Saturday, April 23, 2022
QPORIT XR NEWS for 2022-04-23 - MIXED REALITY HEADSET FROM CANON
Canon is releasing a new Mixed Reality (MR) headset MREAL X1 in Japan in June. The price has not been announced, but an earlier version of the headset cost more than $35,000.
It is not clear why this HMD is superior to Magic Leap or Hololens HMD's, or even the simpler Snap Spectacles.
This headset does use "Passthrough" technology, which means it uses cameras to photograph the outside world, and then composites (in more-or-less real time) the external video with the computer generated content digitally before displaying it on an opaque screen. (Magic Leap and Hololens use semi-transparent screens and mix the computer generated images more-or-less directly with the more-or-less directly viewed external scene.)
Here's the Press Release from Canon, and an English language video preview, plus an article from RoadToVR:
LINKS
MREAL X1 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE PREVIEW VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyFN8pSbLyQ
MREAL X1 - CANON PRESS RELEASE TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
MREAL X1 - CANON PRESS RELEASE (ORIGINAL, IN JAPANESE)
https://www.canon-its.co.jp/news/detail/20220421mr.html
ROAD-TO-VR ON MREAL X1
https://www.roadtovr.com/canon-mreal-x1-ar-headset/
Labels: AR, Augmented Reality, Canon, eXtended Reality, Mixed Reality, MR, MREAL X1, Passthrough, XR
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
QPORIT XR NEWS for 2022-04-20 - META'S GAME DAY
- (1) the few games showcased were mostly not very interesting. They were mostly simple sequels/updates to mostly first person shooters (or variants on the shooter motif). Three interesting exceptions were a football simulation, a city-builder, and a surprise. The football simulation does have great promise, as VR seems to be doing well as an actual trainer for real athletes, so a simulation could become a genuine e-sport. The city-builder might be fun. Also, a Ghostbusters VR game from SONY Pictures was teased: there were scant details, but with SONY planning a VR headset of its own for PlayStation 5, the release of a SONY VR game to the QUEST would be intriguing.
- (2) the presentation lacked energy.
- (3) the presentation, agreeably, was broadcast to multiple sites, including YouTube and Twitch, as well as Facebook and Meta Horizon Venues.
- (4) Watching a VR event in Meta Horizon Venues should be an exciting, great VR experience. But, the Showcase event was not VR: not live, not in 3D, not panoramic -- it was just an ordinary video. It was actually more distracting to watch in Horizon Venues than on YouTube. And getting to Horizon Venues was too hard. I'm quite experienced with both Quest and Venues, yet I had the following problems:
- (a) I turned on my QUEST 2 to find it had lost all its power. (I had used it recently and I'm surprised it needed a charge.) I quickly plugged it in, let it power up for a while and then about 5 minutes before the event, logged in, still attached to the power plug.
- (b) I got to Venues and it told me I needed to log into Facebook (but I should have already been logged in). I re-booted the HMD and this time I successfully entered Venues.
- (c) I went to the Showcase door in Venues for the event, but it would not let me in - it blocked me at the door. I was not in slide mode. A bystander, perhaps a Community Guide (CG), suggested I switch to slide mode. I did; I slid to the door, but it still did not let me in. The CG suggested I reboot.
- (d) I rebooted, went through the process, again, of going to Venues, going to the lobby, sliding to the door, and this time it let me in.
- (e) I was really disappointed to find the presentation in Venues was not in 3D. Not even the 3D VR games were being previewed in 3D. And, of course, by now I was late.
- (f) After the show, I could not get out of Venues properly, I had to do a hard exit and quit.
Labels: games, Horizon Venues, Horizon Worlds, Meta, metaverse, QPORIT XR, social gaming, VR, XR. Quest
Thursday, April 07, 2022
QPORIT XR NEWS BRIEFS - 2022-04-07 (SCOTUS, F-Ain't, WWDC)
Several items of note, today:
Ketanji Jackson was officially confirmed to join the Supreme Court when an opening arises. The next opening is expect to occur at the end of this term, with the retirement of Justice Breyer. The confirmation vote was 53 to 47, with Senators Murkowski (AK), Collins (ME), and Romney (UT) (the only Republicans) voting with all the Democrats to confirm.
Several Republicans (actually RINO's, Republicans in name only, since they do not seem to believe in a republic) try to have it both ways: to support the nomination in public, while voting against her in the Senate. (Not voting for someone you claim to believe deserves confirmation becomes another example of the extreme partisanship in the RINO party. Extreme partisanship, fealty to the defeated former President (dPP) and in some cases even support for Putin and current Russian aggression, characterize the RINO's. "Washington" is not partisan: Extreme partisanship is a policy of the RINO's alone.)
