Zut Alors! It's the 8th Annual Festival of New French Cinema!

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 1, 2004 4:37PM

The Eighth Annual Festival of New French Cinema begins this weekend at Facets. It’s always exciting to catch filmmakers at the beginning of their careers before they become too A) rich, B) famous, or C) over-indulgent. While most artistes de cinéma français start at self-indulgent and work their way up from there, these films always have an inescapable energy. Plus, French film actors tend to be pretty hot (Gerard Depardieu notwithstanding).

Consider this another feather in Chicago’s film fest cap as Facets touts it as the “only film festival in the country dedicated to the work of emerging French filmmakers.” That’s no empty boast considering all the films are premiering in Chicago for the first time with The Living World and Process making their stateside debuts and Illumination seeing its first world release here. Foodies should take note as well as Alliance Française has been kind enough to host a panel discussion and lunch buffet on Saturday December 4th at 11:30 AM with director Emmanuel Bourdieu whose Green Paradise spools that evening at 7 PM. French wine and food will be in the offing for only $10. So anything you ingest after your two glasses of wine is pure profit. The panel will explore how bourgeois films explore the themes of money, sex and restaurants (Cue the music! “These are a few of my favorite things…”). Be sure to répondez s'il vous plaît as space will fill up quickly.

It’s true though: you really can’t beat French films for high emotion and sexual tension. The titles alone sound like the best weekend ever: (Eager Bodies, Leave Your Hands On My Hips, Hypnotized and Hysterical). If you’re really feeling libertine then why not make a drinking game out of the fest? Sneak in a bottle of Coteaux Varois and take a sip every time the director stays in the shot too long or someone lights up a cigarette. Or says merde.