Podcasts about french cinema

This week we're excited to present a conversation with The Little Sister lead actress Nadia Melliti, moderated by FLC programmer Madeline Whittle. A 2026 Rendez-vous with French Cinema selection, The Little Sister is currently playing at Film at Lincoln Center, courtesy of Strand Releasing. Get tickets at filmlinc.org/sister Devout Muslim teenager Fatima (Nadia Melliti) lives with her loving Algerian immigrant family in Paris, but fears the inevitable fallout if her tradition-minded kin discover her identity as a lesbian. Initially wary of her own sexuality and eager to downplay it, Fatima blossoms when she meets Ji-na (Return to Seoul star Park Ji-Min), but challenges await the nascent couple. In her fourth directorial effort, Hafsia Herzi (also acclaimed for her captivating performances in The Rapture and The Secret of the Grain) rejects the clichés of queer coming-of-age stories, which so often center around tragedy and trauma. Instead, Herzi centers one young girl's relatively drama-free journey of self-discovery and coming out, one telling incident at a time. A true discovery in her first on-screen role, Melliti won Best Actress awards at Cannes and Lumières, as well as the César Award for Best Female Newcomer, while the film took home the prestigious Louis-Delluc Prize in 2025. A Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2026 selection. A Strand Releasing release.

Elise McLeod is a film director and acting coach who has called France home for over 30 years. After travelling there as an exchange student in her high school years, Elise made a decision: once she knew what she wanted to do with her life, she was going to return to Paris to live it there!Elise has a film Reclaim the Night in competition this week (on 6 June)  in the St Kilda Film Festival. The film is set in Paris telling the fictional story of two best friends, one had the best night of her life and one experienced the worst. Reclaim the Night was originally a movement that started in the UK in the 1970s, protesting about safety for women. Elise also has another film she made in the late 1990s, Last Drinks which is playing this Friday night (5 June) at The Astor Theatre in St Kilda, Melbourne. Last drinks is a doco telling the story of the 90s closure of the iconic Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda, a landmark many Melbourne people will know of.Elise and I have been to the Cannes Film Festival together and this chat gives us a little insight into the amount of work that goes into her industry. To escape the busy-ness of her professional world, Elise and her husband Charles have bought a rundown property in the Burgundy region of France. They have now renovated and soon will open for guests to stay, also transforming a huge old shed into a party room, a salle de fête. Elise and I chatted about finding brocantes, connecting with nature in Bourgogne, taking the back roads through France as well as our fave regions and the wonderful quirkiness of those pockets of the French countryside.So pour a cuppa, or a glass of something French and close your eyes as you sit back and escape to France with us, to hear all about Elise's beautiful French life.**Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.**Other Loulabelle's links:FrancoFile Fix on YouTubeLoulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist Loulabelle's FrancoFiles InstagramLoulabelle's FrancoFiles website

Ben Croll takes us through four films from the Cannes Film Festival which are being released in cinemas this week. One of France's biggest film events of the year is Antonin Baudry's "De Gaulle: Resistance", the first of a two-part WWII epic centred on French general Charles de Gaulle, from the fall of France in 1940 to the liberation in 1945. Ben tells us why this film is part of a new trend of French blockbusters focused on uniquely French stories.

French legend and Cannes regular Catherine Deneuve returns to the Croisette with not one but two films. Meanwhile Hollywood icon and licensed pilot John Travolta makes his directorial debut with an adaptation of his own children's novel about the golden age of aviation. FRANCE 24's Culture Editor Eve Jackson also tells us about the latest collaboration from former French power couple Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet – their first since splitting up last summer.

As the 79th Cannes Film Festival opens on the Croisette, politics is competing with glamour for attention. Hundreds of figures from the French film industry have signed an open letter warning about what they describe as the growing influence of the far right within French cinema and media. At the centre of the controversy is French billionaire and media tycoon Vincent Bolloré, owner of Canal+, the powerful television group that plays a major role in financing French films.

