Gaël Morel

As the Algerian War draws to a close, a teenager with a girlfriend starts feeling homosexual urges for two of his classmates: a country boy, and a French-Algerian intellectual.

Everything seems to be smiling again at Yazid, an actor with a sulphurous past. He is trying to regain custody of his son and find a stable family life. But despite his efforts, he is overtaken by his old demons...

In a French prison, three men are coming to terms with the emotional and physical torment which their incarceration brings them. Arnaud is serving a six-month sentence for drug smuggling; he protests his innocence and will do anything to secure an early release. Francky is a hardened criminal who has all but lost his wife and family and who seeks comfort in self-inflicted abuse. Kader is in prison for theft; he is the most philosophical of the three men, he is growing accustomed to prison life and seems to prefer it to the world outside.

Eric, a lonely young college student, meets Romain, a student who has been dispelled. Far from the family farm, Eric discovers the new wave musical movement with the help of Romain, and decides to edit a video clip for a song by Romain.

Serge is a long distance lorry driver between Morocco andEurope. In Tangier, he tries to reconcile with his former girlfriend, Sarah. She has refused to have anything to do with him since her mother’s death and intends to join her brother in Canada. Serge appeals to Sarah’s protector, a young Arab named Saïd, to allow him to meet up with Sarah, promising in return to smuggle Saïd into Europe...

The grueling, emotionally torturous world of French preparatory schools provides the framework for this mystery. The deliberately rigorous courses are designed to prepare students to take the brutal examinations for entry into the elite Grand Ecoles, where a select few will gain the skills and education needed to insure a bright, prosperous future for themselves. The story centers on Delphine, a girl from the lower classes, and the upper class Claude. Both young women aspire to attend the Ecole Normale Superieure on the Rue d'Ulm. Delphine lives in humble public housing with her dull mother and two young brothers while Claude, who considers herself a Communist, lives in luxury with her own servant; she is sexually involved with fellow- student, Axel, who thinks himself a fascist.

Catherine Deneuve couldn’t care less about being a celebrity, but fame made her an icon long ago and she occupies a special place in our imagination. The star is not one to let others get too close, but when she gives you her confidence, she keeps her word. If Deneuve’s career covers a half-century of cinema, it also bears witness to the force of a generation that experienced the deepest transformation of mores. This portrait reflects her entirely. The story of a mystery and an adventure.

A journey into contemporary French cinema through a series of exclusive interviews with the leading figures of GLBT French cinematography: André Téchiné, Catherine Corsini, Gaël Morel, Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau and other old acquaintances of our film festival. This documentary offers an interesting insight into the official and non-official cinema from the point of view of gender identity. A look behind the scenes: discussing issues like censorship and self-censorship, women' cinema and misogyny, transvestism and homo-eroticism, cinema d'auteur and popular cinema (was the Nouvelle Vague homophobic?). From past to present, from Jacques Demy to François Ozon.