In memory of Dr. Sheldon Stone

February 6-15, 2009

The twelfth festival celebrates the diversity of French-language cinema, featuring films set in Sénégal, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Martinique and Québec as well as France.  The festival opens with the stunning musical road show, Youssou N´ Dour: Return to Gorée.  Directors include two women (Julie Gavras, Zabou Breitman), veterans of the silent films era (Epstein), the film noir (Melville) and the New Wave (Chabrol, Godard, Rohmer).  Several films, such as Denys Arcand’s L´âge des ténèbres (Québec), have not been released theatrically in the United States. Silent classic film, The Faithful Heart, will have live musical accompaniment. Nine of the twelve films are free screenings. All films are in French and other languages w/English Subtitles. Certain screenings will be followed by facilitated discussion.

This program is made possible with the generous support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (including the Florence Gold Foundation, the Grand Marnier Foundation, highbrow entertainment, agnés b, and the Franco-American Cultural Fund) for the Tournées Festival films, Délégation du Québec á Chicago, and Dr. Richard Stone. We are also grateful for the co-sponsorship of UWM Union Programming, UWM Sociocultural Programming, the Center for International Education, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the LGBT Film Festival, Community Media Project, the UWM Cinema and Media Studies Program, the Department of Africology, the Department of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature, the Southeast Wisconsin Academic Alliance in French and the Alliance Française of Milwaukee.