It’s that time of year again! The 22nd annual Festival of Films in French starts Friday, February 15th. Don’t miss 16 films over 10 days, all at the UWM Union Cinema, free and open to the public!

Click here for the printable festival schedule.

Schedule of Films

Friday February 15th

• 7:00pm – Ni juge ni soumise (So Help Me God)
  Yves Hinant & Jean Libon, DCP, 100 min, Belgium/France, 2017 (French)
  Anne Gruwez, the extraordinary, offbeat Belgian magistrate responsible for conducting investigative hearings and taking depositions takes us behind the scenes of real life criminal investigations in this documentary.
• 9:00pm – Valley of Love
  Guillaume Nicloux, Blu-ray, 91 min, France/Belgium, 2015 (French, English)
  Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu play a famous acting couple who divorced soon after the death of their son. Having received a letter from him from beyond the grave, they meet in Death Valley to fulfil his final wishes.
  Co-sponsored by the Alliance française de Milwaukee

Saturday February 16th

• 5:00pm – Valley of Love
  Guillaume Nicloux, Blu-ray, 91 min, France/Belgium, 2015 (French, English)
  Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu play a famous acting couple who divorced soon after the death of their son. Having received a letter from him from beyond the grave, they meet in Death Valley to fulfil his final wishes.
  Co-sponsored by the Alliance française de Milwaukee
• 7:00pm – Django
  Etienne Comar, Blu-ray, 117 min, France, 2017 (French, German, English, Romany)
  This tribute to world famous guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt is set in wartime Paris when he and his family were pursued by the Nazis owing to their gypsy heritage.
  Co-sponsored by the UWM German program in FLL.
• 9:30pm – Ni juge ni soumise (So Help Me God)
  Yves Hinant & Jean Libon, DCP, 100 min, Belgium/France, 2017 (French)
  Anne Gruwez, the extraordinary, offbeat Belgian magistrate responsible for conducting investigative hearings and taking depositions takes us behind the scenes of real life criminal investigations in this documentary.

Sunday February 17th

• 12:00pm – Belle et Sébastien 3, le dernier chapitre (Belle and Sebastian 3, Friends for Life)
  Clovis Cornillac, DCP, 97 min, France, 2017 (French)
  When a stranger arrives claiming to be Belle’s rightful owner, Sebastian will do all it takes to protect his best friend and her three little pups.
  Co-sponsored by the Milwaukee French Immersion School.
• 2:00pm – Un Sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles)
  Christian Duguay, Blu-ray, 110 min, France/Canada/Czech Republic, 2017 (French, German, Yiddish, Russian)
  Based on Joseph Joffo’s 1973 autobiographical novel, the film tells the story of a Jewish boy’s flight, with his brother Maurice, to escape from Nazi occupied France during World War II.
  Co-sponsored by the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies
• 5:00pm – Jeannette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc (Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc)
  Bruno Dumont, Blu-ray, 105 min, France, 2017 (French)
  Based on Charles Péguy’s 1910 play, Dumont’s musical weaves folk, flamenco, and heavy metal to portray the weight of the French Nation resting like armor on the frail shoulders of the young Joan of Arc as she grapples with matters of the soul in early 15th century France.
  In memory of Nicole Darmon Chandler. Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival. Co-sponsored by UWM Department of History
• 7:00pm – Django
  Etienne Comar, Blu-ray, 117 min, France, 2017 (French, German, English, Romany)
  This tribute to world famous guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt is set in wartime Paris when he and his family were pursued by the Nazis owing to their gypsy heritage.
  Co-sponsored by the UWM German program in FLL.

Monday February 18th

• 7:00pm – Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows)
  Louis Malle, DCP (restored), 91 min, France, 1958 (French, German)
  Miles Davis’ groundbreaking jazz score sustains the suspense in this early French New Wave thriller, in which a woman (Jeanne Moreau) plots to kill her husband with the help of her lover.
  Co-sponsored by Union Sociocultural Programming.

Tuesday February 19th

• 7:00pm – La Revue des revues (Parisian Pleasures)
  Joe Francis, DVD, 103 min, France, 1927 (Silent)
  Gabrielle Deriseau rises to lead dancer at the Folies Bergère where she performs in a show of review numbers from around the world including two with the legendary Josephine Baker making her cinematographic debut. With live piano accompaniment by Renato Umali.
  In memory of Nicole Darmon Chandler. Co-sponsored by UWM Department of Dance.

Wednesday February 20th

• 6:00pm – Modifié (Modified)
  Aube Giroux, DCP, 87 min, Canada/France/USA, 2017 (English, French)
  Winner of the Best French Canadian Film Award at the 2018 Quebec Cinema Festival, Modified follows the grassroots struggle to label GMOs in the US and Canada, exposing the cozy relationship between the biotech industry and governments. Followed by a discussion with Wisconsin Foodie host, Kyle Cherek, and other guests.
  Co-sponsored by Student Involvement and MALLT.

