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And Face-to-Face Conversation with Sophie MARCEAU & Karena LAM

The 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival will present “French Night” on 22 March 2016 with Paris-born filmmaker Audrey ESTROUGO’s Jailbirds (2015), co-presented by the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau and UniFrance. International star Sophie MARCEAU will introduce the screening on 22 March and conduct a Face-to-Face conversation the following night (23 March), with Golden Horse Best Actress Karena LAM as guest moderator.

MARCEAU gives a compelling performance as Mathilde, a woman jailed to save the man she loves, even at the cost of her own child.  While the prisons of men have provided a powerful scenario for French cinema, ESTROUGO devoted months to trying to understand the lives of womenin prisons – both their creation and the destruction society imposed upon them. MARCEAU transmutes this portrait of injustice into a powerful work of art.

HKIFF40 will continue its focus on French cinema with other recent films, including 21 Nights with Pattie (2015) by Arnaud LARRIEU and Jean-Marie LARRIEU; Marguerite (2015) by Xavier GIANNOLI; The White Knights (2015) by Joachim LAFOSSE; All Three of Us (2015) by KHEIRON; Les Cowboys (2015) by Thomas BIDEGAIN; and Night Fare (2015).  The director Julien SERI and producer Raphaël COHEN of Night Fare will meet the audience at screenings on 1st and 3rd April.  Mr. COHEN is also the producer of well-known recent French films Carlos and Je Suis Charlie.

In addition, the festival will present the Asian premieres of three French films: Tomorrow (2015) by Cyril DION and Mélanie LAURENT; A Childhood (2015) by Philippe CLAUDEL; and Love 3D (2015) by Gaspar NOÉ.