Rencontres Internationales de Cinéma à Paris A cool film festival in Paris27th November - 4th Décember 2007

If you thought cinema was just sitting back in a dark room for 90 minutes, think again. The 13th edition of the Rencontres Internationales de Cinéma à Paris is a chance to not only discover new cinema, but also meet the people behind it and participate in discussions that give the - dare I say it - wider picture.


For example, Todd Haynes will be present for a pre-release screening of his Dylan concept-bio pic I'm Not There, in which six different actors portray the iconic singer, and a leçon de cinéma where he we be talking about his body of work and answering question from the public. Have a look at the international trailer for I'm Not There...

TODD HAYNES

Few directors have established a reputation like Todd Haynes' in such a short time. Few directors have displayed such eclecticism, brilliance and impressive mastery in just five films. And few have been capable of moving with such virtuosity from Jean Genet's world to Douglas Sirk's or Bob Dylan's. Few directors can pride themselves on having both a remarkable talent from screenwriting and a mind-blowingly inventive sense of mise-en-scene. Few directors have the talent to make us rediscover, film after film, the immeasurable pleasure of being a cinema spectator. The unique joy of being immersed in a highly original world so rich in inspiration, poetry and intelligence, that it restores your confidence in the magic of the silver screen for a long time. Finally, few directors show as much generosity and simplicity as he does. Of course, you could forever envy Todd Haynes for being blessed with so many talents. But for precisely the same reasons, you can also be an absolute fan of his. Xavier Leherpeur journalist

Underground filmmaker Lech Kowalski will be present for screenings of nine of his films, there's a pre-release screening of the the new Ken Loach drama It's a Free World, and a cycle of young Romanian cinema will also be shown. There are also a couple of workshops about how to get a film made for less than 1 million euros, and how to develop a script that will interest producers and financiers.

LECH KOWALSKI

I'd seen and shown some of Lech's Kowalski's early films, all so steeped in the atmosphere of NY's Lower East Side that it was startling to meet him for the first time only in Paris in 2002. We chatted, our wives chatted, and we mentioned we were heading off to Kabul to try to show movies to kids who, thanks to Taliban rule, had never seen them before. He displayed some mild interest about the idea. But when he actually showed up at Roissy a few days later we couldn't have been more surprised - things just don't happen that quickly in France.
The next ten days saw us live some unforgettable adventures together. And they showed some key things about Lech, as a a filmmaker and as a man. His uncanny sense of timing - he was always there when he needed to be there, and faded away when he wasn't. His sensitivity to the tiniest, most touching detail - something the harsh surfaces of his films had kept me from appreciating up til then.And, above all, his keen sense of how absurd comedy and stark tragedy live next door to each other in cheap rooms, and get together to try to party. Peter Scarlet directeur of Tribeca Film Festival

RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES DE CINÉMA À PARIS
http://rencontres.forumdesimages.fr
27th November - 4th Décember 2007

the Reflet Médicis
3 rue Champollion
75005 Paris
métro Cluny-La Sorbonne (line 10)

the Arlequin
76 rue de Rennes,
75006 Paris
métro Saint-Sulpice (line 4

between 5.50 euros and 3.50 euros per film