The Real Cinema is not just an annual documentary event. It’s also an opportunity to discover the artistic counterpoint of a narrative that is often too standardized and sometimes instrumentalized, through films that show the world from all angles.
Now spreading across seven Parisian theaters due to the closure of the Centre Georges Pompidou, the event inaugurates its 48th edition tomorrow with 37 films (16 feature-length and 21 short films) in national and international competitions, along with some premieres.
Rithy Panh, the memorialist of the Cambodian genocide
On the program is the documentary by Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, “Nuestra Tierra,” depicting the murder of a community chief by three white men. “We Are the Fruits of the Forest,” the new film by Rithy Panh, the memorialist of the Cambodian genocide, focuses on a community of indigenous people in the northern mountains of Cambodia.
During this troubled period, a focus is given to filmmaker Bani Khoshnoudi, through one of her films, “The Vanishing Point,” about an Iranian director in exile who finally speaks about her cousin who died in prison during the purges of 1988, breaking the family silence, and “A Cry in the Dark,” a performative and visual reading on the role of images in the anti-fascist struggle in her country.
Because here, cinema is both an artistic and political gesture. It’s primarily Jumana Manna, a Palestinian filmmaker and sculptor, presenting her seven films (4 short, 3 feature-length) and questioning what colonization does to bodies. It’s also Front(s) populaire(s) exploring “a part of our contemporary reality from films that testify to citizen engagement and filmmakers who film them” with a different work each day.
On March 26, our international section colleague Benjamin König will lead a discussion about “Independance Tey” by Abdou Lahat Fall, an immersion into the Frapp, a youth protest movement in Dakar. A rich and abundant program around cinema that combines strong artistic ambition and reflection.
Real Cinema, International Documentary Festival, March 21-28 in Paris. Information: cinemadureel.org
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