| French films
 Alliance Francaise of Madras is screening a series of films produced by the French film world celebrity, Marin Karmitz, at the Russian Cultural Centre in Alwarpet, Chennai, from February 12 to 18, 2004.
The festival will be inaugurated by Pushpa Kandaswamy of Kavithalaya Films on February 12 at 6.30 p.m. This will be followed by the screening of the film 'Le vent nous emportera' (The wind will carry us). The festival is called 'A homage to Marin Karmitz, a man of images'.
"Being a publisher and not only a producer/distributor, also means the necessity of making today's cinema a luxury product, an unique piece of work. It means fighting against a certain standardised American cinema."
 "I think what best defines my work as a film publisher is my determination to fight. Against prevailing ideas, established values, dominant ideas, against fashion, given the fact that fighting against is also fighting for. For example, to facilitate the discovery of Third World cinema, distributed badly or not at all, to defend inventive European culture from films that copy, commercialise and exploit..." Maria Karmitz is certainly a venerated name in the field of cinema in France. A man of conviction and honour who defends a certain idea of cinema. That he sees as an art and not a commercial product.
Feb 12: Le vent nous emportera (The wind will carry us): 1999, by Abbas Kiarostami : Some people from Teheran arrive for a short stay in Siah Dareh, a village in Iranian Kurdistan. The villagers do not know why they have come. The strangers wander around especially in the old cemetery, and make the villagers believe they are looking for treasure.
 Feb 13: Sept jours ailleurs (Seven days away): 1969, by Marin Karmitz: A young composer is stifled by his social and family environment. He wants to leave and begin life again elsewhere... With a ballet troupe dancing to his music, he goes on a tour of the provinces...
Feb 14: Melo: 1986, by Alain Resnais: Eveything hinges on Sabine Azema, the adoring wife of Pierre Arditi whose best friend, Andre Dussolier, becomes her lover. .. The classic triangle? Don't believe it! Although Melo begins that way, it goes much further.
Feb 16: Une affaire de femmes (Story of women): 1988, by Claude Chabrol: At the outset of the war, Marie, a housewife and mother in her 30s, decides, out of solidarity, to help a neighbouring woman get rid of an unwanted burden. Soon, she is caught up in a routine.
Feb 17: Petits freres (Little fellas): 1999, by Jacques Doillon: Their names are lllies, Mous, Rachid and Nassim. They live in Pantin, just outside of Paris. Their territory is the housing project with its rules, limitations and hours. They are bored, always looking for something stupid to do, trying to kill time.
Feb 18: Code Inconnu (Code Unknown): 2000, by Michael Haneke : Each flash is a fragment of our present, for the present, no matter what we think, is not an unalterable block but a necklace of different instants held together by the fragile thread of a shadow of reality...
All screenings will be at 7 p.m.
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