We look ahead to some of the French films making a splash on the Riviera at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, as Manon Kerjean takes us through some of the home-grown talent gracing the red carpet this year. She tells us why opening feature "The Electric Kiss" strikes the right tone with its bittersweet, supernatural elements and how Arthur Harari's "The Unknown" has revisited the body-swap genre with panache.

We discuss the harrowing incident at the centre of Marta Bergman's poignant new film, as critic Manon Kerjean tells us why "The Silent Run" is a powerful, haunting take on the terrifying scenarios that many refugees face. We also review Alain Gomis's atmospheric journey through family rites and rituals in Guinea-Bissau in "Dao". Plus Laure Calamy and Vincent Macaigne negotiate belly laughs and bittersweet moments in "What is Love?" as a separated couple re-visiting their past on a trip to Rome.

Film critic Manon Kerjean tells us why "Just an Illusion" is more than just a tender study of young teenagers' first love, and how its retro décor and timely themes add weight to a family dynamic with Camille Cottin and Louis Garrel taking on parental roles.

Critic Emma Jones tells us why “Dead Man's Wire” plays to the director's strengths, with Bill Skarsgard and Colman Domingo mixed up in a chaotic kidnapping inspired by a true story which took place in the 1970s. We discuss the BAFTA-winning performance from Robert Aramayo, as he plays campaigner John Davidson, a man suffering from Tourette's syndrome. Director Gore Verbinski returns with his riff on AI and technological dystopia, with Sam Rockwell and Juno Temple leading the charge. And the “Ready or Not” horror scenario returns for a sequel, bringing in Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kathryn Newton for a blood-soaked caper.

The weight of tradition bears heavily on Marianne, the protagonist of the new film "Mrs", played by Mélanie Thierry as a seemingly perfect wife and mother. Film critic Manon Kerjean explains how director David Roux's minimalist approach draws on the legacy of bourgeois drama master Claude Chabrol – and why Thierry's performance carries the film.

French director Xavier Giannoli's latest film sees Jean Dujardin embody the moral slide from pacifism to collaboration, as the Academy Award-winning actor helms the historical drama "Les Rayons et les Ombres". Film critic Manon Kerjean tells us why the complexity of its characters gives the film a powerful sense of nuance and why – at over three hours long – it's still a compelling watch.

Ben Croll and Dheepthika Laurent look at the all the winners – and losers – from the César awards ceremony in Paris, including Richard Linklater's "Nouvelle Vague" and the moving family drama "The Ties That Bind Us". Ben takes us through the highlights of the evening, including a lifetime achievement award for actor Jim Carrey and Iranian-French actress Golshifteh Farahani's tribute to Iranian protesters.

In this episode of arts24, film critic Manon Kerjean reviews several new French releases: Alice Winocour's "Coutures", starring Angelina Jolie and Louis Garrel in a backstage drama about women navigating illness and industry pressures during Fashion Week; Anthony Marciano's "Le Rêve américain", featuring Raphaël Quenard and Jean-Pascal Zadi as two unlikely French NBA agents; and Pascal Bonitzer's "Maigret and the Dead Lover", with Denis Podalydès investigating aristocratic secrets in early 2000s Paris.

Film critic Manon Kerjean speaks to Eve Jackson about the latest French cinema releases, from the modern, socially savvy comedy "LOL 2.0" with Sophie Marceau, to Valérie Donzelli's poignant drama "At Work" and a major retrospective celebrating documentary master Raymond Depardon. They also look at the family-friendly adventure "Marsupilami", highlighting a week of films that mix laughter, reflection and visual spectacle.

Manon Kerjean tells us why Pierre Niney's performance in "Gourou" recalls the punchy rhetoric of American coaches in Yann Gozlan's latest film. But first, we discuss the big winners at this year's Lumières awards, selected by the foreign press in Paris, as François Ozon's adaptation of "L'Étranger" picks up the top prize. Manon also tells us why Erige Sehiri's film "Promised Sky" provides an insight into the socio-political reality in Tunisia and raises powerful points about families, both biological and chosen. Plus we check out the film adaptation of the beloved French comic "Les Légendaires".

