A French Wave Hits the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Festival
SBIFF The Wave Film Festival France
Take a 7-day cinematic trip to France!
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s French Wave is back with 11 new French films playing from July 12 – 18, 2024 at SBIFF’s Riviera Theatre.
This year’s lineup:
All To Play For
July 12 – 18
Sat: 2:20pm
Wed: 2:30pm
Sylvie lives in Brest with her two children, Sofiane and Jean-Jacques. Together they form a tight, happy family. One night, Sofiane hurts himself, alone in the apartment while his mother is out at work. The incident is reported and Sofiane is placed in foster care. Armed with a lawyer, her brothers and her children’s love, Sylvie is determined to win the administrative and legal battle.
Directed by Delphine Deloget
Written by Delphine Deloget
Starring Virginie Efira, Félix Lefebvre, Arieh Worthalter, Mathieu Demy, India Hair
Runtime – 1h 52m
Festivals:
Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival
All Your Faces
July 12 – 18
Sun: 7:30pm
Mon: 7:30pm
Restorative justice programs offer a safe space for dialogue between offenders and victims – supported by professionals and volunteers. Among the participants are Chloé, a victim of sexual assault; Grégoire, Nawelle, and Sabine, victims of burglary and snatching; while Nassim, Issa, and Thomas are offenders, convicted of violent robberies. In this emotional and difficult journey, they must overcome resentment to find solace and forgiveness. And perhaps, at the end of the road, some of them might even find healing.
Directed by Jeanne Herry
Written by Jeanne Herry
Starring Adèle Exarchopoulos, Dali Benssalah, Leïla Bekhti, Élodie Bouchez, Gilles Lellouche, Miou-Miou, Suliane Brahim
Runtime – 1h 58m
Awards:
César Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress (Adèle Exarchopoulos)
César Award Nominee for Best Film, Director, Supporting Actress (Leïla Bekhti, Élodie Bouchez, and Miou-Miou), Original Screenplay, Sound, Editing
Banel & Adama
July 12 – 18
Sun: 12:30pm
Thurs: 5:00pm
In a rural village in Senegal, Banel (Khady Mane) is happily married to Adama (Mamadou Diallo), the younger brother of her deceased first husband. Though their love is passionate, the relationship is tested by pressures from the community, which expects Banel to assume traditionally feminine domestic responsibilities, while her husband is meant to inherit the role of village chief from his late brother. Both young adults resist the mandate to fill these assigned duties, incurring disapproval from those around them—and possibly triggering supernatural repercussions.
Directed by Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Written by Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Starring Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo
Runtime – 1h 27m
Awards:
Senegalese Oscar submission
Festivals:
Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection – TIFF
Official Selection – BFI London Film Festival
THE CRIME IS MINE
July 12 – 18
Sun: 10:15am
Thurs: 7:30pm
In 1930s Paris, Madeleine, a pretty, young, penniless and talentless actress, is accused of murdering a famous producer. Helped by her best friend Pauline, a young unemployed lawyer, she is acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. A new life of fame and success begins, until the truth comes out.
Directed by François Ozon
Written by François Ozon
Starring Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder, Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon, André Dussollier
Runtime 1h 42m
Awards:
Nominee – César Award for Best Costume Design
Daaaaaali!
July 12 – 18
Sat: 12:30pm
Wed: 7:30pm
A French journalist meets the iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí on several occasions for a documentary project that never came to be.
Directed by Quentin Dupieux
Written by Quentin Dupieux
Starring Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Édouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Pio Marmaï, Didier Flamand, Romain Duris
Runtime – 1h 19m
Festivals:
Official Selection – Venice Film Festival
Official Selection – BFI London Film Festival
THE DREAMER
July 12 – 18
Sat: 4:40pm
Thurs: 2:30pm
Raphaël, a one-eyed man, is the caretaker of a mansion where no one lives anymore. Soon to turn 60, he lives with his mother in a small house located at the entrance to the grounds of the stately manor. Between mole hunting, bagpipe practice and the occasional ride in the postwoman’s Kangoo van, the days resemble one another. But one stormy night Garance, the estate’s heiress, comes back to the family’s abode and now nothing will ever be the same again.