Thursday February 21st

• 7:00pm – Un Taxi pour Tobrouk (Taxi for Tobruk)
  Denys de La Patellière, Blu-ray, 95 min, France/Spain/West Germany, 1961 (French, German, English)
  In this our tribute to Charles Aznavour, the great actor, singer and songwriter plays one of four French Commandos who join forces with a German officer to cross the North African desert during World War II.
  In memory of Nicole Darmon Chandler.

Friday February 22nd

• 7:00pm – Les Mauvaises Herbes (Bad Seeds)
  Louis Bélanger, DVD, 97 min, Quebec, 2016 (French)
  An actor flees to the countryside to escape gambling debts. After meeting a farmer and a young woman, the three of them start a thriving marijuana growing operation.
  Co-sponsored by the Québec Government Office in Chicago.
• 9:00pm – L’Atelier (The Workshop)
  Laurent Cantet, Blu-ray, 113 min, France, 2017 (French)
  Antoine is one of a few young people selected to attend a summer writing workshop with a famous crime novelist in this “thriller that blurs the lines between reality and fiction.” (Hollywood Reporter).
  Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival.

Saturday February 23rd

• 1:00pm – Petit à petit (Little by Little)
  Jean Rouch, DVD, 96 min, France/Niger, 1971 (French)
  This high farce cinéma vérité hybrid narrative documentary casts a critical gaze on cultural assumptions and turns the tables on white colonialists by making Parisians into objects of a Nigerien’s ethnographic study.
  Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival. Co-sponsored by Institute for World Affairs.
• 3:00pm – L’Une chante, l’autre pas (One Sings, the Other Doesn’t)
  Agnès Varda, DCP, 120 min, France/Belgium/Venezuela, 1977 (French, Farsi)
  This film, which Varda called a “feminist musical,” follows the intertwined lives of two women in the 1960s and 70s across the landscape of France, with a brief foray into Iran.
  Co-sponsored by UWM Student Involvement and by MALLT.
• 6:00pm – La Belle Saison (Summertime)
  Catherine Corsini, Blu-ray, 105 min, France, 2015 (French)
  Delphine, the only child of a farming couple, stuns her rural community by moving to Paris to go to university. She quickly gets swept up in the feminist movement and falls in love with the sophisticated activist Carole.
  Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival. Co-sponsored by the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival.
• 8:30pm – Félicité
  Alain Gomis, Blu-ray, 129 min, France/Belgium/Senegal/Germany/Lebanon, 2014 (French, Lingala)
  Félicité is a nightclub singer in a little bar in Kinshasa who lives alone with her teenage son Samo. When he is injured, Félicité must find a way to raise the money to pay for an operation.
  Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival

Sunday February 24th

• 12:00pm – Belle et Sébastien 3, le dernier chapitre (Belle and Sebastian 3, Friends for Life)
  Clovis Cornillac, DCP, 97 min, France, 2017 (French)
  When a stranger arrives claiming to be Belle’s rightful owner, Sebastian will do all it takes to protect his best friend and her three littlepups.
• 2:00pm – Un Sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles)
  Christian Duguay, Blu-ray, 110 min, France/Canada/Czech Republic, 2017 (French, German, Yiddish, Russian)
  Based on Joseph Joffo’s 1973 autobiographical novel, the film tells the story of a Jewish boy’s flight, with his brother Maurice, to escape from Nazi occupied France during World War II.
  Co-sponsored by the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies
• 4:30pm – La Belle Saison (Summertime)
  Catherine Corsini, Blu-ray, 105 min, France, 2015 (French)
  Delphine, the only child of a farming couple, stuns her rural community by moving to Paris to go to university. She quickly gets swept up in the feminist movement and falls in love with the sophisticated activist Carole.
  Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival. Co-sponsored by the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival.
• 7:00pm – Les Mauvaises Herbes (Bad Seeds)
  Louis Bélanger, DVD, 97 min, Quebec, 2016 (French)
  An actor flees to the countryside to escape gambling debts. After meeting a farmer and a young woman, the three of them start a thriving marijuana growing operation.
  Co-sponsored by the Québec Government Office in Chicago.
• 9:00pm – L’Atelier (The Workshop)
  Laurent Cantet, Blu-ray, 113 min, France, 2017 (French)
  Antoine is one of a few young people selected to attend a summer writing workshop with a famous crime novelist in this “thriller that blurs the lines between reality and fiction.” (Hollywood Reporter)
  Presented as part of the Tournées Film Festival.