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The Katorza Cinema, a special host
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History
The Katorza Cinema, where most of the festival of the 3 continents takes place, has a long history that makes it play a special role in the hearts of Nantes’ moviegoers. In fact, it was founded on June 4, 1921 by a Jewish immigrant from Tunisia named Salomon Kétorza. This fairground entertainer was at the time quite famous in the City of the Dukes because he had created in 1900 a huge 14-wagon long travelling cinema and 2 brick-and-mortar theatres : the Apollo which opened in December 1908 with 1700 seats, and the Variété, which opened in 1917. When the man died a few years later in 1928, his wife took the helm of the family business and the theatres continued to thrive through the Golden Era of cinema. Unfortunately, the German bombed the building during World War 2, but the Katorza reopened in 1951 with a larger screening room. Modernized, it was the first theatre in town to be equipped with Cinemascope and stereophonic sound in 1954. The single screening room was later split in 1974 and the theatre now has 6 screens (with 325, 170, 144, 90, 87 and 70 seats). Since the 1990s, it is owned by Soredic (Société Rennaise de Diffusion Cinématographique), a major owner of theatres in Western France, who bought it to longtime exhibitor Jean-Serge Pineau.
Programming
Today, Katorza is an arthouse cinema run by young Cécile Menanteau. It is supported by Europa Cinema, the AFCAE (Association Française des Cinémas d’Art et Essai) and has no real competitor in downtown Nantes, because unlike the huge Gaumont Multiplex (12 screens, 1 968 seats) a few meters away, it offers all films in their original subtitled version. The real competition comes from the two multiplexes in the western suburb of Saint Herblain, the Pathé Atlantis (14 screens, 2 904 seats) and the UGC Ciné Cité Atlantis (12 screens, 2 453 seats) which also offer the films in their original version. Yet, unlike those multiplexes, which program mainly blockbusters, the Katorza can keep arthouse films longer on its schedule. In fact, its biggest success this year is Good Bye Lenin which has been playing since its release in September and doesn’t show any sign of weakening.
Olivier Delesse
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Seven days, seven nights wins top prize at the Festival of the 3 Continents in Nantes
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Fiction film section
Orisel Gaspar, one of the lead actresses of Siete dias, siete noches (Seven Days, Seven Nights), had written a song especially for the closing ceremony of the Festival of the 3 continents in Nantes, western France. She definitely put her whole heart in her voice when she sung her moving lyrics after Cuban director Joel Cano received the Montgolfière d’Or for the film in which she co-stars. The movie, which depicts a week in the lives of three very strong women in Cuba, is a deft criticism of Castro’s regime. When he handed over the top prize to the lucky director, French author and jury member Jean Rouaud described the film as an attack against the infuriated attempt of the regime to prevent its people from living (“la fureur d’empêcher de vivre”, a pun on the French title of Rebel without a Cause with James Dean). To add to his luck, Cine Cinema, the French pay TV outlet which sponsors the award, will support the film with a promotion campaign on its channels to the value of 15,000 euros.
The second prize for a fiction film, called the Montgolfière d’Argent, went to Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) by Sabiha Sumar from Pakistan. The film also received the Fip/Pil prize of the public for a fiction film. It portrays the life of Ayasha, a middle-aged woman under President General Zia-ul-Hacq’s martial law in 1979, and her sorrow when her 18-year old son becomes an Islamic fundamentalist.
Both the Jacques Demy Prize and the Prize of the Young Jury formed by 7 European and North American students were awarded to Bu San (Goodbye Dragon Inn) by Tsai Ming-Liang from Taiwan. Titra Film will freely contribute to the subtitling of the movie to the value of 2,500 euros.
The special prize of the jury went to Min by Ho Yuhang from Malaysia, the story of a 20-year old Chinese girl adopted by a Malay family and her journey to find her real mother.
As for the acting awards, the Prize for Best Actress went to Shinobu Terashima for her moving performance in Vibrator by Ryuichi Hiroki from Japan. Her talent was already noticed a few years ago when she received in 1996 the Arts Festival prize for best new actress and in 1997 the Yomiuri Actors award for Outstanding Actress. In Vibrator, she plays the role of a young adult who meets a truck driver in a convenience store and who then shares his journey to cure her anxiety.
As for the Prize for Best Actor, it went to Erjan Bekmuratov for his role in Malen’kie Ljudi (Ordinary Peolple) by Nariman Turebayev from Kazakhstan.
Documentary section
Alain and Philippe Jalladeau, the talented brothers who founded the event a quarter of century ago, decided to open a documentary section starting this year, thanks to the financial support of the Conseil Général of Loire-Atlantique, the administrative body that rules the region where Nantes is located in western France.
Its first top prize ever, the Montgolfière d’Or for best documentary, was awarded to Tiexi Qu (West of the Tracks), a 9-hour long trilogy by Wang Bing from China. The feature portrays the decay of the highly populated industrial district of Tie Xi in Shenyang, northeastern China.
The Fip/Pil Prize of the Public for best documentary went to Gift of Life by Wu Yii-Feng from Taïwan, a moving depiction of the sorrow that followed the deadly earthquake that hit Taiwan in September 1999.
Attendance
Attendance was very high during the whole festival, with 35,000 tickets issued, just like last year. Yet it couldn’t be higher, since the films were offered on as many screens as in the previous edition and the occupation rate of the Katorza cinema, which hosted most of the screenings, averaged 90%. Moreover, the audience seemed even more involved in the event than last year : 4,000 of them voiced their opinion through the Fip/Pil prize of the public.
Olivier Delesse
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Today's Headline News
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