We continue our Luc Besson retrospective with Léon: The Professional (1994), a film that turned a hitman into a pop-culture archetype and remains one of the most debated thrillers of the 1990s. Host John Mills is joined by Darren Moser to dig into Besson's precise visual control, Éric Serra's melancholic score, Thierry Arbogast's stylized cinematography, and the film's complicated emotional core.

In this episode of Houselights, we begin our retrospective of Luc Besson's work from the 90s with "La Femme Nikita." We examine the film's stylistic impact and its role in reshaping the action-thriller genre. While the movie serves as a genre blueprint, we also touch on its narrative inconsistencies and character development challenges. Join us as we explore the film's influence and its place in cinematic history.

Critic Manon Kerjean takes us through the week's French film releases, starting with an assured début from Alice Vial. "You Found Me" deals with medical emergencies, mortality and a medium who helps souls leave our earthly realm, managing to balance its heavy subject matter with a gentle tone. We also discuss "Love Me Tender", Anna Cazenave Cambet's adaptation of a novel by author Constance Debré, in which a mother is left fighting for the right to raise her child. Motherhood is also a theme in Jérôme Bonnell's film "The Condition", which explores the power dynamics in a bourgeois home in early 20th century France, and we check out the psychologically driven "The Girl Without a Name", featuring an impressive performance from young actress Diane Rouxel.

Arts24 dives into the life of France's most explosive cinema legend as a new documentary pulls back the curtain on Brigitte Bardot – the star who became a myth and then walked away from it all to fight for animal rights. Director Elora Thevenet joins us in the studio to reveal how she gained rare access to the fiercely private 91-year-old, while our critic Manon Kerjean breaks down the film's intimate portrait of a woman once adored and still controversial decades later.

On this episode of the podcast, host Dr Pasquale Iannone is joined by Professor Sue Harris. Sue is Professor Emerita of Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London and an internationally-renowned specialist in French cinema. She has also published noted volumes on the Hollywood film musical, film stardom and production design.Sue is a trustee and collaborator of the long-running, UK-wide French Film Festival. During this year's Festival, Sue sat down with Pasquale to discuss the controversial Oscar-winning French filmmaker Bertrand Blier who sadly passed away in January at the age of 85 and who was the subject of a special tribute.Sue is a foundational Blier scholar, one of the first writers anywhere to take the director's work seriously. Her first solo authored monograph was a ground-breaking study of his films which was based on her PhD thesis.Blier is perhaps best known for his scandalous 1974 satire Les Valseuses, the story of two young drifters (Gerard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere) who offend and terrorise those they encounter on their wanderings across France.Sue tells Pasquale about the background to Les Valseuses, its reception and its unprecedented box office success in France. The then turn their attention to Blier's breakthrough film, the offbeat crime picture Buffet Froid (1979) which reunited the director with Depardieu and also featured Blier's actor father Bernard.

French director Rebecca Zlotowski had dreamed of working with her ever since she first started making films: Jodie Foster now takes on the leading role in "Private Life" as a psychologist haunted by a mysterious disappearance. Film critic Manon Kerjean gives us her appraisal of the film, and points us in the direction of "Dossier 137", a tense police drama that draws on real-life events with compelling results. We also discuss the heartwarming, stylish "Love Letters" from Alice Douard and the origin story of one of Victor Hugo's most beloved characters, "Jean Valjean".

In this edition of Arts24, we meet award-winning actress Diane Kruger as she returns to French screens in HBO's "Merteuil" or "The Seduction", a bold reimagining of the novel "Dangerous Liaisons". The German actress conquered Hollywood with "Troy" and "Inglorious Basterds"; now she returns to screens to explore a different kind of power, one that plays out in whispers, strategies and seduction in a candlelit 18th-century Paris. This new series sees Kruger play Madame De Rosemonde, a woman navigating the perilous games of patriarchy with cunning and elegance. The actress also tells us about returning to German cinema to explore some of the more complex questions surrounding World War II in Fatih Akin's critically-acclaimed "Amrum".

