April In Paris Film Festival – La Haine & La Persistente

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz.

1995, France, 126

Screenwriter: Mathieu Kassovitz.

Cast: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui.

Join us for the exciting finale of Vive le cinema! With a wine and hors díoerves reception at 7 pm, and the chance to meet up and coming French director Camille Lugan, who has worked with Jacques Audiard, will introduce La Haine, as well as her own short film, followed by and Q and A.

 

One of the delights of 20 years of presenting April in Paris has been the opportunity to introduce up and coming new directors (including Xavier Dolan, Philippe Falardeau, Dany Chiasson) to Hartford audiences. This year, we present to you Camille Lugan, the French writer and director of the half-hour La Persistente, which has won raves at film festivals in Milan, Paris, Chicago and more. Now at work on new, full-length screenplays, we hope to see Lugan return to Cinestudio in the future! Her original short film is set at a ski resort near the Pyrénées. Ivan (Harold Torres) lives and breathes for his sentient motorbike (La persistente) which has the magical ability to feel, to think, to love. From the moment that a local rival steals her, Ivan has only one obsession: to get her back. “a quirky and sensual love story between a man and his motorbike, where western and fantasy merge in a magical and spellbinding landscape.” – Cannes Film Festival.

While A Prophet showed the world one way (prison) in which young Frenchmen of North African descent become criminalized, La Haine was a passionate shout that woke audiences with its visceral portrayal of what it mean to be “non-white” in France. Actor Vincent Cassel (Eastern Promises, Black Swan) grabbed the world’s attention as one of the many underemployed young men living in a banlieue on the outskirts of tourist-friendly Paris. In the aftermath of a riot, three young men (one Jewish, one black, and one Arab) grapple with a range of emotions and reactions, from discouragement to a desire for equality, to hate.

“One of the most searing foreign titles of all time. The final moment guarantees the film will live on for centuries.” – Conor Soules, IndieWire.