COACHELLA VALLEY PREMIERE

Anne has a very active imagination, only natural for a writer. But in her mid-thirties, she still knows practically nothing of her own family’s past. After her mother’s death, Anne discovers old photos and letters that convince her to take a closer look at the life of her parents, Michael and Léna. The young couple met in the concentration camps during World War II, later moving to France to start their new life together. Soon, Anne’s research into their ties to Lyon’s communist party reveals the existence of a mysterious uncle, Jean, whom everyone seems intent on forgetting entirely. As she gradually closes in on the discovery she didn’t know she was looking for, her father grows ever more ill, and may take the secret that kept them apart for so long to his grave. Anne’s destiny intertwines with her father’s past until they form a single, unforgettable story. Inspired by the director’s own family history, this beautifully crafted historical melodrama goes back and forth between the immediate post WWII period and 1980’s France.

Writer/Director: Diane Kurys
Starring: Benoit Magimel, Mélanie Thierry, Nicolas Duvauchelle
Language: French w/English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 110 minutes
Distributor: Film Movement
Rating: N/R
“Luminous! [A] beautifully crafted historical melodrama!”
– Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter

FESTIVALS:  Official Selection: New York Jewish Film Festival, Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, San Diego Jewish Film Festival; Brussels Film Festival, French Film Festival, Richmond, VA; Festival du Film de Cabourg, France;

AWARDS:  Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Diane Kurys for Excellence in Directing