***
Meta (formerly Facebook) has cancelled F8, their once premiere developer conference. There is speculation that "Meta Connect" (formerly Oculus Connect, then Facebook Connect) will become their premiere developer event in the late summer or early fall.
F8 PAUSE
https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2022/04/06/pausing-f8-in-2022/
Meta also announced a new business event, Conversations, about messaging.
META CONNECTIONS - May 19, 2022
https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2022/03/31/introducing-conversations/
***
Apple has announced their 2022 World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC22) for June 6-10. It will be online, but there will also be a limited number of developers and students on-premise for the keynote.
WWDC22 - June 6-10, 2022
https://developer.apple.com/wwdc22/
Apple also announced the "Swift Student Challenge" where "Talented students can showcase their creativity for the opportunity to receive an award."
SWIFT STUDENT CHALLENGE
https://developer.apple.com/wwdc22/swift-student-challenge/
Labels: Apple, coding, developers, F8, Ketanji Jackson, Meta, Meta Connect, Meta Conversations, SCOTUS, Swift Student Challenge, WWDC
Tuesday, April 05, 2022
QPORIT XR NEWS - 2022-04-05 (UNREAL ENGINE 5 -- UE5)
UE5 - the next generation version of Unreal Engine (a "game engine") is available for public download today.
DOWNLOAD UE5
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download
Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is a leading, high-resolution, real time engine for graphics for Hollywood special effects, and for real time 3D graphics in games, eXtended Reality (XR) (including Virtual Reality, VR), and other interactive, real-time, 3D applications. Unreal Engine has been used in Fortnite, and in the development and promotion of Matrix and other films.
(Unity, since they went public, and especially after purchasing the high-res content & technology company, Weta, is a competing engine for those applications.)
EU5 (which contains a copyright notice for 2004-2022) is a product of Epic Games, Inc. Epic Games is a private company, with founder Tim Sweeney owning more than 50% and the Chinese Company, Tencent Holdings owning most or all of the rest.
Downloading, and developing with UE5 is free for most users; there are various charges for different commercial uses of the code. Tim Sweeney has been adamant that gatekeepers, like UE5 as an engine, and Apple & Google App/Play stores as marketplaces, should have modest charges, and that the industry "standard" 30% take is too high. Epic Games sued Apple for anti-trust violations.
INTRODUCTION TO UNREAL ENGINE 5 (UE5)
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-5-is-now-available
DOWNLOAD UE5
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download
EPIC GAMES - HOME PAGE
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/
EPIC GAMES - WIKIPEDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games
THE MATRIX AWAKENS - AN UNREAL ENGINE 5 EXPERIENCE
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/introducing-the-matrix-awakens-an-unreal-engine-5-experience
Labels: 3D graphics, Epic, Epic Games, Fortnite, games, Matrix, Tencent, UE5, Unity, Unreal Engine, Weta
QPORIT XR NEWS - 2022-04-05 (NEW LEADERSHIP AT WARNERS + DISCOVERY)
Warner Bros. Discovery, expected to be official on Friday, will be run by David Zaslav, from Discovery.
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, will be leaving, as will Warner Studios and Networks Group CEO Ann Sarnoff, and HBO Max Chief, Andy Forssell.
The combination of Discovery elements and Warner elements will attempt to create a strong enough streaming media platform to compete with Disney, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix, as well as smaller players such as Apple+, NBC's Peacock, and CBS All Access.
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY - WIKIPEDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Discovery
Labels: Amazon Prime Video, Andy Forssell, Ann Sarnoff, Apple+, CBS All Access, David Zaslav, Discovery, Disney, HBO, Jason Kilar, NBC, NETFLIX, Peacock, Warner
Friday, March 25, 2022
A SECRET INGREDIENT BEHIND THE TOOLS OF EXTENDED REALITY (XR)
Exponential growth of digital technology is currently the most important force behind the formidable tools that continually eXtend our Reality.
Moore's law, more than half a century ago, predicted the exponential growth in the number of transistors (and hence the power) that could be employed in a device. That means the transistors and the wiring must get smaller and smaller. There are 15,000,000,000 (15 Billion!) transistors in an iPhone 13.
How do they put all that stuff and all that wiring into a small phone that you can hold in your hand?
