16/01/2025 - Centred around young talent, the festival's 37th edition will unspool between 18 and 26 January, paying tribute to Jeanne Balibar, Nicolas Philibert and Juho Kuosmanen

Screening out of competition this coming Saturday 18 January, The Ties That Bind Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carine Tardieu
film profile] by Carine Tardieu is set to open the 37th Angers European First Film Festival (running 18 – 26 January), an event which has, since its earliest editions, always favoured the emergence of young talent hailing from the Old Continent, many of whom have now become masters within the European arthouse cinema landscape.

The 10 feature films battling it out in this year’s international competition will be assessed by a jury under the aegis of director and actress Nicole Garcia (supported by Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Anna Novion and Boris Lojkine). These movies include the Venice Jury’s Grand Prize-winner Vermiglio, The Mountain Bride [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maura Delpero
film profile] by Italy’s Maura Delpero, On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile] by Portugal’s Laura Carreira (discovered in Toronto’s Discovery section and awarded Best Director in San Sebastián), Kneecap [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] by English filmmaker Rich Peppiat (the winner of the NEXT Audience Award at Sundance, screened in Tribeca and triumphant at Les Arcs) and the multi-award-winner To A Land Unknown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mahdi Fleifel
film profile] by Danish-Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel (unveiled in the Directors’ Fortnight).

Likewise in on the action are Block Pass [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoine Chevrollier
film profile] by France’s Antoine Chevrollier (well-received in Cannes’ Critics’ Week), Little Jaffna [+see also:
film review
interview: Lawrence Valin
film profile] by fellow Frenchman Lawrence Valin (unveiled in Venice’s Critics’ Week), September & July [+see also:
film review
interview: Ariane Labed
film profile] by French-Greek director Ariane Labed (which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section), the animated title Pelikan Blue [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laszló Csaki
film profile] by Hungary’s László Csáki (screened in Tallin and Annecy Contrechamp) and two films discovered in Toronto’s Centrepiece section: The Exiles [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Spain’s Belén Funes and Under The Volcano [+see also:
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interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] by Poland’s Damian Kocur.

The competitive Diagonales section, revolving around markedly audacious works, will notably showcase the feature films Trans Memoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Victoria Verseau
film profile] by Sweden’s Victoria Verseau, Intercepted [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Ukraine’s Oksana Karpovych, and Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s Belgian-French documentary essay Listen to the Voices [+see also:
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interview: Maxime Jean-Baptiste
film profile] (awarded the Special Jury Prize in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente line-up).

Stealing focus among the French premieres on the agenda are In the Nguyen Kitchen by Stéphane Ly-Cuong, Les Règles de l’art by Dominique Baumard (which is set to close the festival), Last Breath [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Costa-Gavras
film profile] by Costa-Gavras, and the documentaries Elementary [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Claire Simon and Ce n’est qu’un au revoir [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Guillaume Brac.

The line-up also includes tributes and retrospectives (dedicated to actress Jeanne Balibar, to the documentary master Nicolas Philibert who’ll be delivering a masterclass, to Finnish filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen and to the legendary Italian director Federico Fellini in partnership with Cinecittà), among other events, alongside short film competitions, a celebration of the Angers Workshops’ 20-year anniversary (notably involving filmmakers Lukas Dhont, Guillaume Senez, Cristèle Alves Meira and Delphine Gleize, together with producer Frédéric Jouve), a Neighbours section boasting 20 titles, another entitled Animation and Ecology (consisting of five feature films and three short film sections) and the usual screenplay readings (this year featuring the full-length movies Corps étranger by Zoé Cauwet, Hôtel Saga by Clara Lemaire Anspach and Le courage des oiseaux by Mathilde Profit).

(Translated from French)