FILM NOIR SERIES
Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the popular COLCOA series is back with three premieres of films dedicated to the famous genre, symbol of the mutual influence of French and American cinemas.
Friday April 22 - 5:15 pm – Truffaut Theater
A DECENT MAN (Je en suis pas un salaud)
Drama • West Coast Premiere
The modern world is changing too fast for people like Eddie, an unemployed, underachieving 30-something separated from his wife and son. Morose and aimless, Eddie sees few opportunities for improvement from his barstool perch in the soul-sucking concrete gloom of the housing projects. Yet when Eddie is stabbed and beaten while attempting to stop some hoodlums from stealing a car radio, his life changes unexpectedly, and for the better. He’s proclaimed a hero. His wife takes him back in and even finds an entry-level job. In a police line-up, Eddie fingers Ahmed, an Arab youth whom he recognizes, not from the attack, but from a sales training video. He can’t say exactly why he lied, but as the law comes down hard on a man whose only crime is being an Arab with a good job, Eddie is trapped in his own downward spiral of volatility and rage. Co-written and directed by Emmanuel Finkiel.
Friday April 22 - 7:45pm – Truffaut Theater
KALINKA (Au nom de ma fille)
Drama, thriller • North American Premiere
Kalinka chronicles one man’s quixotic, 27-year fight for justice in the name of his murdered daughter. Imagine it, your 14-year-old child turns up dead from alleged sunstroke at the house of your ex-wife’s new husband, a German doctor with a history of sexual abuse. Worse, the autopsy report reveals evidence of abuse and mysterious injections, administered both before and after death. The sordid side of André Bamberski’s story has been tabloid fodder for years in France. But questions about what really happened that fateful night take a back seat to Daniel Auteuil’s fierce interpretation of Bamberski’s obsessive determination to bring the case to trial in the face of mounting bureaucratic quagmires and spineless magistrates. As the situation grows more desperate, so do Bamberski’s tactics, and when the doctor’s extradition to France begins to look unlikely, the aggrieved father decides it’s time to play a different, more proactive role. Co-written and directed by Vincent Garenq.
Friday, April 22 – 10:00 pm – Truffaut Theater
FAST CONVOY (Le Convoi)
Action, thriller • North American Premiere • After 10
Speed isn’t the only thing that kills in this slick, turbo-charged road thriller. Benoît Magimel leads a band of banlieue bad boys hauling stash for cash while steering clear of the law. Tasked with moving 3,000 lbs. of hashish from southern Spain to Paris, Alex (Magimel) organizes a motorcade of four vehicles for a “go fast” – a flagrant, high-speed drug run designed to be so risky the police can’t stop the traffickers without endangering the public. The scout car looks for trouble up the road, while Alex stoically drives the follow car, ready to intervene should trouble be found. The team's camaraderie is fragile, and as they tick off the kilometers, suspicion and paranoia make everyone twitchy. The tension kicks into overdrive when a firefight with the Spanish police forces them to take a hostage. Burning as much adrenaline as gasoline, Alex struggles to hold the team together as they make their mad dash for pay dirt in Paris. Co-written and directed by Frédéric Schoendoerffer.
Also Recommended in the COLCOA TELEVISION program : BORDERLINE and THE DISAPPEARANCE