CNBC has just released a short (quite brilliant!) film that describes ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography) and the machines they make, that power the creation of computer chips.
Transistors are semiconductor devices... which are are wired into chips... on wafers... with ASMC's tools. The chips taken from the wafer are the electronic cores of everything from talking toys, to smart phones, to cars, to gaming consoles, to supercomputers, to rocket ships and telescopes in outer space. For example, the M1 chip that Apple designed is manufactured by TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) which is a customer and part owner of ASML.
Here's a link to the CNBC video:
iNSIDE ASML
Here's a link to a Wikipedia article on ASML:
ASML - WIKIPEDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASML_Holding
Here's a link to a Wikipedia article on computer chips (which they call "integrated circuits"):
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - WIKIPEDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit
Here's a link to the introduction of the term "eXtended Reality (XR)":
INTRODUCING EXTENDED REALITY - QPORIT
http://qporit.blogspot.com/2015/09/some-variations-on-reality-extended.html
Labels: Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography, Apple, ASML, chips, CNBC, computer chips, computers, eXtended Reality, semiconductors, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, transistors, TSMC, wafers, XR
Wednesday, March 02, 2022
TRUMP, ALLIES, FRAUD, CONSPIRACY & 1/6 SELECT COMMITTEE FILING
According to the Washington Post, Lawyers for the Jan 6 Select Committee said in a court filing today they believed there is "good-faith" reason to believe that Trump and his allies committed crimes in attempting to block (now) President Biden from being certified as President Elect.
SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST (A subscription may be necessary to read the article.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/02/eastman-pence-trump-jan-6/
Labels: 1/6, 1/6 investigation, conspiracy, crimes, fraud, Jan 6 Select Committee
EXTENDED REALITY AND THEATER
EXTENDED REALITY
AND THEATER
How eXtended Reality (XR) Provides Creative New Opportunities for Theater.
And Vice Versa.
This Friday, (Mar 4, 2022) at 5 EST, I’ll be talking about eXtended
Reality and Theater at Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU).
(TRU has been doing a terrific job of providing resources for theatrical writers and producers before and especially during the last two years of COVID. Aside from my talk, if you are interested in Theater, you might do well to look at what they are doing).
Here’s the notice:
Friday 3/4 - How eXtended Reality (XR) Provides Creative New Opportunities for Theater. And Vice Versa. In the room: Eric Roffman, futurist, producer/publisher of QPORIT, creator of an award winning multimedia game, founder of The American Film Magazine, PhD (theoretical physics), and pioneer of the Internet and XR.
Eric will explain the terms and the timeline for the interaction of XR with theater, separate the real from the hype and the branding, and clarify the sometimes hazy confusion that conceals a simple fact: digital technology is doubling in power and halving in size and cost every few years, affecting everything, including Theater.
Eric will discuss how much XR can offer theater, and why Theater, and those who create it, may have even more to contribute to XR. To register and receive the zoom link:
TRU SITE: https://truonline.org/
The talk is free, but TRU is supported by contributions and would appreciate a donation of $5 or more from non-members.
THEATER RESOURCES UNLIMITED
https://truonline.org/
Labels: eXtended Reality, theater, Theater Resources Unlimited, TRU, XR
THREAT TO AGRICULTURE!
Congressman David Scott, Democrat from Georgia, and Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, commented today during the Hearing with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Jerome H . Powell, that more than 66% of the world's fertilizer supplies and more than 25% of the world's wheat and corn come from Russia and the Ukraine.
Scott warned that if these supplies are cut off, there will be serious problems maintaining the food supply to the US and across the world.
Office of David Scott
The Federal Reserve
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/powell20220302a.htm
Labels: AGRICULTURE, Congressman David Scott, corn, fertilizer, Russia, THREAT, Ukraine, wheat
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
TWOSDAY! (aka TOOSDAY, TOO)
Today is TWOSDAY!
It can be called TOOsday, too.
It happens (on average) only once every
seven hundred years.
It is:
TWOSDAY (TOOsday, too)
Tuesday 2/22/22
I’ve heard of some events for couples, and for
twins, and for matching outfits, and double olives in a double martini, and that for some couples, this could be a bigger day
for twosomes than Valentine’s Day!
