Lincoln Center Film Society Kicks Off 2013 RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA

The 18th edition of RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance Films' celebrated annual showcase of the best in contemporary French film, hits screens at The Film Society, the IFC Center and BAMcinématek, today, February 28 - March 10. French cinema is as varied and vital as ever in 2013, and the new edition of RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA covers the widest possible spectrum. This range includes grand and engaging entertainments such as Régis Roinsard's POPULAIRE, uncompromising auteurs such as Jean-Claude Brisseau and Damien Odoul, rising independent voices including Héléna Klotz and Shalimar Preuss, and master filmmakers François Ozon, Patrice Leconte, Raymond Depardon, Nicolas Philibert and the late Claude Miller.

Film Society of Lincoln Center Director of Programming, Year-round, Robert Koehler said, "This year's edition of RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA offers another entertaining and informative look at the current state of cinema by the French, with a celebration of fresh and upcoming talent behind the camera and today's prominent directors as well as a healthy nod to the film artists of the past. It is a varied and rich collection of films by a diverse group of filmmakers and actors, several of whom will be on hand for their screenings as well."

Highlights this year also include the animated feature The Day OF THE CROWS, an enchanting visualization of Jean-François Beauchemin's novel from director Jean-Christophe Dessaint and featuring the voices of Jean Reno, Lorànt Deutsch, Isabelle Carré and the late Claude Chabrol in his final film credit. François Ozon's cautionary tale, IN THE HOUSE (nominated at this year's César Awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor) features the brilliant Fabrice Luchini as a frustrated author - married to gallerist Kristin Scott Thomas - who becomes swept up in the writing of a precocious student.

This year's lineup will also include the late Claude Miller's final film, Thérèse Desqueyroux, which elegantly adapts François Mauriac's modern classic of a woman's growing resistance to her suffocating marriage, and showcases a remarkable Audrey Tautou as the disturbed titular heroine. The 1962 original, directed by Georges Franju and starring Amour Academy Award Best Actress nominee Emmanuelle Riva, Philippe Noiret and Edith Scob, will also be screened. The festival will host the New York premiere of Gilles Bourdos' atmospheric drama RENOIR, which takes place in 1915, a pivotal time for master painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his son Jean, the legendary filmmaker.

In conjunction with the premiere of RENOIR, the films of Renoir fils receive a special focus in this year's Rendez-Vous with screenings of three of his masterworks at each of the festival's venues. The Film Society of Lincoln Center will show Renoir's classic THE RIVER, his first color film, presented in a gorgeously restored print, which remains a special and deeply emotional work in The Master filmmaker's oeuvre. The IFC Center presents a digital restoration of the master's beloved satire BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING, one of Renoir's most innovative early works. And BAM will screen THE RULES OF THE GAME, Jean Renoir's influential ensemble drama that is perennially ranked as one of the greatest films ever made.

An exciting addition to the RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA lineup this year will be a free Convergence event, ALT_MINDS and the Art of French Transmedia. One of Europe's leading transmedia designers, Eric Viennot, will present an adventure spanning a web series, mobile applications, and live events that thrust the audience into the heart of an action-packed thriller. Made possible with support from the French Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

This also marks the second year in a row collaborating with Emerging Pictures on a select number of titles. The films will screen in venues across the country contemporaneously with their showings at Lincoln Center via Emerging's network of digital theaters. Q&A's from the Film Society venues will be broadcast live to many of those locations. Titles and schedule to follow.

"For the 18th edition of RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA Unifrance films is happy to present a rich and varied line-up", says Régine Hatchondo, Executive Director of Unifrance films. "The success of this film festival is due to the faithful New York audiences and the tremendous efforts of our partners: the Film Society of Lincoln Center, IFC Center and BAM. We would like to also thank Emerging Pictures for their initiative, Rendez-Vous Near You, bringing a select number of the films to audiences across the country."

