Salve Regina's eighth annual French Film Festival will again bring a French cultural flair to Newport with live music, wine tasting and six important and diverse films from France, Quebec and Belgium, all in French with English subtitles. Join us March 17-28 to see what attracted more than 2,000 spectators from the Salve Regina and Newport communities last year alone.
The festival will open with a reception at the historic Jane Pickens Theater, located at 49 Touro St. in Newport. To avoid lines at the door, buy a festival pass online or call (401) 341-2250. All other films will be screened on campus in the O'Hare Academic Center's Bazarsky Lecture Hall.
Film Schedule
Monsieur Lazhar (drama)
7 p.m. Sunday, March 17 at the Jane Pickens Theater
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This nominee for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film tells the poignant story of a Montreal middle school class shaken by the death of their well-liked teacher. Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, offers the school his services as a substitute teacher and is quickly hired. As he helps the children heal, he also learns to accept his own painful past. This moving film features exquisite performances by Fellag and a stunning ensemble of child actors. (Description from Music Box Films)
The Fairy/La fee (comedy)
7 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall
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Dom works as a night clerk at a small hotel in the industrial port city of Le Havre. One night, a strangely dressed woman named Fiona arrives and claims she is a fairy. She grants Dom three wishes, and makes his first two wishes come true before mysteriously vanishing. By now, Dom has fallen in love with Fiona, and he proceeds to embark on a search for his elusive fairy. This third feature film by the gifted trio of physical comedians Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy presents a series of slapstick set pieces that hark back to the work of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati. A whimsical tale about the happiness that can be squeezed out of even the most mundane of lives. (Description from Kino Lorber Films)
Point Blank/A bout portant (action thriller)
7 p.m. Thursday, March 21 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall
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Gilles Lellouche plays Samuel, a nurse working at a hospital when his pregnant wife (Anaya) is kidnapped before his very eyes. Knocked unconscious, he comes to and discovers that a dangerous criminal named Sartet is responsible, and if he's ever to see his wife again, he must do Sartet's bidding. Samuel quickly finds himself pitted against rival gangsters and trigger-happy police in a deadly race to save the lives of his wife and unborn child. (Description from Magnolia Pictures)
The Well-Digger's Daughter (historical drama)
2 p.m. Sunday, March 24 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall
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Acclaimed French actor Daniel Auteuil returns to the world of Marcel Pagnol for his first work as director with this celebrated remake of the 1940s classic. Auteuil stars as the eponymous well-digger Pascal, a widower living with his six daughters in the Provence countryside at the start of World War I. His eldest daughter has returned home from Paris to help raise her sisters, and Pascal dreams of marrying her off to his loyal assistant Felipe. But when she is impregnated by a wealthy young pilot who promptly abandons her for the frontlines, Pascal is left to contend with the consequences. An exquisitely crafted, sun-drenched melodrama, set to a score by Academy Award-nominee Alexandre Desplat, this remake captures all the warmth and humanist spirit of Pagnol's original work. (Description from Kino Lorber Films)
Curling (dark comedy)
7 p.m. Tuesday, March 26 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall
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Set on the fringe of society in a remote part of the countryside, this film by renowned Quebecois director Denis Cote takes a keen look at the unusual private life of a father and his daughter. Between his unremarkable jobs, Jean-Francois Sauvageau (Emmanuel Bilodeau) devotes an awkward energy to Julyvonne (Philomene Bilodeau). The fragile balance of their relationship will be jeopardized by some dreary circumstances. Winner of Best Director and Best Actor at the Locarno Film Festival. (Description from New Yorker Films)
The Kid with a Bike/Le gamin au velo (contemporary drama)
7 p.m. Thursday, March 28 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall
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Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, the deeply moving new film by the Dardenne brothers delves into the emotional life of troubled 11-year-old Cyril. When his father abandons him, Cyril obsessively searches for his bicycle, placing his last bit of hope in this symbol of their relationship. Almost by accident, he becomes the ward of a kind hairdresser, who seems surprised to find herself so determined to help him. With his wild, unpredictable behavior and his disastrous search for father figures, Cyril risks losing her - though she refuses to give up without a fight. (Description from IFC Films)