Labels: Silly dates. Tuesday, TOOsday, TWOsday
Thursday, February 10, 2022
RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA 2022
UNIFRANCE AND
FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
present
THE 27th RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA
MARCH 3–13,
2022
Opening Night
Claire Denis's Fire starring
Juliette Binoche,
with Denis and Binoche in person
With 23 major films including films by
legendary
filmmakers,
Mathieu Amalric,
Jacques Audiard, Arnaud Desplechin,
& Emmanuel
Carrère,
& brilliant
debut features from
Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, Vincent Maël Cardona, Emilie Carpentier, Vincent Le
Port and Constance Meyer
Among those confirmed to appear in person
at the festival are:
Mathieu Amalric, Jacques Audiard, Antoine
Barraud,
Philippe Béziat, Juliette Binoche, Charline
Bourgeois-Tacquet,
Leyla Bouzid, Vincent Maël Cardona, Emilie
Carpentier,
Emmanuel Carrère, Claire Denis, Arnaud
Desplechin,
Eric Dumont, Déborah Lukumuena, Aurélia
Georges,
Axelle Ropert & …
The 2022 Opening Night selection is Claire Denis’s Fire, featuring screen legend Juliette Binoche as Sara, navigating the reemergence of her ex-lover François (Grégoire Colin), who coincidentally contacts her partner Jean (Vincent Lindon) for a business proposition. The melancholic drama showcases Denis’s characteristic knack for capturing the intimate sensuality of everyday life, bolstered by a gorgeous score from regular collaborators Tindersticks.
*** *** ***
"In March 2020, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema was the last big film event in NYC before everything shut down. Two years later, it feels great to say that we are back with an in-person festival and more than 20 French filmmakers and talent, including exciting new voices and returning favorites, in attendance.” -- Daniela Elstner, Executive Director of Unifrance.
*** *** ***
Highlights of the 23-film lineup include
- Authentik, Audrey Estrougo’s crowd-pleasing and galvanizing biopic of rap duo Suprême NTM, offering a dynamic reconstruction of a moment in hip-hop’s global explosion;
- Emmanuel Carrère’s Between Two Worlds, taking inspiration from investigative journalist Florence Aubenas’s 2010 best-selling nonfiction book The Night Cleaner and a longtime passion project for star Juliette Binoche;
- Deception, master filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin’s adaptation of Philip Roth’s classic novel encompassing a fusion of rigorous intellectual discourse and fervid emotionality;
- Rendez-Vous regular Christophe Honoré’s Guermantes, cunningly shot and wonderfully imagined by Honoré’s theatrical community despite the production’s debilitating COVID delays;
- Hold Me Tight, Mathieu’s Amalric’s daringly fluid portrait of one woman’s fractured psyche;
- Antoine Barraud’s third narrative feature Madeleine Collins, equal parts drama and thriller, starring Virginie Efira (Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta);
- Our Men, starring director and Rendez-Vous regular Louis Garrel and directed by Rachel Lang, drawing upon her own background as an officer in the French army reserves;
- Paris, 13th District, Palme d’Or–winner Jacques Audiard’s exploration of casual sex, webcams, and relationships in an unsparing but nonjudgmental portrait of young Parisians; and much more.
This year’s lineup also features a number of highly anticipated debut features, including
- Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s Anaïs in Love, which premiered in the Critics’ Week section at last year’s Cannes;
- Vincent Le Port’s Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer, a cold and unnervingly charged portrait of a sexually driven killer;
- Emilie Carpentier’s The Horizon, following disaffected teenagers discovering a sense of purpose in political engagement;
- Magnetic Beats, Vincent Maël Cardona’s heady, emotionally rich reconstruction of an intense moment of social and cultural change and a Directors’ Fortnight selection at last year’s Cannes; and
- Constance Meyer’s Robust, featuring Gérard Depardieu and a premise reminiscent of the unlikely friendship in 2012’s Rendez-Vous selection The Intouchables, but with a drier sense of humor that’s all its own.
Free talks include
- a sit-down with filmmakers Claire Denis and official Guest of Honor at this year’s Rendez-Vous Jim Jarmusch, in an extended conversation about their decades-spanning careers;
- Juliette Binoche and Déborah Lukumuena, meeting to discuss their professional trajectories and creative influences; and
- “Working the image : a French-American look at cinematography,” a special panel organized in partnership with French In Motion and the Gotham Film & Media Institute and bringing together French and American filmmakers and cinematographers to discuss their varied inspirations, creative philosophies, and artistic practices.
Moviegoers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite film in the lineup with the third annual Rendez-Vous Audience Award.
This year’s festival will also feature the inaugural Best Emerging Filmmaker Award, a new initiative to bring attention to the unique cinematic point of view of emerging filmmakers and their interpretation of France’s new and diverse identities.
