Francine Sandberg

Un hombre enfermo que ve que la muerte se acerca, empieza a considerar y a valorar de manera distinta la vida de los que lo rodean: unos verduleros, una panadera, una asistente social, un bailarín, un arquitecto, un sin-techo, un profesor de universidad, una modelo, un inmigrante ilegal de Camerún. Todos ellos tienen problemas que pueden parecer insignificantes, pero que para ellos son los problemas más importantes del mundo.

Continuación de "Una casa de locos". Xavier ya es escritor, pero ni su vida profesional ni su vida sentimental marchan bien. Para salir adelante, se ve obligado a aceptar trabajos mediocres (telenovelas, series de televisión). Su caótica vida se complica aún más cuando tiene que cuidar al hijo de su ex-novia y a su abuelo materno. Además, corre el riesgo de perder su trabajo si no viaja a Londres y a San Petersburgo. Pero, paradójicamente, gracias a estos viajes conseguirá poner orden en su trabajo y en su vida amorosa.

Javier, un estudiante francés de económicas, decide pasar un año en Barcelona para aprender español. Se instala en una casa donde convive con otros siete estudiantes europeos: un italiano, una inglesa, un danés, un belga, un alemán y una española. Todos los compañeros del piso se encuentran en la misma situación, todos ellos están estudiando en Barcelona gracias al programa de intercambio universitario europeo Erasmus.

Arthur is invited to a New Year's Eve party to celebrate the year 2000. His girlfriend Lucie would like a baby from him but he refuses. Through the ceiling of the toilets, he discovers a passage leading to this futurist Paris. There, he meets an old man Ako who affirms he is his son and that he wants to exist. Otherwise he will vanish into the air. Arthur is still hesitant because his life is an unfulfilled one: a has a little lucrative job, is uncertain about his future and things are getting out of hand when Ako discovers the passage and interferes in the party.

Los Ménard se reúnen todas las semanas en el café de Henri, el hijo mayor. Desde allí él, su esposa, su hermano, su cuñada y su madre acuden juntos a cenar al mejor restaurante de la zona, un barrio de la periferia. Sin embargo, un día, un incidente trastoca la cita: Arlette, la mujer de Henri, no aparece. Durante la reunión, se celebra el cumpleaños de Yolanda, la madre, y a partir de ese momento salen a relucir dramáticamente los viejos rencores y rencillas familiares.

When Chloe, a young Parisian, decides to take a long-overdue vacation, she has to find someone to look after Gris-Gris, her beloved cat. Everyone, including her gay male roommate, refuses to help her, but she finally makes an arrangement with the elderly Madame Renée, who often watches over other peoples' cats and dogs. However, when Chloe comes back, Madame Renée tells her that unfortunately the cat has been lost, and the unlucky owner goes on a search for her dear animal friend. While looking for the cat, she meets many colorful characters who populate the neighborhood.

Jack y Julie, dos jóvenes de provincias, viven una bonita historia de amor en un pequeño apartamento de París. Como Jack trabaja como taxista por la noche, comparten el día juntos haciendo el amor. Su idílica relación se ve enturbiada cuando Julie conoce a Joseph, el que conduce el taxi de Jack durante el día, y empieza a encontrarse con él por las noches.

Three young women at a hair salon all like the son of the clothing store proprietors across the mall. Although Robby is selfish and shallow, he's appealing to Lili, the salon's manager, who's trendy and also the salon-owner's moll; to Mado, who's innocent and sweet; and to Pascale, who's intelligent but passive and downcast. Robby's dad tells him to grow up and see beyond the mercurial Lili, so he proposes suddenly to Mado. She's delighted, but the day before the wedding, Lili returns to give Robby another look. In the background, a Yank who was a soldier in France in World War II returns to Paris and tries to recapture the love of his wartime sweetheart, Robby's mom.

In a specialized, hermetic drama about love won and lost, not necessarily by the same individuals, novice director Christine Laurent has focused on the backstage melodramas of an opera company. The conductor for an upcoming performance of the Marriage of Figaro has his mind and heart on other matters -- an entrancing diva who keeps him enraptured with her presence and voice. In the meantime, he finds fault with his cast members who cannot, of course, measure up to the woman of his dreams. As singers encounter one problem or another, it is clear that something has to be done about the conductor. Director Laurent designed costumes for both theater and opera, giving her some insight into the venue.

Se llaman Alex (Denis Lavant) y Mireille (Mireille Perrier). Han nacido en 1960 y viven en París, pero aún no se conocen. Famosa ópera prima de Leos Cárax, que, además de mostrar reminiscencias del cine mudo, refleja la influencia de cineastas como Cocteau, Dreyer, Godard o Bresson. La crítica francesa calificó a Leos Cárax como el único cineasta auténtico de los 80.

Two teenage girls from Belgium run away to Paris and have to learn how to survive.

A sensitivity to sounds coming from the activities of an unwelcome guest in the close quarters of an apartment is only one important component in this atmospheric, avant-garde drollery by Chantal Akerman. When the apartment owner comes home, her guest is settled in and at first, the slightly reclusive host decides simply to eat her breakfast in her room instead of having to face morning conversation with her guest. Sounds of the toilet flushing, the bath water running and splashing, footsteps pacing, and furniture moving invade the hostess' refuge in her bedroom like the frontrunners of an all-out offensive. She locks herself up for 28 days, life's detritus accumulating around her, just so she does not have to go out to face the nemesis that lurks beyond her door.

All of the time and effort put forth to stage a musical is chronicled here in this bright and funny French outing. The story is set at a shopping mall where people audition for an upcoming show. Afterwards, they are seen going through the grueling routines of learning the music and rehearsing.

Chantal Akerman meets with elderly Jewish women in Paris, all of them survivors of the Shoah, and listens to their family stories. Between interviews, Akerman's mother Natalia speaks of her own family. Made for a French miniseries on grandmothers.

El trabajo de Anna como directora de cine la lleva por toda Europa Occidental. Vaya donde vaya, o ya tiene alguna relación íntima o la encuentra rápidamente. La gente se siente atraída por ella y tiende a revelarle sus secretos más íntimos, a pesar de que Anna no muestra interés alguno por conocerlos.

Imágenes de la ciudad de Nueva York y sus habitantes. Sobre esas imágenes oímos leer las cartas que la madre de la directora de la película le envía desde casa, en Europa. (FILMAFFINITY)