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| Jeanne Balibar Photo: Richard Mowe |
Everywhere you go during the Premiers Plans festival of first films in Angers (on the river Maine and the gateway to the Loire valley) you cannot escape the influence of legendary figure of French cinema Jeanne Moreau.
Although she died in July 2017, her links to the Premiers Plans festival continue to make their presence felt. She had an association with the festival for more than ten years, becoming an unofficial 'godmother' to the event, as described by Claude-Eric Poiroux, artistic director and founder of the Festival and also the creator of the cinema and hub Les 400 Cents Coups (after François Truffaut’s classic The 400 Blows) in the heart of the town.
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| Top prize in Angers: Vers Un Pays Inconnu / To A Land Unknown by Mahdi Felafel, about two Palestinian cousins seeking a better life. Photo: Angers Premiers Plans |
Poiroux, who was a close friend of the actress, persuaded her in 2003 to become president of that year’s jury and also to create and support the Angers Workshops aimed at bolstering young film-makers working on their first features. So began a long relationship with the Festival for which she became an influential ambassador, bending the ears of various Presidents of the Republic as well as producers and established directors.
Prompted by overtures from the Festival organisers, the town has preserved her memory by naming a street after her, and every year the Festival includes a link to her contribution.
This year a special screening of Peter Brook’s film version of the Marguerite Duras novel Moderato Cantabile (Seven Days … Seven Nights), for which Moreau won a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award in 1960 (playing opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo) in the town’s gilt adorned Grand Théâtre on the main square was preceded by three filmmakers who owe her a debt of gratitude.
Actress Jeanne Balibar who also works as a director, dancer and a singer, spoke of her intimate friendship with Moreau. “Although when it came to work she was adamant about preserving a professional distance and propriety on set,” said Balibar who won a Best Actress César for her performance as chanteuse Barbara in Mathieu Amalric’s biopic in 2018.
Belgian film-maker Guillaume Senez also underlined his debit of gratitude to Moreau who gave him the confidence to continue with his first feature Keeper in 2017 which scored a multitude of awards and festival appearances and resulted in his second feature Our Struggles being shown in the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2018. “Jeanne told me: ‘You are going to make your first feature, I know you are, I can feel it. You have to go for it.” And these words propelled me forward,” he said. Director Delphine Gleize also recalled that the script for her first film Carnages with Chiara Mastrioianni and Jacques Gamblin gained a boost from being part of the Workshop sessions. “It wouldn’t have got made without that support,” she said.
The Workshops (or Ateliers d’Angers) are aimed at young filmmakers who have already made one or more short films and are preparing to make their first feature-length fiction film.
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| Special tribute screening at Angers of Moderato Cantabile by Peter Brook with Jeanne Moreau and Jean-Paul Belmondo Photo: Angers Premiers Plans |
During the workshops, young filmmakers have an opportunity to develop their projects and prepare their next shoots with the active contribution of filmmakers, scriptwriters, composers, technicians, producers and casting directors who have read their scripts and with whom they meet throughout the week. The Jeanne Moreau Foundations continues with support for this and other initiatives.
Over the past 20 years, 150 young filmmakers have benefited from this initiative, and many have been selected for major festivals, winning awards at Cannes, Venice, Berlin and, of course, Angers.
Among the prize-winners from this year’s 37th edition are a special jury mention for Kneecap by Rich Peppiatt; Jeanne Moreau Audience Prize to Angers-born Antoine Chevrollier’s La Pampa; Best Actress award for Moana Santos for her performance in Laura Carreira’s On Falling; Best Actor award for Sayyid El Alamo for La Pampa which also was awarded the Scania Diversity Prize. The top award, the Grand Prix du jury, was awarded to Vers Un Pays Inconnu/To A Land Unknown by Mahdi Felafel, a UK-Greek-Danish co-production, about two Palestinian cousins who flee to Athens in the hope of a better future.