Directed by Anaïs Tellenne
Written by Anaïs Tellenne
Starring Raphaël Thiéry, Emmanuelle Devos, Mireille Pitot, Marie-Christine Orry
Runtime – 1h 34m
Festivals:
Official Selection – Venice Film Festival
The Goldman Case
July 12 – 18
Fri: 6:30pm
Tues: 2:30pm
In 1975, Pierre Goldman, a fiery and controversial figure of revolutionary left-wing activism, was put on trial in France. Accused of multiple crimes including two murders, Goldman proclaims his innocence. Twenty years before the O.J. Simpson case, the Goldman trial reflects the political, ideological and racial tensions that marked the 1970s in France and Europe. Considered to be the trial of the century, it divided an entire country and widened the gap between the conservative right and left-wing intellectuals.
Directed by Cédric Kahn
Written by Cédric Kahn, Nathalie Hertzberg
Starring Arieh Worthalter, Arthur Harari
Runtime – 1h 55m
Awards:
César Award Winner for Best Actor
César Award Nominee for Best Film, Director, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Sound, Cinematography, Editing
Festivals:
Official Selection – Cannes Director’s Fortnight
Official Selection – BFI London Film Festival
LES INDÉSIRABLES
July 12 – 18
Sat: 6:45pm
Wed: 5:00pm
Academy Award nominee Ladj Ly follows his internationally acclaimed debut Les Misérables with another incendiary, deeply personal and powerfully political portrait of a community struggling to find a way and a place to belong.
After the sudden death of the town’s mayor, Pierre, an idealistic young doctor, is appointed to replace him. He intends to continue the policy of his predecessor, who dreamed of rehabilitating this working-class neighbourhood. Haby, a young French woman of Malian origin living in one of the dilapidated tower blocks, refuses to see her family being driven out of the neighbourhood where she grew up.
Directed by Ladj Ly
Written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini
Starring Anta Diaw Anta Diaw, Alexis Manenti, Aristote Luyindula, Steve Tientcheu, Aurélia Petit, Jeanne Balibar
Runtime – 1h 45m
Festivals:
Official Selection – TIFF
Official Selection – San Sebastián International Film Festival
Official Selection – BFI London Film Festival
MARS EXPRESS
July 12 – 18
Mon: 2:30pm
Tues: 5:00pm
In 2200, private detective Aline Ruby and her android partner Carlos Rivera are hired by a wealthy businessman to track down a notorious hacker. On Mars, they descend deep into the underbelly of the planet’s capital city where they uncover a darker story of brain farms, corruption, and a missing girl who holds a secret about the robots that threatens to change the face of the universe.
Directed by Jérémie Périn
Written by Jérémie Périn, Laurent Sarfati
Starring Léa Drucker, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Njo Lobé
Runtime: 1h 25m
Awards:
Nominee – César Award for Best Animated Film
Festivals:
Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival
Out of Season (Hors-Saison)
July 12 – 18
Sun: 2:30pm
Mon: 5:00pm
Mathieu lives in Paris, Alice in a small seaside resort in Western France. He is a famous actor, about to turn fifty. She is a piano teacher in her forties. They were in love fifteen years ago, then separated. Time has passed. They each went their ways and slowly healed. When Mathieu goes try to overcome his melancholia in a thermal spa, he stumbles upon Alice.
Directed by Stéphane Brizé
Written by Marie Drucker, Stéphane Brizé
Starring Guillaume Canet, Alba Rohrwacher
Runtime – 1h 55m
Festivals:
Official Selection – Venice Film Festival
Red Island
July 12 – 18
Sun: 5:00pm
Tues: 7:30pm
Robin Campillo’s new film after “BPM” (2017 Cannes Grand Prix, Winner of Best Film at the 2018 César Awards)
At the beginning of the 70s, in Madagascar, a few armed forces and their families live in one of the last French military bases abroad, a relic of the ending French colonial empire. Influenced by his reading of the intrepid comic book heroine Fantômette, Thomas, a ten-year-old boy, sweeps with a curious glance what surrounds him. Beneath the carefree expatriate life, his eyes are gradually opening to another reality.
Directed by Robin Campillo
Written by Robin Campillo and Gilles Marchand
Starring Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Quim Gutiérrez, Charlie Vauselle
Runtime – 1h 54m
Festivals:
Official Selection – San Sebastián International Film Festival
Official Selection – BFI London Film Festival
Click here for more information and to buy tickets!
