– Bérenger Thouin’s fiction feature The Golden Age and Jean-Gabriel Périot’s documentary A Life, A Manifesto will have their world premieres in the strand that celebrates works from the past
The Golden Age by Bérenger Thouin
Alongside 22 feature films in restored prints (from Guillermo del Toro to Luchino Visconti, via Akira Kurosawa, Vittorio De Sica, Andrzej Wajda, Jerzy Skolimowski and Orson Welles), six documentaries about cinema (including The Story of Documentary Film (The 1970s) by the Briton Mark Cousins) and three shorts (including a 32-minute film by Jia Zhang-Ke), the Cannes Classics programme of the 79th Festival de Cannes (12-23 May) will also present two contemporary works.
On the slate is the fiction feature The Golden Age (L’Âge d’Or), the debut narrative feature by French filmmaker Bérenger Thouin. Starring Souheila Yacoub, Vassili Schneider, Yile Yara Vianello and Pierre-Antoine Billon, the film (scripted by the director with Mehdi Ben Attia, Virginie Legeay and Rémi Langlade) retraces the extraordinary life of Jeanne Lavaur, who spanned the 20th century and defied her destiny, from her childhood in her parents’ butcher’s shop to her dream of becoming a countess. From one war to the next, from Roaring Twenties Paris to Brazil, her path intersects with History and embraces the world, torn between her two loves, Count Guillaume de Barante and the intrepid Italian revolutionary Céleste… L’Âge d’Or was produced by GoGoGo Films (France) and Graffiti Film (Italy), in association with Les Films de La Chapelle (France) and Lesterfilm (France), with Films Boutique handling international sales.
After Une jeunesse allemande (Berlinale Panorama 2015), Lumières d’été (San Sebastián New Directors 2016), Nos défaites (Berlinale Forum 2019), Retour à Reims (Fragments), unveiled at the 2021 Directors’ Fortnight, and Se souvenir d’une ville (Karlovy Vary 2023), French documentarian Jean-Gabriel Périot returns with A Life, A Manifesto (Une vie manifeste), centred on Michèle Firk, a film critic, aspiring director and revolutionary activist who tirelessly championed justice and freedom. Produced by Envie de Tempête and Les Films de Pierre and co-produced by Arte France and the INA, the film traces the extraordinary fate of a woman completely freed from the rules of her era — a free lover, passionate about cinema and revolution.
The list of the newly selected films :
Cannes Classics (new films)
The Story of Documentary Film (The 1970s) – Mark Cousins (UK)
Nostalgia for the Future – Brecht Debackere (Belgium)
My Coluche (Mon Coluche à moi) – Michel Denisot, Camille Bruere, Julie Lazare (France)
Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern – Mike Mendez (USA)
A Life, A Manifesto (Une vie manifeste) – Jean-Gabriel Périot (France)
Playground (Zamine Bazi) – Amirhossein Shojaei (Iran/France, short film)
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean – Barnaby Thompson (UK/USA)
The Golden Age (L’Âge d’Or) – Bérenger Thouin (France/Italy)
Goodnight Lamby – Dustin Yellin (United States, short film)
Torino Shadow – Jia Zhang-Ke (Italy/China, short film)
Vittorio De Sica – La Vita in Scena – Francesco Zippel (Italy)
(Translated from French)