Six students pursuing film and French studies degrees from NYC
colleges will be invited to participate in the jury and to choose their
favorite first or second feature from this year’s Rendez-Vous slate. Each jury
member will receive a free all-access pass to view every screening in the
festival. The jury-awarded film will be announced shortly after the end of the
festival alongside the Rendez-Vous Audience Award.
To further encourage young people to be part
of Rendez-Vous, two free school screenings of The Horizon will
be organized on March 10 and 11, with director Emilie Carpentier in attendance
for a post-screening discussion with middle-, high-school, and college
students.
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema is sponsored by
TV5 Monde, Villa Albertine, The Taub Family Selections, AFC and FIAF.
Member ticket presale for Rendez-Vous with
French Cinema begins on February 15 at noon, with tickets for the general
public available starting February 18 at noon. Tickets are $17; $13 for
students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $12 for Film at
Lincoln Center members. Opening Night tickets for Claire Denis’ Fire are
$25 and $20 for all Film at Lincoln Center members. Students can see more and
save with the purchase of the $35 Student All-Access Pass.
Tickets to the free talks will be distributed
at the corresponding box office on a first-come, first-served basis beginning
one hour prior to the event start. Please note that the line may form in
advance. Limit one ticket per person, subject to availability.
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
All films screen in the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th St.) unless
otherwise noted
Opening Night
Fire / Avec amour et acharnement
Claire Denis, 2021, France, 116m
French with English subtitles
The legendary Claire
Denis delivers an understated yet psychologically vivid romantic drama,
co-written with her Let the Sunshine In collaborator Christine
Angot. On her way to work one day, Sara (Juliette Binoche) spies her ex-lover
François (Grégoire Colin) outside of the metro; shortly thereafter, by a
seeming coincidence, François gets in touch with Jean (Vincent Lindon), his old
friend—and Sara’s partner—to propose they go into business together on a new
venture. François’s unexpected reemergence in their lives, and the emotional
destabilization that comes with it, propel this finely wrought and melancholic
narrative, with Denis’s characteristic knack for capturing the intimate
sensuality of everyday life on full display, bolstered by a typically gorgeous
score from regular collaborators Tindersticks. An IFC Films release.
Thursday,
March 3, 6:30pm (Introduced by Claire Denis and Juliette Binoche)
Thursday, March 3, 9:15pm
Anaïs in Love / Les Amours d'Anaïs
Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, 2021, France, 98m
English and French with English subtitles
Behind on her rent,
contemplating breaking up with her boyfriend, and struggling to complete her
thesis, thirtysomething Anaïs (Anaïs Demoustier) is in a manic search for
stability. An affair with middle-aged publisher Daniel (Denis Podalydès, also
in this year’s Rendez-Vous selection Deception) seems like a dead
end until Anaïs discovers the literary work of his formidable partner Emilie
(Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi). Writer-director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s
effervescent feature debut (which premiered in the Critics’ Week section at
last year’s Cannes) draws in part upon her background in publishing to ground a
tale of self-discovery as literate and delightful as it is unexpected, keeping
both Anaïs and viewers off-balance until the very final, cliché-shattering
final shot. A Magnolia Pictures release.
Sunday,
March 6, 12:45pm (Q&A with Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet)
Friday, March 11, 3:30pm
Authentik / Suprêmes
Audrey Estrougo, 2021, France, 112m
French with English subtitles
Doing for French rap duo
Suprême NTM what Straight Outta Compton did for N.W.A., Audrey
Estrougo’s crowd-pleasing and galvanizing biopic kicks off in 1989. A
collaboration that begins on a whim between two friends takes off after an
electrifying debut performance unexpectedly thrusts JoeyStarr (Théo Christine)
and Kool Shen (Sandor Funtek) into the spotlight. The pair court controversy as
their music increasingly speaks to their marginalized community’s struggles,
building to a head when their single “Police” attracts official outrage. A
dynamic reconstruction of a moment in hip-hop’s global explosion, Estrougo
takes viewers back to a key moment in French society when long-dismissed voices
started, quite literally, to be heard in a new way.