This week on arts24's film show, critic Manon Kerjean from Lost in Frenchlation joins us to explore four very different slices of French cinema – from monumental architecture to female bandits, nostalgic comedy and a sweeping national portrait. We begin with "L'Inconnu de la Grande Arche" ("The Great Arch"), a visually striking portrait of the architect behind Paris's modern landmark, La Grande Arche de La Défense. Director Demoustier turns stone and steel into emotion, capturing the tension between ambition, politics and legacy, with Danish actor Claes Bang mastering French for the role.

In this week's film show, Manon Kerjean and Dheepthika Laurent look at Nadia Melliti's performance as an Arab woman struggling with her sexual identity in "La Petite Dernière", a film for which she won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival. We also look at François Ozon's daring, bold adaptation of Albert Camus' masterpiece "L'Étranger" and discuss the technical prowess of "L'Homme qui rétrécit", a film starring Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin. Finally, we check out Isabelle Huppert's new film, "La femme la plus riche du monde", a biopic loosely inspired by L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

Adult Swim veteran producer and head of Thin Edge films, Lisa M. Thomas has been working across genres in film and television for decades from her home in upstate New York. Her latest project is The Misadventures of Bucky and Beene, the story of queer radio hosts who get in some hot water with the locals. Similarly, her choice of young Ludovic from a French classic of '90s queer cinema, Ma Vie En Rose ("My Life in Pink"), is a character who runs afoul of the local normies simply by living their honest truth. Lisa and Jordan get into the importance of queer narratives and of engaging in unapologetic conversation, in life and in art. Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the iconic, inimitable Diane Keaton. Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky.

Director Richard Linklater has paid tribute to the groundbreaking moment in French cinema when jump cuts, cigarette smoke and rebellious youth were rendered in beautiful black and white celluloid. Manon Kerjean tells us why "Nouvelle Vague", his affectionate tribute to French film history, is a treat for cinephiles. We also discuss the social drama "Météors", which takes viewers deep into rural France for a bromance that deals with coming-of-age struggles with humour. Meanwhile, Arnaud Desplechin returns with a cerebral, emotionally dense story of music and mystery, as François Civil and Charlotte Rampling star in "Two Pianos". Plus we check out a charming animated rendition of the life of French literary giant Marcel Pagnol, whose southern stories have delighted generations of schoolchildren.

Halloween is for Bond women!Hosts Andrew Wheeler and Shane Hollon delve into the 2001 French film 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' starring Monica Bellucci to explore its unique blend of horror, action, and period drama.00:00 Brotherhood of the Wolf07:30 Women of the Wolf13:29 Misogyny and Horror Tropes16:59 Boys of the Wolf27:55 Music of the Wolf30:13 Fashion of the Wolf37:58 Queerness of the Wolf40:52 Final Thoughts and Scores#BrotherhoodoftheWolf #horrormovies #MonicaBellucci #filmanalysis #moviereview #Frenchcinema #actionhorror #halloweenmovies #werewolfmovies

One for the ladies - pairs well with Pasolini's MEDEA.SUPPORT THE SHOW: PATREONSHOP THE SHOW: TEE PUBLICFOLLOW THE SHOW: INSTAGRAM // TIKTOK // YOUTUBEEMAIL THE SHOW: abreathoffreshmovie@gmail.com    

French pop star Mylène Farmer makes a rare appearance as the voice of an AI-powered virtual assistant in "Dalloway", which deals with some of the darker sides of creativity in Yann Gozlan's latest film. Manon Kerjean, the founder of Lost in Translation, a film club screening French features in Paris for non-French speakers, joins us to discuss the merits of this "Black Mirror"-adjacent movie. We also discuss Pierre Schoeller's psychological thriller "Rembrandt" and reflect on the complexities at the centre of the troubled relationship between Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, as the actress and singer's lives are examined by Diane Kurys in "C'est Si Bon". And Manon flags up a Maurice Pialat retrospective at the Cinémathèque Française that provides an insight into the iconoclastic French filmmaker.

