COLCOA.DOC SERIES
About 100 documentaries are released in theaters in France every year. COLCOA is proud to introduce in Hollywood three high-profile new French films, which will compete for the 2016 COLCOA Best Documentary Award, chosen by the audience. Two of them focus on Environment issues including the new film from Academy Award winner Luc Jacquet (for March of the Penguins) as well as the 2016 Cesar winner for Best Documentary, already seen by more than one million people in France. The third film pays tribute to the creators of monsters on the big screen.
Tuesday April 19 - 5:30 pm – Truffaut Theater
ICE AND THE SKY (La Glace et le ciel)
Documentary • Los Angeles Premiere
The writer/director of the Oscar-winning March of the Penguins is back, this time with a documentary suggesting that penguins should be very afraid, and they’re not the only ones. Part biography, part call-to-arms, this spectacular documentary celebrates the remarkable adventures and scientific discoveries of French polar explorer and glaciologist Claude Lorius. Sixty years ago, Lorius answered an ad that would take him on such a long expedition in remote Antarctica that his appendix and wisdom teeth had to be removed just as a precaution. Rare and stunning archival footage captures the hardships and wonders of his more than twenty expeditions since then. During these expeditions, Lorius conducted experiments that, for the first time. revealed to the world the cold hard facts about climate change. For Lorius, a man who literally risked his life in the quest for knowledge, it’s the climate change deniers who are walking on thin ice. Written and directed by Luc Jacquet.
Thursday April 21 - 7:30pm – Truffaut Theater
TOMORROW (Demain)
Documentary • West Coast Premiere
This entertaining and eye-opening winner of the 2016 Best Documentary César offers some provocative solutions to the hard challenges facing much of humanity. In 2012, extinction experts Anthony Barnosky and Elizabeth Hadly published a paper warning of a coming planetary “sixth extinction” beginning as soon as two generations from now. When environmental activist Cyril Dion shared the article with actress Mélanie Laurent, they decided to team up for a personal journey across ten countries to see what, if anything, could be done. They sought out those pioneers who challenge the old narratives and buck conventional wisdom in agriculture, energy, the economy, democracy, and education. Laurent and Dion quickly understood that they weren’t making another pessimistic, moralizing eco-doc, but an inspiring futuristic vision, because those who are offering the most effective solutions today are actually reinventing the world of tomorrow. With humor, stunning imagery, and a musical assist from Swedish songstress Fredrika Stahl, Tomorrow is an emphatic declaration of hope.
Written by Cyril Dion, co-directed by Cyril Dion and Melanie Laurent.
Sunday, April 24 – 1:20 pm – Truffaut Theater
THE FRANKENSTEIN COMPLEX (Le Complexe de Frankenstein)
Documentary • North American Premiere
Before CGI, the great movie creatures were designed and built by hand. Over a century of film that craft evolved into an art. From Godzilla to Gollum, this documentary celebrates that evolution, taking a peek behind the curtain at special make-up effects, puppetry, animatronics, and modern digital techniques. Interviews and workshop visits with dozens of monster masters and creature creators like Guillermo Del Toro, Rick Baker, and Lord of the Rings’ Richard Taylor reveal how movie beasts crawl, claw, bite, and growl their way into our collective imagination. And for cinephiles, there’s a banquet of exclusive, never-before-seen footage from monster classics such as Gremlins, The Abyss, and Jurassic Park, the film that ushered in the digital effects era. A rich, entertaining tribute to the movie magicians who, like Dr. Frankenstein himself, know how to toss a few simple materials together, and make it come to life. Co-written and co-directed by Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet.