Tuesday,
March 8, 6:00pm (Q&A with director of photography Eric Dumont)
Friday, March 11, 1:00pm
Between Two Worlds / Le Quai de Ouistreham
Emmanuel Carrère, 2021, France, 106m
French with English subtitles
Famed journalist
Marianne Winckler (Juliette Binoche) goes undercover to investigate the
exploitation of cleaning people in the north of France, eventually landing a
job on a ferry. As she learns more about the plight of these workers on the
margins, Marianne grows closer to her new comrades—while simultaneously
beginning to harbor concerns that she’ll be complicit in their exploitation
when she returns to Paris and writes a book about her experiences. A longtime
passion project for star Binoche, Between Two Worlds takes
inspiration from investigative journalist Florence Aubenas’s 2010 best-selling
nonfiction book The Night Cleaner; the writer would only agree to
let it be adapted by the great French novelist Emmanuel Carrère, who co-wrote
and directed this feature—his first since 2005’s acclaimed La Moustache.
A Cohen Media Group release.
Saturday,
March 5, 6:15pm (Q&A with Emmanuel Carrère and Juliette Binoche)
Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer /
Bruno Reidal
Vincent Le Port, 2021, France, 101m
French with English subtitles
1905: When Bruno Reidal
(Dimitri Doré), a young seminary student, confesses to the brutal murder of a
13-year-old, three doctors are tasked with determining whether or not he’s
insane. At a moment when the separation of church and state has just been
legally codified in France, determining the motivations of a future member of
the Catholic Church proves especially tricky. Under the supervision of Dr.
Alexandre Lacassagne (Jean-Luc Vincent), Bruno is tasked with writing his
memoirs to help the committee make their decision. Working from the real
Reidal’s lucid, extraordinarily detached, and analytical volume, Vincent Le
Port’s feature debut is a chilly, unnerving, and existentially charged portrait
of a sexually driven killer within a religious milieu.
Wednesday,
March 9, 1:00pm
Friday, March 11, 9:00pm
Deception / Tromperie
Arnaud Desplechin, 2021, France, 105m
French with English subtitles
“I’m a talk fetishist!”
exclaims novelist Philip (Denis Podalydès) in one of the many conversations
before, during, and after sex with his married (but not to him) partner (Léa
Seydoux). Love, Israel, regret, and mortality are all in the heady
conversational mix in the latest from master filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin (A
Christmas Tale, My Golden Days). A longtime dream project for
the co-writer and director, Deception is a faithful adaptation
of Philip Roth’s novel of the same name, whose fusion of rigorous intellectual
discourse and explosive emotionality is a perfect fit for Desplechin. The bold
chorus of voices from lovers past, present, and possibly imaginary includes a
deeply moving supporting turn from Emmanuelle Devos, the auteur’s frequent
leading lady.
Saturday,
March 5, 9:15pm (Q&A with Arnaud Desplechin)
Sunday, March 13, 3:30pm
Everything Went Fine / Tout s'est bien passé
François Ozon, 2021, France, 113m
French and German with English subtitles
After a stroke leaves
him paralyzed in one arm, 85-year-old André Bernheim (Rendez-Vous favorite
André Dussolier) demands that his eldest daughter, Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau),
help him commit suicide. With the grudging support of her younger sister
Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), Emmanuèle begins sorting through the complicated
processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s request.
Based on an autobiographical novel by Emmanuèle Bernheim, the latest film from
the ever-unpredictable, genre-hopping François Ozon is a dramatic change of
pace from last year’s nostalgic and romantic Rendez-Vous selection Summer
of 85. Unsentimental and often surprisingly funny, Everything Went
Fine offers both a look at the logistics of approaching death on one’s
own terms and a nuanced portrait of a complicated family, featuring the
legendary Charlotte Rampling (Ozon’s Under the Sand star) as
André’s estranged wife. A Cohen Media Group release.
Monday,
March 7, 6:00pm
Gallant Indies / Indes galantes
Philippe Béziat, 2020, France, 108m
English and French with English subtitles
In 2019, eight opera
singers and 30 dancers from a wide variety of artistic and demographic
backgrounds convened at Paris’s Opéra Bastille to begin work on an ambitious
new production of Les Indes galantes. The baroque composition by
Jean-Philippe Rameau is a cornerstone of French musical history, but its
beautiful melodies come alongside a host of outdated conceptions of “exotic”
locations and peoples. Philippe Béziat’s documentary captures the work of this
multifaceted troupe under the direction of artist and filmmaker Clément
Cogitore; together, they work to deliver Rameau’s opera into the 21st century
and the everyday diversity of contemporary France, integrating questions of
racism, classism, and colonialism into a radical new staging that both honors
and transforms the original text. A Distrib Films US release.