Mark and Joey Lewandowski discuss the 2017 film See You Up There. Directed by Albert Dupontel, and starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Laurent Lafitte, and a plethora of masks, the movie focuses on what happens when a pair of WW1 veterans decide to con people out of money. In this episode, they also talk about French cinema, Albert Dupontel, and 2017 cinema. Enjoy!

Dive into the best of French filmmaking with arts24's weekly cinema show. From the premieres at the Venice Film Festival – where seven French productions are competing for the coveted Golden Lion – to the vibrant Angoulême Francophone Film Festival showcasing a rich variety of French-language films, this is your guide to the most exciting French movies of the moment.

On this episode of the podcast, host Dr Pasquale Iannone is joined by writer, critic and academic Hannah McGill to discuss Poetic Realism, a 1930s trend in French cinema which combined the earthy and the ethereal to often mesmerising effect.   Whether shot in real locations or on large-scale sets, whether set in France or elsewhere around the globe, these early sound pictures are moody and melancholy. They're fatalistic tales of immigrant labourers, train workers, tugboat captains, petty criminals, deserters, gangsters. Directors who made films in this style included Marcel Carné, Julien Duvivier and the three Jeans - Renoir, Vigo and Grémillon. Hannah and Pasquale discuss the socio-political backdrop, some of the major films, directors and actors as well as the trend's influence on Italian neorealism and American film noir.  Films discussed include L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934), Toni (Jean Renoir, 1934), La grande illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937), La bête humaine (Jean Renoir, 1938), Le quai des brumes (Marcel Carné, 1938), Le jour se lève (Marcel Carné, 1939) and many more.

Film critic Perrine Quennesson tells us why Palme d'Or-winning director Julia Ducournau's latest feature "Alpha" divided critics when it screened at Cannes. She explains how leading actor Tahar Rahim transformed himself for the role and salutes the French filmmaker's imaginative use of imagery in her daring films.

The grand conclusion of Giallo Season! Join us as we fast-forward all the way to 2018 to see what a modern, queer, giallo looks like. Buckle up for some blood, neon, and sexy gay boys as far as the eye can see.Thanks for joining us on this genre quest; catch ya in a month for our next season

MadS - "Contamination Achieved"This week we discuss the one-take wonder MADS (2024)! A simple night out turns into a pulse-pounding, heart-racing adventure fueled by illicit substances and potentially something much more sinister!An all around 5 from us - we recommend checking out this film on SHUDDER and then listening to this fresh spoiler-heavy episode!Support the show

Film critic Perrine Quennesson joins Eve Jackson to talk about the latest French films of the moment, including a gripping real-life Kabul evacuation thriller that premiered at Cannes this May. "13 Days, 13 Nights" is the latest feature from Martin Bourboulon, the director behind "The Three Musketeers" saga.

This week we're excited to present a conversation from the 2025 edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema with Meeting with Pol Pot director Rithy Panh and journalist Elizabeth Becker, moderated by FLC's Vice President, Programming, Florence Almozini. Meeting with Pol Pot will open at Film at Lincoln Center next Friday, June 13 with in-person Q&As at select screenings opening weekend. Get tickets at filmlinc.org/polpot In 1978, three French journalists arrive in Cambodia to survey the country and interview its leader, Pol Pot—but after a picture-perfect arrival, cracks begin to emerge in the murderous regime's facade of respectability. For Cambodian-born Rithy Panh, the damage inflicted upon his homeland by the Khmer Rouge has fueled a lifetime of innovative work in the vein of 2013's The Missing Picture, which reconstructed the period's events in part through clay-figurine dioramas. This real-life journalistic excursion, based on true events detailed in Elizabeth Becker's nonfiction book When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, is brought to life thanks to exemplary lead performances from Irène Jacob, Grégoire Colin, and Cyril Gueï, meticulously conjuring the sights and sounds of 1978 Cambodia with the assistance of archival footage and more clay figurines. The result is a unique admixture—historical horror paired with a rich meditation on the impossibility of portraying it—that only Panh could make. A Strand Releasing release.

