Film Festival

All movies are subtitled in English

Normal, The Dusseldorf Ripper: Wednesday, March 10
Daratt: Thursday, March 11
Petites Vacances à Knokke-le-Zout: Wednesday, March 17
VHS Kahloucha: Monday, March 22
Mon Cher Camarade: Wednesday, March 31
Under the Bombs: Wednesday, April 7

Normal, The Dusseldorf Ripper
(Czech Republic)
Directed by: Julius Ševcík
2009, 100 min.

Wednesday, March 10 at 8pm

Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC
To purchase tickets in advance, please visit: www.theavalon.org
Tickets: $10.50 Adults / $8.50 Students / $8.00 Seniors (62+)

Based on a true story, this psychological thriller is set in Germany during the recession in the 1930s. Young, ambitious lawyer Justus Wehner gets his first big case – the defense of brutal serial killer Peter Kurten. Wehner is certain that Kurten suffers from a severe mental disorder and to prove it, delves deep into the killer’s past, motivation and psyche. Then, Kurten’s wife Marie arrives, and together with Kurten, starts to manipulate Wehner into assisting them with one last crime. Now, Wehner has to fight not only to win the complicated case but also to save his soul.

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Daratt
(Chad)
Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
2006, 96 min

Thursday, March 11 at 7 pm

At Letelier Theater
3251 Prospect Street, NW,
Upper Courtyard
Washington DC
General Admission: $9
Smithsonian Resident Associate, WIFV Members, university
students, and seniors, Cinémathèque and
Alliance Française Members: $4
Reserve at: 202-234-7911 until 4pm on the day of the event.
More info:www.francedc.org

Presented by The Francophonie Festival Committee and l’Alliance Française.

Daratt ("dry season") is a poignant and beautiful story of revenge and redemption with an incredibly satisfying, thought-provoking ending. This fable-like gem opens in a small village in Chad, as the government is about to announce the fates of those accused of war crimes during the country’s decades-long civil war. Atim and his grandfather crouch by a small radio to await the verdict; controversially, the government decides to grant amnesty to all war criminals. This devastating decision prompts the boy’s grandfather to assign him one mission in life: Kill the man who murdered Atim’s father during the war.
The film will be followed by a reception.

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Petites Vacances à Knokke-le-Zout
(Switzerland)
Directed by Yves Matthey
2008, 90min.

Wednesday, March 17 at 8pm

Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC
To purchase tickets in advance, please visit: www.theavalon.org
Tickets: $10.50 Adults / $8.50 Students / $8.00 Seniors (62+)

Micheline has dedicated her life to her family; three grown up sons and a husband with his own plumbing and zinc business. They live in a typical village in French-speaking Switzerland where everyone knows each other. But she unexpectedly decides to take her driving test, thus disturbing the family routine. Leaving her orderly daily life behind her, she sets off in an orange Citroën Dyane with a young autistic neighbor who knows all the road signs by heart! What dream is Micheline pursuing which takes her to see the sea at Knokke le Zout?

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VHS Kahloucha
(Tunisia)
Directed by Néjib Belkadhi
2006, 80 min.

Monday, March 22 at 7 pm

La Maison Française, Embassy of France
4101 Reservoir Rd, NW
Washington, DC 20007

General Admission: $8
Smithsonian Resident Associate, Cinémathèque and
Alliance Française Members, seniors & students: $5

Reservations are required (send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , providing the event name, your surname, your first name and the total number of persons attending).

A charismatic, impassioned house painter, Kahloucha has always harbored a great love for cinema, especially 1970s genre cinema. Armed with his VHS Panasonic 3500, Kahloucha has made a battery of homage pieces including I Had No Money and Now I'm Loaded and Misery to Get Rid of the Booze. Kahloucha is endearingly painted in this astounding documentary. Watch as Tunisia's Quentin Tarantino employs the help of local acting talent to stage intense chases, well-choreographed fight sequences and fantastical plotlines, and wait until you see to what lengths Kahloucha will go to get the perfect shot.

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Mon Cher Camarade
(Louisiana)

Wednesday, March 31 at 7 pm

Venue to be announced
General Admission: $13
Smithsonian Resident Associate, Cinémathèque and
Alliance Française Members: $10
Information and reservation at 202 633 3030 or residentassociates.org

During World War II, hundreds of French-speaking Cajun men from South Louisiana enlisted in the U.S. military. Their linguistic skills and French heritage had been denigrated for decades in South Louisiana and was ridiculed as well by American officers in the processing centers at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Remarkably, these same men found that their ability to speak French became of vital importance to the American war effort in French North Africa and in France and Belgium. This documentary film, through memoirs and interviews of French-speaking Cajuns who served in WWII either as members of the OSS or as citizen soldiers, tells the story of this important aspect of the American war effort in Europe.

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Under the Bombs
(France/Lebanon/UK)
Directed by Philipe Aracting
2008,98 min

Wednesday, April 7th at 7pm

Smithsonian Institution - S. Dillon Ripley Center Lecture Hall
1100 Jefferson Drive, SW
Metro: Smithsonian

General Admission: $13
Smithsonian Resident Associate, Cinémathèque and
Alliance Française Members: $10 (Use code: 1P0-159)                                                            
Information and reservation at 202 633 3030 or residentassociates.org

During a cease-fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006, a Christian taxi driver brings an untraditional Shiite woman from Beirut to the heart of the conflict in the country's south.  While they scour the rubble of local towns for her son, who was sent to live with her traditional family while she was staying with her husband in Dubai, they discover that despite their very different backgrounds they have much in common.  And during their trip through the desolate countryside, the two travelers develop a deep bond as a response to the death striking all around them.

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