Centenary Film Society co-sponsors “French Film Week”
November 7, 2016
SHREVEPORT, LA - Running from Friday, November 11 to Thursday, November 17 at the Robinson Film Center in downtown Shreveport, “French Film Week” features two recent, critically-acclaimed films, The Innocents and The Brand New Testament.
The week kicks off at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 11 with an opening-night French dinner and wine-pairing designed and coordinated by Abby Singer's Bistro's award-winning chef, “Tootie” Morrison. Centenary professors Andia Augustin-Billy, Dana Kress, and Jefferson Hendricks will lead a discussion on contemporary French culture and cinema during the dinner, followed by a screening of The Innocents.
The week concluded with a second special event, a screening of The Brand New Testament on Thursday, November 17 at 5:30 pm, followed by a post-movie discussion featuring University College Cork (Ireland) Religious Studies Professor Amanullah De Sondy, First Presbyterian Church Associate Pastor Seth Saathoff, and Centenary College Religious Studies Professor Spencer Dew. This event is also part of the Robinson Film Center's “Faith on Film” year-round series.
Tickets for these events are available through the Robinson Film Center's website: http://www.robinsonfilmcenter.org/#/french-film-week/.
The Centenary Film Society and the Department of Foreign Languages is co-sponsoring this series in conjunction with the Cultural Services of the Embassy of France, the Consulate General of France in New Orleans, and the Community Foundation of North Louisiana to honor and celebrate the historic, and on-going, unique relationship between the nation of France and the state of Louisiana.
For other screening times and further details, contact Centenary Film Society president Sabrina Handal (shandal@my.centenary.edu) or Jefferson Hendricks (jhendric@centenary.edu) or visit the Robinson Film Center website, robinsonfilmcenter.org.
The films:
The Innocents (Les innocentes)
France/Poland, 2016. Director: Anne Fontaine. In French, Polish, and Russian, with English subtitles. Drama, 115 min., PG-13
In Poland just as World War II is over, Mathilde is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. A panicked nun appears one night begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent, where she finds a sister about to give birth and several more pregnant. Facing a crisis of faith, the nuns turn to Mathilde as their belief clashes with reality. (The film is based on the little-known case of the French Red Cross doctor Madeleine Pauliac and the convent to which she ministered following the end of WWII).
The Brand New Testament (Le tout nouveau testament)
France/Belgium, 2015. Director: Jaco Van Dormael. In French and German with English subtitles. Comedy/Fantasy, 113 min., no rating (check reviews for age-appropriate viewing)
God lives in human form as a cynical writer with his young opinionated daughter Ea in present-day Brussels, Belgium. She concludes that her dad is doing a terrible job and decides to rewrite the world, by following her older brother's footsteps by leaving the house, gathering her own apostles, and writing her own testament. This leaves God angry, powerless, and adamant to get his power back.