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Category: movies

“Un beau soleil intérieur” (“Let the Sunshine In”) at Celebration! Cinema

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Good news for fans of French cinema in Lansing! Or, at least, fans of Juliette Binoche and Gérard Depardieu.

Following its big win at the Cannes Film Festival last year, Un beau soleil intérieur (“Let the Sunshine In”) has arrived in Lansing. This French language film (with English subtitles) opens this weekend at Celebration! Cinema – showtimes are here. It’s a bittersweet romantic comedy about a divorced woman (Binoche) looking for her soulmate, and has gotten rave reviews since its release in the U.S. earlier this spring.

This film was brought in town by the East Lansing Film Festival​, which has been committed for over 20 years to screening foreign language films in this area. ELFF Director Susan Woods personally selected this film for Celebration!’s Indie Film Series, which brings independent and foreign films to Lansing nine months a year.

“When I found out this was available for local distribution, I did everything I could to make sure this could come to Lansing,” Woods said. “Because Lansing has a big international population, foreign films – especially French films – do very well here. And besides, Juliette Binoche is absolutely incredible. Everyone loves her.”

Binoche, of course, also starred in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The English Patient (1996) –which she won an Oscar for – as well as Chocolat (2000) and Godzilla (2014).

 

ELFF continues its run of French movies on the big screen

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This month, the East Lansing Film Festival is showing the French language film “Frantz” as part of its Spring Indie Film Series. The film was nominated in multiple categories at this year’s César Awards (the French version of the Academy Awards), including a win for Best Cinematography.

“It’s an absolutely beautiful movie, and something that definitely needs to be seen on the big screen,” says festival co-founder Susan Woods. “It captures an incredibly wide range of feelings, and the performances feel very much grounded in reality.”

The film is set just after WWI, and focuses on Anna (Paula Beer), a young German woman whose fiancé was killed in the trenches in France. When a handsome French stranger arrives in her town with a connection to her fiancé, Anna’s life is turned upside down. The film also explores the impact that war takes on both soldiers and their families, a theme that still rings true today.

“Even thought this takes place almost 100 years ago, the movie has this vibrant sense of timelessness,” Woods said. “I’m really eager to see how people react to this.”

The film will play at Celebration! Cinema, 200 E. Edgewood Blvd.
Lansing through the end of June. For dates and showtimes, go to celebrationcinema.com/location/Lansing or call (517) 393-7469.

“Frantz”  (114 minutes)
Rated PG-13
Directed by François Ozon
In French and German with English subtitles.

WATCH THE TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oop8_CgSgmo

French film: “Ma Vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”)

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Updated Monday, April 17 with showtime information through April 26.

OK, so it’s technically a Swiss movie, but all of the dialogue in “Ma vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”), the César award-winning and Oscar-nominated animated film, is entirely in French. The film is part of the Indie Film Series at Studio C!, presented by the East Lansing Film Society Film Series (ELFS) and Celebration! Cinema. 

Most of the showings are dubbed in English, but the Alliance Française-Michigan Capital Area Chapter has worked with festival organizers to ensure there will be some showings in French with English subtitles.

“It was such a great movie, and I’m eager to see it with its original French language soundtrack,” says festival co-founder Susan Woods. “It’s such a raw, poignant film, which has that distinct French blend of humor and sadness, and it was really surprising to see it recognized at the Academy Awards with these big films from Pixar and Disney. It really holds its own.”

“Courgette” focuses on 9-year-old Zucchini, who moves into a group foster home after the death of his mother. He begins to make friends with the other children, who have had similarly difficult lives. As he matures and wrestles with feelings about his complicated past, Zucchini gains the confidence to shape his future.

French language showings will play at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 21; 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 22; and 3:30 p.m. on Monday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 26. Studio C! is located at 1999 Central Park Drive in Okemos, just north of Meridian Mall. Additional showings will be held later this month — for show dates and times, call Studio C!’s office line at (517) 381-8100. 

“Ma vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”)
Director: Claude Barras
Rated PG-13
70 minutes
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 100%
WATCH THE TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2TOf1kmfk