Festivals - Colcoa 2021: The documentary selection of its 25th edition

By Mulder, 08 february 0021

"Documentaries have been gaining momentum in France for several years, with over 150 films released in theaters in 2019 and selling worldwide. We present 7 of the most innovative French documentaries of the moment, as varied in style, approach and artistic vision" - Anouchka van Riel, deputy director of the festival.

The Colcoa French Film & Series Festival is pleased to announce the films selected for the 25th edition of the Documentary Competition, which will take place at the Directors Guild of America from November 1 to 7 November 1-7. Addressing contemporary themes (climate change, immigration, transgender inclusion) or historical ones (the Holocaust, the centennial of Yves Montand's birth), 7 documentaries will compete for the COLCOA Award for Best Documentary 2021.

Six feature-length documentaries for the cinema:

Walking on Water 

written and directed by Aïssa Maïga.
North American premiere in association with Orange Studio
Every day, fourteen-year-old Houlaye, like other young people, walks for miles to fetch water, which is essential to the life of the village. This daily task prevents them, among other things, from attending school. A borehole would be enough to bring the coveted water to the center of the village and offer a better life to all.

Birds of america 

written and directed by Jacques Loeuille.
North American premiere in association with MK2 Films.
In the early 19th century, a French painter, Jean-Jacques Audubon, travels through Louisiana to paint all the birds of the New Continent. The discovery of the great wilderness encourages the utopia of a young nation that projects itself into a world of unprecedented beauty. Since then, the American dream has been shattered and Audubon's work forms an archive of the pre-industrial sky. On the banks of the Mississippi, Birds of America finds the traces of these birds, now extinct, and reveals another history of the national myth.

Blind Apas 
written and directed by Christophe Cognet.
North American premiere in association with US distributor Greenwich Entertainment.
In World War II concentration and extermination camps, a handful of deportees risked their lives to take clandestine photographs and attempt to document the hell the Nazis were hiding from the world. By surveying the remains of these camps, the filmmaker Christophe Cognet recomposes the traces of these men and women of incredible courage, to unearth the circumstances and stories of their photographs. Step by step, the film composes an archaeology of images as acts of sedition and power of attestation.

Les indes galantes 

written and directed by Philippe Beziat.
North American premiere in association with Pyramide.
This is a first for 30 dancers of hip-hop, krump, break, voguing... A first for the director Clément Cogitore and for the choreographer Bintou Dembélé. And a first for the Paris Opera. By bringing together urban dance and opera singing, they reinvent together Jean-Philippe Rameau's baroque masterpiece, Les Indes Galantes. From rehearsals to public performances, we follow a human adventure and an encounter with political stakes: can a new generation of artists take over the Bastille today?

Jane by charlotte 

written and directed by Charlotte Gainsbourg.
West Coast premiere in association with US distributor Utopia.
Charlotte Gainsbourg began filming her mother, Jane Birkin, to look at her as she had never done before. The modesty of the one in front of the other had never allowed such a rapprochement. But through the camera, the ice is broken to reveal an unprecedented exchange, over several years, which gradually erases the two artists and exposes them in an intimate and universal conversation to reveal a mother facing a daughter.

Little girl 

written and directed by Sebastien Lifshitz.
Special COLCOA Awards presentation in association with distributor US Music Box Films.
Sasha, born a boy, has lived as a little girl since the age of 3. The film follows his daily life, the questioning of his parents and siblings, as well as the constant struggle his family must wage to make his difference understood. Courageous and uncompromising, Karine, Sasha's mother, leads a relentless struggle driven by an unconditional love for her child.

And a documentary for television

Montand is ours 
written and directed by Yves Joelland.
North American premiere in association with Zelig Films.
Yves Montand will be one hundred years old in 2021. An incredible journey through the 20th century by the son of an Italian immigrant who reached the peak of his art and popularity. The song, the cinema, the commitments, a film all in archives. Selection Cannes Classics 2021.

Colcoa, one of the oldest and most important film festivals in California, offers each year a prestigious media event to promote French films and series at the beginning of the awards season in Hollywood. COLCOA brings together the cream of French cinema (directors, actors, writers, composers and producers) for red carpet events, debates and screenings and to foster collaborations between French and American professionals. The festival welcomes more than 20,000 spectators each year, including professionals, journalists, the general public and students.

Colcoa French Film & Series Festival was created and is produced by the French American Cultural Fund, a unique collaboration between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Société des Auteurs, Composers and Music Publishers (SACEM) and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), with the support of Unifrance, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ARP, TVF1, Air Tahiti Nui, Bank of the West/BNP Parisbas, TV5 Monde/Sling and Variety. The COLCOA Education program is presented with the support of ELMA.

For more information: www.colcoa.org

(Source: Press release)