04/11/2024 - The 33rd edition of the festival geared towards passing on a passion for film to younger generations is unspooling 5 to 9 November

Given the French film industry’s current focus on attracting a new generation of viewers in light of the drop in cinema attendance on the part of 15-24-year-olds and certain regions’ recent criticism of national film education programmes for schools, the Sarlat Film Festival is understandably finding itself thrust centre stage.

It is, in fact, the only festival in France aimed at passing on a passion for film to youngsters (essentially high schoolers vis-a-vis the movie and audiovisual sectors). Between 5 and 9 November, on the occasion of the event’s 33rd edition, 600 young people hailing from all corners of France and, in some cases, from abroad will travel to the Perigord town, obviously to discover films but primarily to take part in a 5-day pedagogical programme focusing on the "Bac film" (this year centred on works by Olivier Assayas) and also on film careers by way of conferences and workshops led by sector professionals.

Stealing focus among the film screenings on this year’s agenda are six feature films gracing the Official Selection: Venetian competitors And Their Children After Them [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma and The Quiet Son [+see also:
film review
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interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
film profile] by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, Rabia [+see also:
film review
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interview: Mareike Engelhardt
film profile] by Mareike Engelhardt, Queens of Drama [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Alexis Langlois, Planet B [+see also:
film review
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interview: Aude Léa Rapin
film profile] by Aude Léa Rapin and Bonjour l’asile [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Judith Davis.

The Jeunes Regards section will offer up nine titles: the Cannes attractions Wild Diamond [+see also:
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interview: Agathe Riedinger
film profile] by Agathe Riedinger, Holy Cow [+see also:
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interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] by Louise Courvoisier, Block Pass [+see also:
film review
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interview: Antoine Chevrollier
film profile] by Antoine Chevrollier, Across the Sea [+see also:
film review
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interview: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi
film profile] by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi and Animale [+see also:
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interview: Emma Benestan
film profile] by Emma Benestan, and the Venice-screened movies The Mohican [+see also:
film review
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interview: Frédéric Farrucci
film profile] by Frédéric Farrucci and Little Jaffna [+see also:
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interview: Lawrence Valin
film profile] by Lawrence Valin, as well as Else [+see also:
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film profile] by Thibault Emin (discovered in Toronto) and Un monde merveilleux [+see also:
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film profile] by Giulio Callegari.

21 feature films stand tall in the Tour du monde line-up, including Armand [+see also:
film review
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interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
interview: Renate Reinsve
film profile] by Norway’s Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, Winter in Sokcho [+see also:
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interview: Koya Kamura
film profile] by French-Japanese director Koya Kamura, three Italian films in the form of Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+see also:
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interview: Maura Delpero
film profile] by Maura Delpero, The Damned [+see also:
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film profile] by Roberto Minervini and My Summer with Irene [+see also:
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interview: Carlo Sironi
film profile] by Carlo Sironi), I’m Still Here [+see also:
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film profile] by Brazil’s Walter Salles, The Village Next to Paradise [+see also:
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film profile] by Somalian-Austrian director Mo Harawe, From Hilde, With Love [+see also:
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interview: Andreas Dresen
film profile] by Germany’s Andreas Dresen, Mexico 86 [+see also:
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interview: César Díaz
film profile] by Belgian-Guatemalan director César Díaz, In the Land of Brothers [+see also:
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interview: Raha Amirfazli, Alireza Gha…
film profile] by Iranians Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi, Aïcha [+see also:
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film profile] by Tunisia’s Mehdi M. Barsaoui, The Fourth Wall [+see also:
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interview: David Oelhoffen
film profile] by French filmmaker David Oelhoffen, and Haitian director Raoul Peck’s documentary Ernest Cole, Lost and Found [+see also:
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film profile].

This copious line-up is rounded off by a programme of special screenings (The Most Precious of Cargoes [+see also:
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interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] by Michel Hazanavicius, The Marching Band [+see also:
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interview: Emmanuel Courcol
film profile] by Emmanuel Courcol, The Ties that Bind Us [+see also:
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interview: Carine Tardieu
film profile] by Carine Tardieu and Magma by Cyprien Vial), a Young Audience section (showcasing animated movies A Boat in the Garden [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Jean-François Laguionie and Hola Frida by André Kadi and Karine Vézina), and 13 short films.

(Translated from French)