Movie Nights

Past Movie Nights

Promise at Dawn

Directed by Eric Barbier | Q&A with Charlotte Gainsbourg
Biography, Drama, Romance / 2h 11min / 2017 | Film in French with English subtitles

From his difficult childhood in Poland to his adolescence under Nice’s sun, to his career in the air force in Africa during World War II, Romain Gary has lived an extraordinary life. He owes this relentless enterprise to live a thousand lives, to become a great man and a famous writer, to his mother Nina. It’s the wild love of his eccentric and endearing mother that drives him to become one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. But this unconditional maternal love will also be a burden that he bears his whole life. "Promise at Dawn" is the film adaptation of Romain Gary’s best-selling autobiographical novel.

A Polar Year

Directed by Samuel Collardey
Adventure, Drama / 1h 34min / 2018 | Film in Danish with English subtitles

Anders leaves his native Denmark for a teaching position in rural Greenland. As soon as he arrives, he finds himself at odds with tightly-knit locals. Only through a clumsy and playful trial of errors can Anders shake his Eurocentric assumptions and embrace their snow-covered way of life. Samuel Collardey is an award-winning French director, known for his work in the docufiction genre.

Mandabi by Ousmane Sembene

A money order from a relative in Paris throws the life of an unemployed Senegalese family man. This gift turns out to be more a curse than a blessing as it leads him to deal with greed from problematic family members and neighbors, while also navigating a corrupt Senegalese administration. The first African film director to achieve international recognition, Ousmane Sembene remains a major figure in the rise of independent post-colonial African cinema. "Mandabi" is the first full-length African language film from West Africa.

Children Of Paradise by Marcel Carné

Considered one of the greatest French films of all time, Les enfants du paradis brings back to life 19th-century France. The film immortalizes Jean-Gaspard Deburau (played by Jean-Louis Barrault), the famous mime who re-popularized the stock character Pierrot. In 2012, Pathé restored the film, greatly improving its sound and image quality.  Trailer
 The screening of this film coincides with our Artist in Residence program for the month of February. Our eight graders will work with Ivan Bacciocchi, Director of the International School of Dramatic Corporeal Arts, on the theme of Pierrot.

Loin des hommes by David Oelhoffen

 Based on Albert Camus' short story "L'Hôte", Far From Men tells the story of an isolated schoolteacher living in 1954 Algeria forced to escort Mohamed, a villager accused of murdering his cousin, to a jail in a neighboring town. The movie explores the relationship between the two men in the context of decolonization and the nationalist struggle between the French and the Algerians. The film moves away from the mystery maintained in the original story, and instead adds significant detail to the characters' lives, motives and underlying historical forces.

Le Brio by Yvan Attal

Singer-turned-actress Camelia Jordana stars alongside Daniel Auteuil in Le Brio, an inspirational story about a young Neila Salah (Jordana) who dreams of becoming a lawyer by attending the Pantheon-Assas University in Paris. On her first day of class, she is challenged by a controversial and provocative professor, Pierre Mazard (Auteuil), in front of the entire amphitheater. This incident prompts the university president to intervene, and in order to redeem himself, Mazard must train Neila for the prestigious concours d'éloquenceA Q&A session with Yvan Attal followed the movie.

Love, Simon by Greg Berlanti

Simon Spier has the perfect life: good friends, a loving family, a typical high school. But he has one secret: he has yet to tell his family that he's gay. As he falls in love with an anonymous classmate online, Simon's life is about to change forever. Love, Simon is the first film by a major Hollywood studio to focus on gay teenage romance.

Bloody Milk by Hubert Charuel

Premiering as a special screening at during Cannes Critics’ Week 2017, Bloody Milk examines the life of a modern-day family farmer in a world of agribusiness. Pierre is a thirty-five year old dairy farmer who devotes his life to the farm he took over from his parents. When an epidemic breaks out in France, he gets worried: if one cow gets infected, the whole herd will have to be slaughtered. He cannot lose his cows or his farm - he has nothing else. When he discovers that one of his animals is ill, he does what he must to save his herd.

The Young Karl Marx by Raoul Peck

Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck tells the story of how 26 year-old Karl Marx develops his vision for a world dominated by industrialization and the working-class. While visiting Paris in 1844, Marx meets philosopher Friedrich Engels. Together, they publish a series of books that reflect on Western Europe's social change and become the leaders of the first modern labor movement.