Stories from another world

French Films

Film buffs are in for a treat at ‘My French Film Festival’, which commenced at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore (AFB), recently. While the online French film festival began on January 17 and will come to a close on February 17, AFB has chosen to screen a couple of films till February 15.

The first film to be screened was ‘Welcome to Argentina’ directed by Edouard Deluc. Revolving around Marcus and his brother Antoine, who head to Argentina for their cousin’s wedding, they plan to explore all that Buenos Aires has to offer before making the trip to Mendoza in the west.

Marcus is thrilled to be on the road and determined to have fun while Antoine is depressed after being dumped by his wife, who refused to come with them at the last minute. Marcus will do anything it takes to cheer up his little brother. After an evening in the capital, they hit the road, discovering Argentina’s vineyards and making unlikely encounters — with a crackpot receptionist, a divine beauty, a pregnant ewe, and a guy afflicted by Stendhal Syndrome. And it’s only at the end of the journey do the two brothers find peace.

Prutha Narke, the cultural co-ordinator at AFB, said, “We have select films which we will be screening. Considering that it is a weekday, we are happy with the response we have got. We are expecting a crowd of both film-lovers and students of AFB. Even though we haven’t made it mandatory for students to attend it, since most of them are professionals, we find that many of them are taking time out to come and watch the films because they realise that it’s a good way to get to know more about the French culture as well as improve their knowledge of the foreign language.”

The audience, who attended the screening, were  glued to the film. “I’m here with my family to watch the film. Generally, on weekday evenings, there isn’t much to do. So this comes as a welcome break. The film was interesting and although there were parts that I found it difficult to follow since my knowledge of French is limited, the sub-titles helped,” said Anirudh, a member of the audience.

Rajesh, another member of the audience, said, “I like the range of films that are being screened. I’m going to be coming here over the next few days to watch the films.”
Some of the films, which will be screened, include Samuel Collardey directed film, ‘Little Lion’; ‘The First Step’, a film by Jonathan Comnene and ‘Day of the Crows’, directed by Jean-Christophe Dessaint.