COLCOA CLASSICS SERIES
From Tuesday April 21 to Saturday April 25, and on Monday April 27, come and celebrate French Classics at COLCOA with a very exclusive program of digitally restored French favorites.
COLCOA offers a unique opportunity to (re)discover French masterpieces on the big screen, some rarely shown in the United States, some shown for the first time in a digitally restored version. All films are in English or presented with English subtitles.
New in 2015! Films presented from April 21 to April 25 will be free. Tickets won’t be delivered for these screenings. No reservation needed. Access to screenings is on a First Come First Served Basis. Please proceed directly to the lines to enter theaters.
Tuesday, April 21 – 2:10 pm – Renoir Theater – Free/No RSVP
WILL IT SNOW FOR CHRISTMAS? (Y-aura-t-il de la neige a Noel?)
World Premiere (Restored Version)
This austere but moving tale of rural life blends the symbolic power of fable with an authenticity usually associated with documentary. The inviting beauty of the south of France belies the struggles of a nameless unwed mother and her seven illegitimate children, who lead a meager existence working vegetable fields owned by their harsh, bullying father. Most of their crops go to support the father’s legitimate family, who reside in a nearby estate. Up to now, a powerful erotic bond between the father and the mother has been the glue of this apparently mutual and consenting arrangement. But with that attraction fading, the mother has begun to feel trapped in hopelessness situation. So too, the father has begun to ease the guilt he feels for betraying his legitimate family by increasing his cruelty toward his illegitimate sons and daughters. When the father announces that he will not be spending Christmas with them, the mother makes a desperate decision. COLCOA is pleased to debut this digitally restored version to mark the 20th anniversary of the film’s release. Co-written and directed by Sandrine Veysset.
Wednesday, April 22 – 2:00 pm – Truffaut Theater – Free/No RSVP
FIVE DAY LOVER (L’Amant de cinq jours)
World Premiere (Restored Version)
By 1961, thanks to Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, Jean Seberg was the embodiment of the modern liberated woman in French New Wave circles. She carries that mantle into this gauzy romp as Claire, a romantically adventurous wife and mother who meets Antoine, a carefree womanizer, at a fashion show hosted by Claire’s best friend Madeleine. Claire welcomes Antoine’s advances, and they are soon enjoying weekday afternoon assignations at Antoine’s swanky bachelor pad, despite the little detail that the winsome Antoine happens to be Madeleine’s kept lover. Claire doesn’t seem to mind deceiving Madeleine, or even leaving her staid husband at home to watch the kids. What really bothers her is the fact that Antoine is beginning to talk about marriage. Co-written and directed by Philippe de Broca.
Thursday, April 23 – 2:00 pm - Renoir Theater – Free/No RSVP
OSS 117CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES (OSS 117 : Le Caire, Nid d’Espions)
Focus on a Filmmaker: Michel Hazanavicius
Those who had seen OSS 117 back in 2006 were not surprised by the phenomenal appeal of The Artist. Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius’ easy, unpretentious, and stealthily smart comedic style found its perfect vehicle in a sendup that spoofed not just the spies, but the preposterous chauvinism of the ‘60’s. Riffing on the Jean Bruce created character OSS 117, aka Hubert Bonnisseur de la Bath – who incidentally predates Ian Fleming’s James Bond - the film is an affectionate, richly detailed period pastiche. And the irresistible, mischievous charm of actor Jean Dujardin was never put to better comic purpose as the man France dispatches to Cairo with one absurdly simplistic mission: to make the Middle East safe. If you missed the dashingly oblivious secret agent scheming, bungling, and insulting his way through the cold war, here’s your second chance.
Friday, April 24 – 1:15 pm – Renoir Theatre – Free/No RSVP
North American Premiere (Restored Version)
The Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF), Janus Films, La Cinémathèque Française and Les Films du Jeudi present, for the first time in North America, a new digitally restored version of Jean Renoir’s only foray into pulp thriller. La Chienne is the tale of the degradation, victimization, and ultimate liberation of one Maurice Legrand, a mousy, middle-aged bank accountant who manages a double life – with deadly consequences. Henpecked at home by his overbearing wife, Maurice retreats into his painting hobby whenever he can. As chance would have it, he meets Lulu, a charming but street-smart femme fatal, and quickly falls for her. Believing her to be the love of his life, Maurice sets her up in an apartment ostensibly used to store his paintings, without realizing that Lulu is in fact a streetwalker in love with Dédé, her abusive pimp. It’s a cushy gig for Lulu, but the loathsome Dédé wants more, and figures out a way to put all those paintings to better use.
Saturday, April 25 – 11:00 am – Renoir Theater – Free/No RSVP
THE LAST METRO (Le Dernier Metro)
North American Premiere (Restored Version)
COLCOA is proud to present the North American Premiere of this digitally restored classic from writer-director Francois Truffaut, a poignant tale of broken lives and fractured allegiances set in Nazi occupied France. Headstrong Marion Steiner runs Theatre Montmartre – a popular refuge as much for having heating as for the plays – in the absence of her husband Lucas, a Jew who has gone underground for fear of deportation. Paris is a dangerous place. Even missing the last metro could result in a curfew violation and a one-way trip to prison camp. Everyone, including Marion, is muddling through it by rehearsing Lucas’s recent play, La Disparue. Marion casts Bernard in the lead opposite herself, and the young upstart is soon casting a lustful eye on all the women of the troupe. Much like France herself, however, Marion and Bernard are leading dual lives. Both are keeping secrets from the Nazis that could get them shot, but it’s the secret they are keeping from each other that could prove their real undoing.
Monday, April 27 - 2:15 pm - Renoir Theater
West Coast Premiere (Restored Version)
Harry Dean Stanton disappears into the role of Travis, a forlorn and grizzled loner who emerges from the Texas wastelands after years of despair and penitence for an unnamed misdeed. Emotionally dead and unable to speak, only a phone number in his pocket connects him to a brother in Los Angeles. Travis is like a ghost walking through the rusted junkyards of his past, always on the cusp of vanishing back into the barren terrain from which he came, but as he slowly recovers his strength, he is possessed of a mad dream to put the shattered pieces of his life back together. Nastassja Kinski, in her most important role since Tess, portrays Jane, the unsophisticated Texas girl who escaped a troubled childhood by marrying too young. This fable of alienation and redemption features a spare but evocative score by Ry Cooder and spectacular sprawling vistas by the influential cinematographer Robby Müller. COLCOA is pleased to present the West Coast Premiere of the restored version of this largely French production, casting a European’s eye – Wim Wenders - for intimacy on the epic horizons of the American West.
Monday, April 27 – 3:30 pm - Truffaut Theater
Two Men in town (Deux hommes dans la ville - 1973)
International Premiere (Restored Version)
COLCOA is pleased to present the International Premiere of this digitally restored thriller, the final paring of Alain Delon and Jean Gabin. Four years earlier the old-school sensei and the new wave upstart shared the screen in the hugely successful The Sicilian Clan, and audiences wanted more. Here, Delon plays a reformed safecracker determined to walk the straight and narrow even as the machinery of state and the cruelties of fate conspire against him. Gabin plays Germain, a world-weary social worker fighting to give Gino a fair shake and a second chance in life. Things look promising as Gino lands a job and rekindles an old romance, until the vindictive Inspector Goitreau returns - with nods to Les Miserables’ Inspector Javert - intent on inflaming Gino’s pent up rage. In an early role, a young Gérard Depardieu plays a swaggering tough from Gino’s criminal days. Co-written and directed by José Giovanni.