This week we're excited to present a conversation from the 2025 edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema with Ghost Trail director Jonathan Millet. Ghost Trail is currently playing at Film at Lincoln Center. Get tickets at filmlinc.org/ghost This conversation was moderated by FLC Vice President, Programming, Florence Almozini. Two years after being released from Syrian jail, Hamid (Adam Bessa) is making ends meet as a construction worker in the French city of Strasbourg, where, haunted by the memory of his imprisonment, the young man searches tirelessly for the man who tortured him, determined to get his revenge—but what's the real price of vengeance for the person seeking it? Inspired by true events, Jonathan Millet's deeply researched thriller excavates the too-little-examined moral dilemmas and political negligence that traumatized migrants must confront amid the struggle to rebuild their lives and take control of their destinies at the margins of contemporary French society, inviting audiences to better empathize with France's newest residents, and to better understand their place in the world—and our own. A Music Box Films release.

Fresh from the Cannes film festival, our critic Ben Croll and Dheepthika Laurent look at the latest film releases, starting with Wes Anderson's star-studded whimsical film, "The Phoenician Scheme".

Jackie and Greg wait for important test results for Agnès Varda's CLEO FROM 5 TO 7. Topics of discussion include Varda's style, how she compares to her Nouvelle Vague contemporaries, the film's mix of realism and fantasy, and its reverberating influence on cinema.#14 on Sight & Sound's 2022 "The Greatest Films of All Time" list.  https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-timeCheck us out on Instagram: instagram.com/sceneandheardpodCheck us out at our official website: sceneandheardpod.comGraphic Design: Molly PintoMusic: Andrew CoxEditing: Greg KleinschmidtGet in touch at hello@sceneandheardpod.comSupport the showSupport the show on Patreon: patreon.com/SceneandHeardPodorSubscribe just to get access to our bonus episodes: buzzsprout.com/1905508/subscribe

The latest from Arts24's Eve Jackson in Cannes: Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut with "The Chronology of Water", a bold adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir, premiering a buzzed-about Chanel look. We sit down with Diane Kruger to talk about Amrum, a haunting post-war drama directed by Fatih Akin.

John Maytham is joined by acclaimed French journalist Coline Clavaud Mégevand, a contributor to Le Monde and La Déferlante, to unpack the landmark court ruling that found iconic French actor Gérard Depardieu guilty of sexual assault. Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The likes of Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise and Scarlett Johansson will be descending on the south of France for the glitziest date on the movie calendar, the Cannes Film Festival. In our Cannes Chronicle, our culture editor Eve Jackson tells about the most anticipated films and names expected on the red carpet, including a gay romance with Paul Mescal, a documentary about U2's Bono and the new and last instalment of "Mission: Impossible". But first, Eve brings us reaction to the guilty verdict in the sexual assault trial of French cinema icon Gérard Depardieu.

"The Incredible Story of One of French Cinema's Greatest Films"Transcription : https://www.patreon.com/posts/127683169?pr=truePour soutenir mon travail

"He said you're a real Film Nerd." "What's a Film Nerd?" On this episode, BK & Jack catch the French New Wave via its most iconic film! Join them on a journey through the history of French Cinema from the Lumieres to Cahiers, the formation of the New Wave movement on both banks of the Senne, how an unexpected classic flew by the seat of its pants throughout the production, and so much more!The Film Nerds want all or nothing, and they've got it all in this episode!