Filmmakers and talent who will be in attendance at this years festival include - Niels Arestrup (YOU WILL BE MY SON), Gilles Bourdos (RENOIR), Catherine Corsini (THREE WORLDS), Jean-Christophe Dessaint (THE DAY OF CROWS), Jacques Doillon (YOU, ME AND US), Romain Duris (POPULAIRE), Deborah François (POPULAIRE), Héléna Klotz (THE ATOMIC AGE), Gilles Legrand (YOU WILL BE MY SON), Patrick Mille (BAD GIRL), Annie Miller (producing partner and widow of THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX director Claude Miller), Guillaume Nicloux (THE NUN), François Ozon (IN THE HOUSE), Raphaël Personnaz (THREE WORLDS), Nicolas Philibert (LA MAISON DE LA RADIO), Ilmar Raag (A LADY IN PARIS), Régis Roinsard (POPULAIRE), Audrey Tautou (THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX) and Alice Winocour (AUGUSTINE).

For the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Patrons and Members have an advance on-sale date of February 7. IFC Center Members may purchase tickets to IFC Center screenings starting February 7th. BAM Cinema Club members may purchase tickets to BAMcinématek screenings beginning February 7. General Public Tickets for the 2013 Rendez-Vous series at all three locations will go on sale February 14.

Tickets are available online for each participating venue at www.filmlinc.com, www.ifccenter.com and www.BAM.org/BAMcinematek respectively, as well as directly from the box offices. For more information, call The Film Society at (212) 875-5601, the IFC Center at (212) 924-7771, or BAMcinématek at (718) 636-4100 x2 or please visit: www.rendezvouswithfrenchcinema.com. Tickets for Opening Night at the Paris Theater will be available online at www.filmlinc.com.

FSLC's Walter Reade Theater's address is 165 West 65th St. (between Amsterdam
Avenue and Broadway) and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center's address is 144 West 65th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway). The IFC Center is located at 323 Sixth Ave. at West 3rd Street. BAMcinématek is located at 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn. The Paris Theater is located at 4 West 58th Street.

Films, Descriptions & Schedule:

Main Venues: BAMcinématek (BAM)/Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (EBM)/IFC Center (IFC)/Walter Reade Theater (WRT)
Opening Night: The Paris Theater (PARIS)

OPENING NIGHT!
US PREMIERE
Populaire
Régis Roinsard, 2012, France, 111m
Stuck in the provinces of 1950s France, Rose (Deborah François) is taken under the wing of her handsome boss (Romain Duris) and develops astonishing skills as a high-speed typist, leading to unexpected fame. In the grand tradition of French social comedy, Régis Roinsard has concocted a scintillating entertainmenT Lovingly looking back on an idealized and innocent decade. Starring Deborah François, Romain Duris. The Weinstein Company will release the movie in July 2013.
Thurs., Feb. 28, 7:30pm - PARIS; Fri. Mar. 1, 7:00pm - BAM; Sat., Mar. 2, 7:00pm - IFC
In person: Romain Duris, Régis Roinsard, Deborah François

NEW YORK PREMIERE
The Atomic Age/L'age atomique
Héléna Klotz, 2012, France, DCP; 68m
Arriving from the Paris outskirts for a round of weekend clubbing, good-looking Victor (Eliott Paquet) and his Central European friend Rainer (Dominik Wojcik) are full of self-confidence and a youthfully self-conscious hipness. But across the span of one night, their impulsive adventure tests emotional and physical limits the lads never before knew in Klotz's impressively mesmerizing feature debut. Winner of the 2012 Prix Jean Vigo. A TLA Releasing film.
Wed. Mar. 6, 9:30pm - IFC; Thurs. Mar. 7, 4pm - WRT; Fri. Mar. 8, 9:00pm - WRT

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Augustine
Alice Winocour, 2012, France, 102m
Based on a true case, writer-director Winocour has adapted the story of a progressive 19th century doctor/therapist and his unusual patient into a study of personal wills, hidden desires and reversals of fate. A maid who suffers from seizures is sent to a mental hospital, where it seems she'll be condemned for life until Professor Charcot finds in her the possibilities of testing his advanced notions of the sources of so-called "hysteria." Soko as Augustine and Vincent Lindon as Charcot deliver astonishing performances. A Music Box Films release.
Sun. Mar. 3, 6pm - WRT (no talent); Tues. Mar. 5, 9:00pm - WRT; Wed. Mar. 6, 7:00pm - BAM; Thurs. Mar. 7, 7:00pm - IFC
In person: Alice Winocour

