Summer 2009
July 19, 2009 8:00pm

Paris, je t'aime

STORIES OF LOVE FROM THE CITY OF LOVE
France 2006, 120 minutes, drama, anthology

Paris, je t'aime (French for "Paris, I love you") is a 2006 film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities including American, British and French. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements. The 21 directors include Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Gerard Depardieu, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Nobuhiro Suwa, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles and Gus Van Sant.

" Paris, je t'aime is about the plurality of cinema in one mythic location: Paris, the City of Love. Twenty filmmakers have five minutes each; the audience must weaving a single narrative out of twenty moments. The 20 moments are fused by transitional interstitial sequences and also via the introduction and epilogue. Each transition begins with the last shot of the previous film and ends with the first shot of the following film, extending the enchantment and the emotion of the previous segment, preparing the audience for a surprise, and providing a cohesive atmosphere. There's a reappearing mysterious character who is a witness to the Parisian life. A common theme of Paris and love fuses all."
— Emmanuel Benbihy

"The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 18 May, opening the Un Certain Regard selection. It had its Canadian premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on 10 September and its U.S. premiere in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 9 April 2007.[1] First Look Pictures acquired the North American rights, and the film opened in the United States on 4 May 2007." — www.wikipedia.com

Celebrated directors from around the world came together to portray Paris in a way never before imagined. Contributors as cosmopolitan as the city itself (including the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Gurinder Chadha, Wes Craven, Walter Sales, Alexander Payne and Oliver Assayas) each tell a story of an unusual encounter in one of the city's neighbourhoods.

The vignettes go beyond a 'postcard' view of Paris to portray aspects of the city rarely seen on the big screen. The outstanding host of actors includes Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Fanny Ardant, Elijah Wood, Nick Nolte, Bob Hoskins, Juliette Binoche, Emily Mortimer, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Rufus Sewell, Barbet Schroeder, Ludivine Sagnier, Gena Rowlands, Miranda Richardson and Steve Buscemi.

"A connoisseur's delight: two hours of short films celebrating the most romantic city in the world."— Alan Morrison, Empire Magazine

Gibsons Heritage Playhouse
North Road & Gibsons Way
Tickets $10 from Gaia's Fair Trade, Hallmark Cards, Sechelt Visitor Centre or at the door

Screening at 8pm, Doors open at 7:30pm

LINKS

»  Official film website , with trailer.

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