Jean-Paul Rouve, Laetitia Dosch, Philippe Rebbot… Atmosphere behind the scenes of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival

HAS Angoulême, blue is a warm color. It is the one that, from carpets to banners, signals the holding of the 17^e Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, the new name of the festival invented sixteen years ago by Dominique Besnehard and Marie-France Brière. On the steep streets of Charentaise, festival-goers and professionals meet there from Tuesday until this Sunday. Some look back at André Manoukian, who came to present “The Pianist's Choice,” a fresco by Jacques Otmezguine (in theaters Jan. 8), one of 17 films previewed. Lætitia Dosch appears happy in the company of Kodi, the friendly canine hero of “Trial of the Dog”, in the official competition ahead of its release on Wednesday.

“I'm rather quiet”

On Thursday afternoons, the garden of the Mercure Hotel welcomes journalists and celebrities. ” How? That you take photos during the interview? No, I don't mind at all,” smiles Jean-Paul Rouve. Who's having fun: “On the other hand, my dog, since he didn't put on makeup, I'm not sure. » In “The Valley fools” (in cinemas November 13), Rouve plays a young widower in disarray: secluded in a sailboat stuck in his garden, he sets off on the Virtual Regatta, a video simulation of the Vendée Globe, determined to tour “his ” to the world. A new coup from Xavier Beauvois. Like his films, economical with words. “I'm rather quiet in life who , to say an idea that can be contained in three words, I use ten-minute sentences! When I direct, a look sometimes says more than three sentences. » In an interview, it's the same.

At aperitif time, Philippe Rebbot falls into the arms of the technicians who accompanied him on “À bicyclette!” », Mathias Mlekuz's autobiographical road trip, a fantasy cycling epic about a father following in the footsteps of his suicidal son. A human odyssey, funny and sensitive, given among the favorites of the official competition.

“When I direct, a look sometimes says more than three sentences”

Emotional intensity

We know: the mere presence of a film crew in a screening room is enough to get the audience to their feet at the end of the screening. Therefore, it is appropriate to measure the emotional intensity of the “standing ovation” that has become a mandatory rite. In 2023, Sergi Lopez's tears after “The Pirate's Bride” by Yolande Moreau had the power of a torrent of love. A year later, those who black out the eyes of Sofiane Zermani – aka rapper Fianso – at the end of Hassan Guerrar's “Barbès, mica Algerie” (released on October 16) are just as angry. At the end of the screening, Sofiane Zermani carefully collects the testimony of each viewer. Smile in selfies, but mostly listen, exchange, share. And in spite of it, it generates a riotously happy crowd in the unappealing basement of the Espace Franquin.

Sofiane, in spite of himself, generates a jubilant crowd in the Espace Franquin basement

In this concrete cathedral, three exhibitions attract the most curious: the very beautiful work of French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaouimortally wounded at the age of 45 during a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso in 2016, testifies in black or color about her humanist perspective. On the contrary, it is the glamor that springs from the photos with Micheline Presle (died in February aged 101)captured by Raymond Voinquel and Sam Lévin on the set of “Diable au corps” in 1946. As for Nicolas Guérin's charcoal portraits of the filmmakers, there is no doubt that they would have deserved larger formats and hung more carefully.

With fanfare

In the Bardines garden, in the shade of the big oaks, actors and filmmakers multiply the interviews while others mix the cocktails. The pack of photographers produces a strange cacophony: “Julie, look here, please! », cried one; “Here, please, Pauline,” cried the other, during the photocall for Julie Gayet's TV movie “Olympe, une femme dans la Révolution.”

Not far away, Belgian actress Lubna Azabal laughs with her friends, discusses upcoming projects and the string of interviews that await her for Morgan Simon's A Dream Life.

In theater, in music, thanks to a fanfare sent from Cognac, we celebrate the film “En fanfare” by Emmanuel Courcol with Benjamin Lavernhe. And during one of her rare public appearances, Kristin Scott-Thomas (president of the festival jury) talks about her love of 7 years.^e art during a sold-out master class. Like almost all the sessions of this popular and relaxed festival where, outside the dark rooms, the stars wander among the people under a blue sky. A warm color, for sure.