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Tuesday, September 15
5:30 Opening Reception, 6:00 PM Film

Directed by François Ozon, 2025
Running Time: 2h

Introduction/Q&A: Prof. Ben Curtis, Search Program

Synopsis: What happens when an individual becomes alienated from society itself? In 1930s French Algeria, indifferent Frenchman Meursault faces upheaval after his mother's death and a fatal beach encounter with an Arab man, leading to a trial that scrutinizes his detached character in this adaptation of Albert Camus's existential novella. The story explores his emotional aloofness amid a violent intrigue involving his neighbor and the victim's brothers.

Born into a poor French settler family in Algeria, afflicted by tuberculosis, Camus rose to become a journalist, playwright, actor, philosopher, member of the French Resistance, world-famous novelist and Nobel laureate (in 1957). His death at 46 in a fatal car accident two years later, with an unused train ticket to Paris in his pocket, added a mythic aura to his life and work.

Shot in black and white, Ozon’s film moves fluidly between the opening 1930s archive images of Algiers to the film’s recreated streets and natural landscapes. The heat of the sun, the glare of the sea and the tactile presence of sand are central to the story, while also reflecting Camus’s own love of Algeria’s natural riches. 

Camus described the story as both abstract and intensely physical – rooted in flesh and heat. Ozon’s film captures that tension between the intellectual and the sensory. 

Wednesday, September 16, 6:00 PM
Directed by Boris Lojkine, 2024
Running time : 1h33

Introduction/Q&A : Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield, Media Studies

Synopsis : What does dignity look like inside modern systems of migration and labor? Racing through the streets of Paris making food deliveries on his bicycle, Guinean immigrant Souleymane (Sangare) is struggling to stay afloat. In two days, he will report for an asylum application interview, where he must plead his case to an immigration officer (Nina Meurisse) who will determine his future in France. As he rides, he repeats his story. But Souleymane is not ready. 

Drawing inspiration from Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and evoking the humanist films of the Dardennes Brothers, Boris Lojkine’s urgent, propulsive third feature never leaves Souleymane’s side in a deeply affecting account of the daily trials and uncertain futures faced by migrants in France and around the world. 

Tuesday, September 22, 6:00 PM
Running Time: 1h 17

Introduction/Q&A: 

Synopsis: How does identity emerge through language, family, and culture? Amélie, a Belgian girl born in Japan, spends her early years trapped within her own body: until she is two and a half, she sees herself as a simple “tube,” unable to act or express her feelings. Everything changes on her third birthday. A single piece of white chocolate sparks a breathtaking transformation: the child awakens to life. Light, fear, joy, sounds, and words surge within her like a burst of discovery. Guided by her friend Nishio-san, every moment becomes an adventure, every feeling a revelation.

Japan in the 1960s emerges in vibrant colors and delicate textures, reflecting Amélie’s emotions and her innocent, naïve, and wide-eyed perspective. This adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s short novel celebrates the transition from early childhood to childhood, and the awakening of a mind marveling at the beauty of the world.

This feature directorial debut of Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han made its World Premiere in the 2025 Cannes Film Festival as an official selection in the Special Screenings section. The film went on to premiere as an Official Selection in Competition at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Festival, where it took home the prestigious Audience Award.

Wednesday, September 23, 6:00 PM
Directed by Erige Sehiri, 2025
Running time : 1h 32

Introduction/Q&A: Dr. Esen Kirdis, International Studies

Synopsis: How do migrants living between nations create community while grieving what they’ve lost? An Ivorian pastor and former journalist, Marie, opens her home in Tunisia to three generations of migrant women: Naney, Jolie, and Kenza. A mother desperate to obtain residency status in Tunisia, Naney seeks a better life for herself and her daughter. Jolie, in Tunisia on a student visa, feels burdened by her family’s expectations for her future. Kenza, an orphaned child and the only survivor of a shipwreck carrying refugees to Tunisia, is lost and in need of a mother. Marie struggles with her role as a spiritual leader while assuming the role of Kenza’s caregiver and supporting Naney and Jolie. 

As the four women grow closer in this makeshift family, they must grapple with poverty, conflict, and alienation.

Tuesday, September 29, 6:00 PM
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, 1960
Running Time: 1h30

Introduction/Q&A: 

Synopsis: Can identity be freely invented, or are we trapped by social expectations? Small-time crook Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) steals a car and murders a policeman. While on the run, he reconnects with Patricia (Jean Seberg), a journalism student living in Paris, and tries to convince her to go on the lam with him.

There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du cinéma. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same.

Friday, October 2, 5:30 Closing Reception, 6:00 PM Film
Directed by Frederic Feducci, 2024
Running Time: 1h27

Introduction/Q&A: 

Synopsis: What happens when people lose control of the land that shaped them? Joseph is the last Corsican shepherd still grazing his goats on clifftop pastures But his land—passed down through generations—is coveted by the mafia and the forces of unchecked greed. When a group of menacing strangers arrives at his door to pressure him one final time, the standoff turns violent. A gunshot shatters the calm, and Joseph flees into the wild.

What follows is a relentless manhunt across Corsica’s rugged scrubland and dense forests, captured by Frédéric Farrucci with the tension and grandeur of a western. As bandits swagger openly on café terraces and locals keep to the shadows, Joseph’s flight becomes a stark portrait of resistance—an epic struggle of one man against the forces closing in. The last of the Mohicans.