Florida Tech Presents the 4th Annual Tournees French Film Festival April 10-26

MELBOURNE, FLA. — The Florida Institute of Technology Department of Humanities and Communication, College of Psychology and Liberal Arts, will present the Tournées French Film Festival for the fourth year in the Gleason Performing Arts Center on campus, April 10-26. The event, a showcase of contemporary, critically acclaimed French cinema, is made possible through a grant awarded by the French American Cultural Exchange and by the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture. The festival will offer five films.

The first movie, La Mome (La Vie En Rose), will be shown on Friday, April 10, at 7 p.m. A 2007 drama, the film portrays the legendary French chanteuse, Edith Piaf. In an Oscar-winning performance, Marion Cotillard depicts Piaf’s rise to the dazzling limelight of New York’s most famous concert halls. Piaf’s life was a constant battle and her voice remains one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century. Cotillard also won best actress in the BAFTA Film Awards and César Awards.

Set for Friday, April 17, is the 2006 thriller Ne Le Dis A Personne (Tell No One) at 7 p.m. Eight years after the savage murder of his wife, Dr. Alex Beck receives an ominous e-mail from an unknown source along with video evidence that his wife is still alive. As Alex becomes implicated in murder, he unravels a sordid story that will incriminate unscrupulous family members and ultimately reunite him with his wife. The film received Best Editing and Best Music in the César Awards and Best Film and World Audience in the Lumiére Awards.

The next showing is on Sunday, April 19, at 4 p.m. with Le Voyage Du Ballon Rouge (Flight of the Red Balloon). This 2007 drama is inspired by Albert Lamorisse’s classic 1956 short “The Red Balloon.” A mysterious red balloon affectionately follows Simon, a precocious, wide-eyed seven-year old boy, around Paris. Directed by Chinese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, the film portrays Paris from a unique perspective, a Paris previously unseen.

Screenings will continue on Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m. Ne Touchez Pas la Hache (The Duchess of Langeais) is a 2007 drama based on Honoré de Balzac’s 1834 novella. Set against the French Restoration, this film traces how a passionate affair of the heart curdles into cruelty and obsession.

The final film, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) will be on Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m. This 2007 drama is an award-winning biopic about Jean-Dominique Bauby, the world-renowned editor of French ELLE magazine, who suffered a stroke and was paralyzed by the inexplicable “locked in” syndrome at the age of 43. The film also conveys Bauby’s internal world in a wholly original experience and paints a painfully tender portrait of a life that is made all the more exhilarating because of its close proximity to death. Directed by painter and filmmaker, Julian Schnabel, the film received Best Director and the Technical Grand Prize in the Cannes Film Festival and Best Director in the Independent Spirit Awards.

Admission is free. Films will be shown in French with English subtitles. Discussions led by Florida Tech humanities faculty will follow the films.

For information, call (321) 674-8082 or visit http://411.fit.edu/filmfest.