytale, upending conventional ideas about sex and gender. In this retelling, six year-old Anastasia, cursed to sleep for 100 years, visits far-off lands in her slumber and renounces “the world of little girls.” She wakes up a teenager a century later and discovers carnal pleasures with both a man and a woman—as well as crushing heartbreak.