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Bad Girl/Mauvaise fille
Patrick Mille, 2012, France, 108m
25-year-old Louise is suddenly hit with a double dose of life-altering reality: She learns that she's pregnant and that her mother has had a relapse of advanced cancer. Justine Lévy has adapted her own novel with spiky humor and brilliance, and director Mille mines the complex family material for an amazingly wide range of tones from poignant to irreverent. Izïa Higelin, Carole Bouquet, Bob Geldof and Arthur Dupont co-star.
Tues. Mar. 5, 7:00pm - IFC; Wed. Mar. 6, 9:00PM - WRT; Thur. Mar. 7, 6pm - WRT;
In person: Patrick Mille

Boudu Saved From Drowning/Boudu Sauve' Des Eaux
Jean Renoir, 1932, France, 84 min.
Boudu (the irrepressible and unforgettable Michel Simon), a Parisian tramp, tries to end it all with a plunge into the river, only to be saved by a well-meaning bookseller. But when his rescuer offers him shelter, Boudu's anarchic charms rock the household to its foundations. Shot largely on location along the quays of the Seine, Renoir's freewheeling satire of bourgeois respectability is one of the master's most innovative early works; it remains, in The Words of critic Dave Kehr, "as informal, beguiling, and subversive as its eponymous hero." Screening in a digital restoration.
Sat. Mar. 2, 1:00pm - IFC

The Day of the Crows / Le jour des corneilles
Jean-Christophe Dessaint, 2012, France, 96m
Raised like a wild child in the woods by his bitter and fearsome father, a boy finds himself discovering the world beyond the forest in director Dessaint's enchanting visualization of Jean-Francois Beauchemin's novel. The sensitively rendered hand-drawn animation and depth of characterization seem like a tribute to the films of Hayao Miyazaki, and yet, this movie for all ages stands very much on its own. Featuring the voices of Jean Reno, Lorànt Deutsch, Isabelle Carré and the late Claude Chabrol in his final film credit.
Sat., Mar. 9, 1:00pm - WRT
In person: Jean-Christophe Dessaint

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Girl From Nowhere/La fille de nulle part
Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2012, France, 91m
Lost in a maze of his philosophizing while trying to write a book, a retired math teacher is forced to deal with the real world when he must rescue a young woman from the clutches of a thug outside his Paris apartment. What the teacher doesn't know is that this woman may be his muse, a mystical agent or an angel of death. Stars director Brisseau and Virginie Legeay. Winner of the Golden Leopard, Locarno Film Festival 2012.
Sat. Mar. 2, 2:45pm - IFC; Sun. Mar. 10, 2:30pm - WRT

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Granny's Funeral/Adieu Berthe: L'enterrement de mÉmÉ
Bruno Podalydès, 2012, France, 100m
Although he made no effort to see his grandmother in her waning years, pharmacist Armand (director Podalydès' brother and co-writer Denis) must now deal with her funeral arrangements. This is awkward enough, but nothing like his emotional swings between a wife he can't quite part from and a lover he can't quite commit to, in a comedy stamped with the Podalydès brand of caustic, Gallic wit. With Valérie Lemercier, Isabelle Candelier, Catherine Hiegel and Benoît Hamon.
Fri. Mar. 1, 9:45pm - IFC; Sun. Mar. 3, 8:15pm - WRT; Mon. Mar. 4, 3:45pm - WRT

NEW YORK PREMIERE
In the House/Dans la maison
François Ozon, 2012, France, 105m
Swept up in the increasingly dazzling and inventive fiction writing of a precocious student, a High School literature teacher and frustrated author (Fabrice Luchini) married to a gallerist (Kristin Scott Thomas) sees real life overtake the fiction. Ozon is at the height of his powers in this ironic, cautionary tale on the dangers of mentoring Gone too far. With Emmanuelle Seigner and Ernst Umhauer. A Cohen Media Group release.
Fri. Mar. 1, 9:00pm - WRT; Sat. Mar. 2, 9:00pm - BAM; Sun. Mar. 3, 6:15pm - IFC
In person: François Ozon

