13th Paris Film Festival

March 29 - April 5, 1998

1998 Awards

April in Paris! Beyond its status as the capital of motion pictures in Europe and the cosmopolitan city presenting to its movie lovers a choice of more than 300 films in its theatres each week, Paris also has its festival. Created in 1986 by Louisa Maurin with the support of the Mairie de Paris, it was originally devoted to children. Progressively targeting larger audiences as the years went by, last year's edition was attended by 40,000 moviegoers. The event has found a new venue this year located between the Champs-Elysées and the Place de la Concorde at the Espace Pierre Cardin.

The Paris Film Festival is an event open to the public and is billing 50 films never shown before. The festival will open each day with a 9:30 a.m. junior screening highlighting comedies. At 11:00 a.m., the slot will be filled with films in homage to a different guest star each day, including Pedro Almodovar and Jeanne Moreau. At 5:00 p.m., a special homage to Claude Lelouch will highlight seven of his films during the event. At other moments in the day, meetings and debates will provide an opportunity to meet with these special guests stars and participate in discussions devoted daily to a different theme: Directors' day, Producers' day, Actors' day, Scenarists' day and Children's day.

No festival is complete without its screenings of the films in competition. The 1997 festival edition was presided by Charlotte Rampling and awarded the Grand Prix to Brassed Off by Mark Herman which recently won a Cesar for Best Foreign Film. This year, seven first or second films never before released in France are competing in the International Competition for the Grand Prix, Jury's Special Prize, Best Actor and Best Actress. Notably, the selection includes the Dutch film Character that just won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Film and Jeanne et le Garcon Formidable shown in the official selection at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Actor/Director Sean Penn is presiding the jury composed of professionals recognized in their field.

Opening Day - Press Conference

Sean Penn center of attention

The International Selection of Films

Serial Lover by James Huth
The Locusts by John Patrick Kelly
Gattaca by Andrew Niccol
Clandestins (Stowaways) by Denis Chouinard and Nicolas Wadimoff
Jeanne et le Garcon Formidable by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau
Brute by Maciej Dejczer
Character by Mike van Diem

The Jury

Sean Penn, president of the jury
Mathilda May, actress
Jean-Hugues Anglade, actor
Denis Charvet, rugby man
Lolita Lempicka, fashion designer
Samuel Hadida, producer
Mick Hucknall, singer (Simply Red)
Patrick Mahe, journalist
Marc Dolisi, journalist
Elie Chouraqui, director

A fifth prize, the Public's Prize, will be awarded to one of the films in the European Selection, films that have not been previously released in France. The jury, presided by Thierry Fremont and Nadia Fares is composed of 10 young moviegoers selected through a national press contest.

The European Selection of Films

My Family's Honour by Rachid Bouchareb
En la Puta Calle by Enrique Gabriel
An American Werewolf in Paris by Anthony Waller
Dance of the Wind by Rajan Khosa
Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest by Michael Haussman
Gadjo Dilo by Tony Gatlif
Face by Antonia Bird

The 1998 Paris Film Festival website

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