By Filmink Staff
Not only is this year’s Alliance Francaise French Film Festival featuring the works of some 17 top notch female directors, three incredible female guests will be attending the festival’s East Coast dates.
Mali-born musician, songwriter, and visual artist, Inna Modja, learned her craft with artists like Salif Keita and Rail Band of Bamako, before relocating to Europe where her solo career exploded. Her unique style, mixing Desert Blues and Hip-hop, makes her one of the most important Malian contemporary artists on the international scene. She stars in Wùlu from director Daouda Coulibaly, a thriller that sees an impoverished Malian bus driver turn to drug trafficking to escape his dead-end life.
Director Rebecca Zlotowski brings her haunting drama, Planetarium, to the Festival. Zlotowski’s first film, Belle Épine, won the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc for Best First Film at Cannes in 2010. Planetarium sees Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp as a pair of American clairvoyant sisters,seeking fame and success 1930s Paris. Zlotowski will attend the Festival’s Gala Opening Nights in Sydney and Melbourne on 7 and 8 March.
Actress and director Emmanuelle Bercot won the Best Actress Award at Cannes 2015 for her work in My King, which played at the 2016 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival. This year she brings us two directorial efforts: the medical drama 150 Milligrams, and Standing Tall, which stars the legendary Catherine Deneuve as a juvenile judge who tries to rehabilitate a volatile young delinquent. Bercot will be a guest of the Festival in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival kicks off in Sydney on March 7, 2017, with other cities to follow. For more info, hit up the official site.