Jackie and Greg travel through time for Chris Marker's LA JETÉE from 1963. Topics of discussion include its undefinable mood, its stature as one of the most famous short films ever made, and why Marker was one of the most resourceful filmmakers of his generation.#50 on Sight & Sound's 2012 "The 100 Greatest Films of All Time" list.https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/greatest-films-all-time-2012#67 on Sight & Sound's 2022 "The Greatest Films of All Time" list.  https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-timeCheck us out on Instagram: instagram.com/sceneandheardpodCheck us out at our official website: sceneandheardpod.comGraphic Design: Molly PintoMusic: Andrew CoxEditing: Greg KleinschmidtGet in touch at hello@sceneandheardpod.comSupport the showSupport the show on Patreon: patreon.com/SceneandHeardPodorSubscribe just to get access to our bonus episodes: buzzsprout.com/1905508/subscribe

This week we're excited to present a conversation from the 20205 edition of the just-concluded Rendez-vous with French Cinema with Being Maria cast members Matt Dillon and Anamaria Vartolomei. Being Maria is now in select theaters, courtesy of Kino Lorber. Actors don't choose roles,” actor Daniel Gélin (Yvan Attal) tells his daughter Maria Schneider (Anamaria Vartolomei). “Roles choose them!” After her galvanizing performance as a young woman seeking out an illegal abortion in Audrey Diwan's Happening (ND/NF 2022), Vartolomei delivers another indelible portrait of a woman in extremis with writer-director Jessica Palud's second feature, moving beyond Schneider's encounter with director Bernardo Bertolucci on the set of Last Tango in Paris, during the shoot of the infamous “get the butter” scene (which the actress repeatedly identified as a violation of her consent), to contemplate the actress's larger life and legacy. The shoot itself is meticulously reconstructed—featuring a remarkable turn by Matt Dillon as Schneider's significantly more famous costar and scene partner, Marlon Brando—in order to contextualize the private and public fallout from Schneider's equally iconic and traumatizing breakout performance. Palud was herself an assistant director for Bertolucci at age 19 (the same age Schneider was during the production of Last Tango) and brings a welcome eye for complexity to an unsparing, compassionate reframing of a much-discussed incident—rooted firmly in the perspective of the actress at its center. This conversation was moderated by FLC Assistant Programmer Madeline Whittle.

Ep. 306: Olivier Assayas on his film Suspended Time, personal filmmaking, and recent favorites Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This weekend, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema presents the latest Olivier Assayas film, Suspended Time—a thoughtful and funny chronicle set in the French countryside during pandemic lockdown. Set in Assayas's parents' house, it's about much more, circling his relationship with his rock critic brother—whom he isolated with, along with their partners—and the feelings of reckoning with mortality and the past that are stirred up. I spoke with Assayas when Suspended Time originally premiered in Berlin about fictionalizing his experience, the introspection of the pandemic, the directors that influenced him, his recent viewing, and where his Irma Vep series fit into all of this. Vincent Macaigne (also in the Irma Vep series) and Micha Lescot co-star as the brothers Assayas. Suspended Time screens March 14 and 16 at Film at Lincoln Center as part of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2025. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

This week we're excited to present a conversation with Film at Lincoln Center Assistant Programmer Madeline Whittle, as she discusses the films featured in the 2025 edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center present the 30th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, running from March 6 to March 16. Get tickets at filmlinc.org/rdv. This celebrated festival offers a dynamic showcase of contemporary French filmmaking, featuring an array of 23 films by both emerging voices—some selected as part of Unifrance's 10 to Watch 2025 Program, a yearly initiative honoring a new generation of directors and actors who contribute to the vitality of French creation—and seasoned directors that tackle relevant and enduring themes. This selection of North American, U.S., and New York premieres celebrates the energy, innovation, and range of French cinema. The conversation was moderated by Erik Luers, FLC's Digital Marketing Manager.

For better or worse, Bertrand Bonello's The Beast is one of the most memorable movies of 2024. A discombobulating sci-fi trip through time that stars Lea Seydoux and George Mackay, it explodes the kernel of loneliness at the center of Henry James' 1903 novella - The Beast in the Jungle - into something much more...perplexing.