Saturday,
March 12, 6:15pm (Q&A with Philippe Béziat)
Guermantes
Christophe Honoré, 2021, France, 139m
French with English subtitles
North American Premiere
When Rendez-Vous regular
Christophe Honoré (Love Songs, On a Magical Night) began
work on a stage adaptation of Proust in spring 2020, the COVID pandemic quickly
shut it down. Rehearsals resumed that summer, but when performances were once
again canceled until fall, Honoré decided to adapt by continuing to rehearse
for the pure, communal joy of the theatrical experience—even if there would be
no in-person audience to witness the performances that resulted. That’s the
part-real, part-fictional premise of Honoré’s latest film, which—for the first
time—places the writer-director front and center as a character in his own
work. Despite the obstacles around them, Honoré and his theatrical community
forge ahead, finding love, inspiration, and a healthy helping of casually nude
conversations along the way.
Tuesday,
March 8, 3:00pm
Sunday, March 13, 12:30pm
Hold Me Tight / Serre moi fort
Mathieu Amalric, 2021, France, 97m
French and German with English subtitles
Vicky Krieps (Phantom
Thread, Bergman Island) gives another riveting performance as
Camille, a woman on the run from her family for reasons that aren’t immediately
clear. Widely renowned as an actor but less well-known here for his equally
impressive work behind the camera, Mathieu Amalric’s sixth feature directorial
outing—his most ambitious to date—is a virtuosic, daringly fluid portrait of
one woman’s fractured psyche. Alternating between Camille’s adventures on the
road and her abandoned husband Marc (Arieh Worthalter) as he struggles to take
care of their children at home, Amalric’s film keeps viewers uncertain as to
the reality of what they’re seeing until the final moments of this richly
rewarding, moving, and unpredictable portrait of grief.
Sunday,
March 6, 9:00pm (Q&A with Mathieu Amalric)
Sunday, March 13, 6:00pm
The Horizon / L’Horizon
Emilie Carpentier, 2021, France, 85m
French with English subtitles
North American Premiere
As Emilie Carpentier’s
debut feature The Horizon begins, 18-year-old Adja (Tracy
Gotoas) is disconnected from her community—indifferent to climate change and
mocking the efforts of activists to oppose construction of a new mixed-use
facility. But when she grows closer to classmate Arthur (Sylvain Le Gall)—an
earnest activist and fellow intern at a nursing home—Adja begins to find a
sense of purpose in political engagement, drifting away from her shallow group
of friends. At The Horizon’s center is an in-depth immersion in the
routines, self-constructed communities, and urgent day-to-day efforts of an
organically diverse coalition of young activists. Harnessing flawless
performances from her young leads, Carpentier plunges viewers into the midst of
a new generation of activists’ coming of age.
Tuesday,
March 8, 1:00pm
Thursday, March 10, 6:00pm (Q&A with Emilie Carpentier)
Lost Illusions / Illusions perdues
Xavier Giannoli, 2021, France, 149m
French with English subtitles
In 1821, Lucien de
Rubempré (Benjamin Voisin) arrives in Paris as a sensitive and idealistic young
poet determined to write a reputation-making novel. Instead, he finds himself
swept into journalism, whose influence and reach is booming with the help of
the printing press, widely available of late. Under the mentorship of editor
Étienne Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste), Lucien agrees to write rave theater reviews
for bribes, achieving material success at the expense of his conscience. With
this sweeping, sumptuous adaptation of one of Honoré de Balzac’s greatest
novels, Xavier Giannoli crafts a surprisingly contemporary tale of corruption
amidst an early form of “fake news,” boasting an all-star cast that includes
Gérard Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar. A Music Box Films release.
Tuesday,
March 8, 9:00pm
Friday, March 11, 6:00pm
Madeleine Collins
Antoine Barraud, 2021, France/Belgium/Switzerland, 102m
French with English subtitles
Judith Fauvet (Virginie
Efira, most recently acclaimed for her leading performance in Paul
Verhoeven’s Benedetta) leads a double life with two families:
raising a daughter with one partner in Switzerland, and another two sons in
France with another. The mysterious reasons for Judith’s lies, and the
complications that ensue from her increasingly futile efforts to keep the two
lives separate, propel the third narrative feature from Antoine Barraud (Portrait
of the Artist, Rendez-Vous 2015), anchored by a virtuoso turn from Efira in
all of her character’s many guises. The question of what Judith wants is slowly
unraveled in this gorgeously shot film that’s equal parts drama and
thriller—unpredictable in its unfolding, full of unexpected twists, and
unexpectedly satisfying in its resolution.