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Jappeloup
Christian Duguay, 2013, France, 130m
A true sports story that utterly defies the odds, Duguay's film captures the wild ups and downs of the Olympics-bound career of legendary equine star Jappeloup and his troubled rider, locked in a tense relationship with his horseman father and forever uncertain of his own skills as an equestrian. Stars Guillaume Canet, Daniel Auteuil, Marina Hands and Tchéky Karyo.
Sat. Mar. 2, 9:40pm - IFC; Wed. Mar. 6, 3:30pm - WRT; Sat. Mar. 9, 5:30pm - WRT

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Journal de France
Raymond Depardon & Claudine Nougaret, 2012, France, 100m
Depardon's brilliant self-portrait (co-directed by his longtime collaborator and sound engineer Claudine Nougaret) takes a surprising point of view on the great documentarian's life-not only as a filmmaker, but as a photographer of expressive precision, capturing the entirety of French society over the decades. The patience of this imagemaker's practice is testament to an alternative to the hyper-fast, instant delivery of digital images that now dominates the culture.
Mon. Mar. 4, 8:30pm - IFC; Fri. Mar. 8, 4:15pm - WRT; Sun. Mar. 10, 12:15pm - WRT

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
A Lady in Paris/Une Estonienne À Paris
Ilmar Raag, 2012, France/Belgium/Estonia, 94m
Offered a job in Paris to look after a fellow Estonian-born woman, Anne leaves her homeland and finds herself in an emotional hornet's nest. Frida, the elderly Estonian, gives new meaning to the word prickly and won't be tended to, even though that's exactly what Frida's younger ex-lover wants. Stars a stunning, flinty and memorable Jeanne Moreau, Laine Magi and Patrick Pineau.
Sat. Mar. 2, 4:30PM - IFC; Sun. Mar. 3, 3:15pm - WRT; Mon. Mar. 4, 9:15pm - WRT
In person: Ilmar Raag

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
La maison de la radio
Nicolas Philibert, 2013, France, 103m
Radio France is a massive 24/7 operation, a national network which explores every aspect of life from breaking news to live cultural events. Applying his attuned senses to the mega-complex that is Radio France, non-fiction film master Philibert reveals the vast, rich and unexpected world of radio production and the imaginative power of sound.
Fri. Mar. 1, 3:30pm - WRT; Sat. Mar. 2, 3:15pm - WRT; Sun. Mar. 3, 1:00pm - IFC
In person: Nicolas Philibert

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
My Blue-Eyed Girl/Ma belle gosse
Shalimar Preuss, 2012, France, 80m
Preuss' uncommonly sensitive and nuanced debut follows the eldest daughter of a family on holiday as she navigates her growing desires for a prison inmate with her heartfelt but fraying familial love. Under the film's placid surface is a teenage, and very human, restlessness that suggests impulsive curiosity, yet also wisdom. Stars Lou Aziosmanoff, Jocelyn Lagarrigue, Victor Laforge.
Mon. Mar. 4, 10:20pm - IFC; Tues. Mar. 5, 4pm - WRT; Sun. Mar. 10, 4:40pm - WRT

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Nun/La religieuse
Guillaume Nicloux, 2013, France/Germany/Belgium, 114m
Drawing on the same Denis Diderot classic as Jacques Rivette's 1966 film, Nicloux's version provides a fresh take on the 18th-century story of a young woman's (a stunning Pauline Etienne) harrowing experiences in nunneries, one run by a too-loving Mother Superior (Isabelle Huppert). Young Suzanne's discovery that she's an illegitimate child compels her to a life in the convent, where inhumanity rules and battles of wills ensue. With Louise Bourgoin, Martina Gedeck, Françoise Lebrun.
Fri. Mar. 1, 7:00pm - IFC; Sat. Mar. 2, 9pm - WRT; Sun. Mar. 3, 8pm - BAM
In person: Guillaume Nicloux

