Festivals - The Champs-Elysées Film Festival is back in Paris from June 20 to 27, 2023

By Sabine, 16 june 2023

The Champs-Elysées Film Festival offers a selection of independent American and French cinema. This year, the festival celebrates freedom, love, emancipation and intimacy, with new, daring and committed movies. It takes place in 5 famous movie theaters on the most beautiful avenue in the world: the Publicis, the Balzac, the Lincoln, the UGC Normandie and the Gaumont Champs-Elysées. These  movie theaters host films in competition, previews, masterclasses and DJ sets on the rooftop of 133 avenue des Champs-Elysées (Publicis).

For the 12th edition, the festival welcomes two guests of honor, Eliza Hittman, who give a masterclass on Sunday June 25, and director Ira Sachs, who presents his movie Passages, the story of a love triangle at the opening ceremony, with Adèle Exarchopoulos. He will speak about his work during a masterclass on Friday, June 23.

12 independant feature films, 6 French and 6 American are in competition, including two films noticed at Cannes Film Festival: It's raining in the house of Paloma Sermon-Daï, the story of a brother-sister tandem, and Vincent must die by Stéphan Castang, the story of a man attacked for no reason and who must flee, a mixture of black comedy and fantasy film. For the first time, the festival opens a competition of 6 mid-length films. Finally, 12 American short films and 10 French short films are presented. The feature film jury is chaired by Bertrand Bonello (Saint-Laurent, Nocturama, Coma). The closing ceremony will begin with the award ceremony before the preview screening of the film The (Ex)perience of Love by Raphaël Balboni and Ann Sirot, with Nora Hamzawi.

In preview, the public will be able to discover The Book of Solutions by Michel Gondry, Master Garderner by Paul Schrader, the documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power by Nina Menkes (Sundance, Berlinale). The director demonstrates how film language contributes to the conditions that create discriminatory hiring practices, unequal pay and a pervasive environment of sexual harassment in the film industry. The documentary Sex is comedy by Edith Chapin will introduce you to the profession of intimacy coordinator.

The Girl Power section allows you to rediscover five films that magnified female power in the 90s/2000s, including the film "Bound" by brothers-turned-sisters Lilly and Lana Wachowski.

Finally, a series of musical events will take place during this week, including a show case by Émilie Simon, another by Simone Ringer as well as DJ Sets by Léonie Pernet, Rebeka Warrior and Jehnny Beth & EREX. 
Enjoy this festival !

The full program can be viewed here