Champlain College will present a series of five recent feature films from France and French-speaking countries on Oct. 9-11. All the films have English subtitles, and the showings are free and open to the public.

The series is co-sponsored by Champlain College's Division of Communications & Creative Media, Office of Diversity and Inclusion and SGA. Now in its third year at Champlain, the Tournées Festival of weekend screenings begins Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 pm in Alumni Auditorium on the Champlain College campus. Subsequent showings to be introduced by Antoine J. Polgar of the Champlain faculty are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 10 at 3 pm and 7 pm., and Sunday, Oct. 11, at 2 pm  and 7 pm.

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French Cinema at Champlain College
Co-sponsored by Office of Diversity & Inclusion, SGA  Division of Communications & Creative Media
Tournées Festival, Alumni Auditorium, Oct. 9-11, 2009
Schedule & Synopsis

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Friday - October 9, 2009 - 7 to 9pm
Screening of The Grocer's Son (France, 2006, 96 min.) with English subtitles.
Synopsis: Thirty-year-old Antoine is forced to leave the city one summer to return to his family in Provence. Because his father is sick Antoine must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed--driving his father's grocery truck from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants. Accompanied by the enchanting, vivacious and beautiful Claire, a friend from Paris with whom he is secretly infatuated, Antoine gradually warms to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers, who initially seem stubborn and gruff, but ultimately prove to be funny and endearing.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2814903065/

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Saturday - October 10, 2009 - 3 to 5 pm
Screening of Azur and Asmar, The Princes' Quest, (France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, 2006, 90 min.) a critically acclaimed French 3D computer animated fairytale fantasy feature film for children (with English subtitles) written and directed by Michel Ocelot. Screened at inaugural Opening Night Gala of the San Joaquin Children's Film Festival, Stockton, Ca. in Jan. 2009.
Synopsis: Once upon a time, two children, Azur, blonde and blue-eyed, son of the lord of the castle, and Asmar, dark-skinned and black-eyed, the nurse's child, were raised by the same nursemaid. Brought up as brothers, the children are suddenly torn apart. But Azur, haunted by the legend of the fairy that Djinn his nurse used to tell him, intends to find it in lands beyond the seas. When they grow up, the two foster brothers each go separate ways in search of the fairy. Daring rivals, they find magic lands in a medieval Maghreb, full of dangers and enchantments.
Trailers : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M1Lej5xGJU http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1760531200/tt0439123

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Saturday - October 10, 2009 - 7 to 9 pm
Screening of award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature film directed by Abdel Nechiche, entitled The Secret of the Grain (La Graine et le Mulet, France 2007, 151 min.) with English subtitles.
Synopsis: The film is set in the rustic port of Sete in southeastern France. An aging immigrant from the Maghreb who has worked in the same shipyard job for over 35 years tries to open his own restaurant as an inheritance for his large family. His dream seems beyond reach, but his persistence works its way into the hearts of his loyal family despite skeptical opposition from the town bureaucracy. The French title of the film refers to a \"grain of couscous\" and to mullet, a type of small fish, both popular in Tunisian cuisine, and both the staple of his extended family\'s diet and the menu on which he plans to establish his restaurant.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY1xuBEpa80

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Sunday - October 11, 2009 - 2 to 5 pm 
Being Jewish in France, a provocative documentary (three hours with intermission) on the complex history of Jews in France over several centuries and on France's many betrayals of its Jewish population. Originally shown on French TV about the history of Jewish life in France from the 19th century (Dreyfus Affair, 1894-1906) to the present day. The film, written and directed by French cinematographer Yves Jeuland, had its North American premiere at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival on 21 January 2008
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8md0yKK8zlg

Photo courtesy of The National Center for Jewish Film

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Sunday - October 11, 2009 - 7 to 9 pm
Screening of Romance of Astrée and Celadon (France 2006, 106 min.) Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best films of 2007 and with screenplay by its director Eric Rohmer, the Romance of As tree and Celadon is inspired by L'Astrée, a 17th century major work by Honoré d'Urfé about a shepherd who is in love the beautiful Astrée. She flees from him when she is convinced of his infidelity. The story is set in fifth-century druidic Gaul.
Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2267284249/