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Persecution
Patrice Chéreau, 2009, France, 100min
A brutally intimate close-up of the moment-to-moment dissolution of a love affair, this psychological drama stars Romain Duris as a brooding, bestubbled Parisian juggling a hot-and-cold relationship with a jet-setting careerist (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and the intrusions of a middle-aged male stalker who has claimed him as the love of his life. Fueled by emotionally charged dialogue and nervy, passionate performances, Persecution continues Chéreau's masterful observation of human desire in all its intricacies and contradictions. With Jean-Hugues Anglade.
Fri. Mar. 1, 9:40pm - BAM
In person: Romain Duris

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Renoir
Gilles Bourdos, 2012, France, 111m
Set in 1915, a pivotal time in the lives of master painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his war-wounded son Jean (who'd become one of cinema's great masters), Bourdos' atmospheric drama explores the ways in which creative powers wax and wane as one generation gives way to the next. Key to the changes that father and son experience is a female model who's the elder painter's last inspiration, and the figure who may turn Jean's life around. Stars Michel Bouquet, Christa Théret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, Romane Bohringer. A Samuel Goldwyn Films release.
Sat. Mar. 2, 6pm - WRT; Sun. Mar. 3, 5:00pm - BAM; Wed. Mar. 6, 7:00pm - IFC
In person: Gilles Bourdos

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Rich Is The Wolf/La richesse du loup
Damien Odoul, 2012, France, 82m
Perplexed at the sudden disappearance of her husband, a wife watches hours of videotape that he's recorded over the previous seven years to piece together some clues. Odoul's most daring feature, whose color and black-and-white images are culled from his own videotaping, confirms his place as one of France's genuinely exploratory filmmakers. Stars Marie-Eve Nadeau, Damien Odoul.
Mon. Mar. 4, 6:45pm - IFC; Sat. Mar. 9, 3:30pm - WRT

The River (Le Fleuve)
Jean Renoir, 1951, France/India/US, 99 min.
One of a British upper middle-class family of eight living on the banks of the Ganges River, teenage Harriet grows up in a tolerant and loving atmosphere that blends East and West. But when a dashing captain arrives at a neighbor's home, the girl's passions are ignited in ways she can barely fathom or control. Renoir's classic, first color film, presented in a gorgeously restored print, remains a special and deeply emotional work in The Master filmmaker's oeuvre. Stars Patricia Walters, Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight. Restored by The Academy Film Archive in cooperation with The British Film Institute and Janus Films. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Sun. Mar. 3, 1:00pm - WRT

The Rules of the Game/La Regle Du Jeu
Jean Renoir, 1939, France 106m
Renoir's finest achievement and consistently praised as one of the best films ever made, The Rules of the Game is essential cinema; entire styles of filmmaking (Altman's for one) are unthinkable without it. As a cast of characters from all classes assembles at a country house, the farce and melodrama commence, giving occasion for everything from hunting parties and gala balls to extramarital affairs and finally even murder.
Sun. Mar. 3, 2:30pm - BAM
In person: Introduction by Renoir director Gilles Bourdos

NEW YORK PREMIERE
The Suicide Shop/Le magasin des suicides
Patrice Leconte, 2012, France, 105m
Master filmmaker Leconte makes a startling and unforgettable departure from his previous work with this whimsical animated 3D musical about a family business offering certain special "end-of-life" services. Rather than succumbing to a purely mordant perspective, the movie switches course and mood, driven by the family's perpetually happy child whom they can't control. Based on the novel by Jean Teulé and with the voices of Bernard Alane, Isabelle Space, Kacey Mottet Klein, Isabelle Giami, Laurent Gendron.
Thurs. Mar. 7, 9:30pm - IFC; Fri. Mar. 8, 6:30pm - WRT; Sat. Mar. 9, 8:15pm - WRT

US PREMIERE
Thérèse Desqueyroux (2012)
Claude Miller, 2012, France, 110m
The late Miller's final film elegantly adapts François Mauriac's modern classic of a woman's growing resistance to her suffocating marriage, and showcases a remarkable Audrey Tautou as the disturbed titular heroine. With Gilles Lelouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Catherine Arditi. An MPI Pictures release.
Fri. Mar. 1, 6:15pm - WRT; Sat. Mar. 2, 6:00pm - BAM; Sun. Mar. 3, 3:30pm - IFC
In person: Annie Miller (producing partner and widow of director Claude Miller), Audrey Tautou

Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962)
Georges Franju, 1962, France, 109m
Franju's adaptation of François Mauriac's novel adheres closely to the source's flashback structure, while set in a somewhat more contemporary setting, thus providing fascinating contrast to Claude Miller's new version. Continuing to tap into the extremities of human behavior that engrossed him as an artist, Franju crucially assembled a brilliant cast, including Emmanuelle Riva, Philippe Noiret and Edith Scob, with a magnificent Maurice Jarre score.
Sat. Mar. 2, 1pm - WRT

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Three Worlds/Trois Mondes
Catherine Corsini, 2012, France, 101m
A hit-and-run accident involving a hotshot car salesman and an émigré worker from Moldavia triggers a chain of dramatic events with life-altering consequences. Corsini's complex narrative traces the small yet crucial events that expose a character's true self, and the rottenness at the core of certain nouveau riche. A Film Movement release.
Tues. Mar. 5, 9:30pm - IFC; Wed. Mar. 6, 6:15pm - WRT; Thur. Mar. 7, 9pm - WRT;
In person: Catherine Corsini, Raphaël Personnaz

NEW YORK PREMIERE
You, Me and Us/Un enfant de toi
Jacques Doillon, 2012, France, 136m
The tentative nature of relationships is explored in dazzling, three-dimensional fashion in this cleverly written and directed roundelay between current and former lovers. Aya, the mother of a bright young daughter, struggles to come to terms with the end of her marriage, while hoping to have a child with her new lover. Stars Lou Doillon, Samuel Benchetrit, Malik Zidi, Olga Milshtein.
Sun. Mar. 3, 8:45pm - IFC; Mon. Mar. 4, 6pm - WRT; Tues. Mar. 5, 6:00pm - WRT
In person: Jacques Doillon

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
You Will be My Son/Tu Seras Mon Fils
Gilles Legrand, 2012, France, 102m
Instead of grooming his son to inherit his lucrative wine-growing business, an imperious vintner (Niels Arestrup) looks to a talented California-based grower, rendering a harvest of jealousy and worse. Legrand's narrative takes on Shakespearean qualities, driven by a titanic performance by Arestrup, while the film's observations on the wine-growing business are thoroughly engrossing. A Cohen Media Group release.
Sun. Mar. 10, 6:30pm - WRT
In person: Gilles Legrand, Niels Arestrup

CONVERGENCE

ALT_MINDS AND THE ART OF FRENCH TRANSMEDIA
Some of the most exciting advances in storytelling are taking place in France, with independent creators, corporations, and game companies reshaping how audiences consume stories. At the forefront of this transmedia revolution is the epic pan-European immersive experience ALT_MINDS. When six scientists disappear while on assignment their kidnapping sparks a multinational manhunt. Mysterious online videos, mind-bending puzzles, and clues that point to a dark conspiracy of vast proportions threaten to ensnare the investigators charged with unraveling the mystery. The trick is that in this interactive experience the part of investigator is not played by an actor but assumed by the audience. Game designer, Eric Viennot of Lexis Numérique, will discuss this genre-bending project and the future of storytelling.
Sat. Mar. 2, 5:00pm- EBM (Free)
In person: Eric Viennot

FILM SOCIETY OF Lincoln CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Robert Koehler, Year Round Program Director, works to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Among its yearly programming of film festivals, film series and special events, the Film Society presents two film festivals in particular that annually attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, led by Program Director Kent Jones, which just celebrated its 50th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award-now named "The Chaplin Award"-to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Sidney Poitier. The Film Society presents its year-round calendar of programming, panels, lectures, educational and transmedia programs and specialty film releases at the famous Walter Reade Theater and the new state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.

The Film Society receives generous support from The Royal Bank of Canada, American Airlines, The New York Times, The Grand Marnier Foundation, Stonehenge Partners, Stella Artois, The New York State Council on the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

About Unifrance FILMS
Founded in 1949, Unifrance Films is a government-sponsored association of French film industry professionals dedicated to the international promotion of French films. With offices in Paris, New York, Tokyo and Beijing, Unifrance Films provides financial and logistical support to theatrical distributors and major film festivals showcasing new and recent French cinema throughout the world. For more information, visit http://en.unifrance.org/