Friday,
March 4, 3:45pm (Q&A with Antoine Barraud)
Saturday, March 12, 9:15pm (Q&A with Antoine Barraud)
Magnetic Beats / Les Magnétiques
Vincent Maël Cardona, 2021, France/Germany, 98m
English, German, and French with English subtitles
Brittany, early 1980s:
With political and cultural transition in the air, little brother Philippe
(Thimotée Robart) stands in awe of moody, indulgent, but charismatic older
sibling Jérôme (Joseph Olivennes). The two are passionate about operating a
post-punk pirate station named (in homage to Joy Division) Radio Warsaw. Jérôme
is the silver-tongued but mercurial on-air DJ, Philippe the shy technical
support with a talent for sonic collage. Both fall for single mother Marianne (Marie
Colomb), just before Philippe has to begin his compulsory year of military
service abroad in Berlin. Vincent Maël Cardona’s feature-film debut (which
premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at last year’s Cannes) is a heady,
emotionally rich reconstruction of an intense moment of social and cultural
change, complete with an excellent soundtrack.
Saturday,
March 5, 3:30pm (Q&A with Vincent Maël Cardona)
Wednesday, March 9, 8:30pm
Our Men / Mon légionnaire
Rachel Lang, 2021, Belgium/France, 106m
French, Russian, and English with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
In a dramatic change of
pace from his usual urbane parts, Louis Garrel (a regular presence in
Rendez-Vous selections and a talented director in his own right) stars as
Maxime, a stoic commander in the French Foreign Legion. Stationed at an outpost
in Corsica, Maxime is placed in charge of a dangerous and sensitive mission to
Mali. Under his command is Ukrainian soldier Vlad (Aleksandr Kuznetsov), whose
fiancée Nika (Ina Marija Bartaité) babysits for Maxime’s wife (Camille Cottin).
Deftly juggling the perspectives of officers, the men they command, and the
partners of both, Our Men is an impressively assured and
unsensational drama about an oft-misunderstood organization, given palpable
realism by writer-director Rachel Lang, who draws upon her own background as an
officer in the French army reserves.
Friday,
March 4, 1:00pm
Monday, March 7, 8:30pm
Paris, 13th District / Les Olympiades, Paris
13e
Jacques Audiard, 2021, 105m
French, Mandarin, and English with English subtitles
Transplanting the work
of graphic novelist Adrian Tomine from the U.S. to France, Palme d’Or–winner
Jacques Audiard (Dheepan) dives into the mores of modern love in his
latest film. A series of overlapping characters and stories begins with Émilie
(Lucie Zhang), a young woman who hooks up with the first roommate she finds to
supplement her income. Meanwhile, young Nora (Noémie Merlant) is mistaken for
an online sex worker, Amber Sweet (Jehnny Beth, of the post-punk band Savages),
and gets in touch with her, only to unexpectedly develop a connection. Casual
sex, webcams, and fluidly intertwining relationships are all explored in this
unsparing but nonjudgmental portrait of young Parisians in and out of love and
lust. An IFC Films release.
Friday,
March 4, 9:00pm (Q&A with Jacques Audiard)
Monday, March 7, 1:00pm
Petite Solange
Axelle Ropert, 2021, France, 86m
French with English subtitles
North American Premiere
Jade Springer makes an
extraordinary feature-film debut as Solange, a lively 13-year-old living in
Nantes with her music-shop-owner father Antoine (Philippe Katerine) and actress
mother Aurélia (Léa Drucker). When their marriage starts falling apart, the
normally cheerful Solange is unprepared and emotionally destabilized. While her
brother Romain (Grégoire Montana) takes advantage of an opportunity to avoid
turmoil by going abroad, Solange feels increasingly alone and erratic in
navigating this unexpected familial collapse. Deftly transitioning from comedy
to drama, director Axelle Ropert (Miss and the Doctors, Rendez-Vous
2014) takes inspiration from The 400 Blows in a sensitive
divorce drama that places children, rather than adults, at the center of
attention.
Monday,
March 7, 3:30pm
Saturday, March 12, 12:30pm (Q&A with Axelle Ropert)
Rise / En corps
Cédric Klapisch, 2022, France/Belgium, 117m
French and English with English subtitles
North American Premiere
Ballerina Elise (Marion
Barbeau) suffers two injuries at the same time: a devastating fall on stage
that leaves her injured and unable to dance for up to two years, and her
partner suddenly and humiliatingly breaking up with her for another dancer.
Initially devastated, Elise slowly rebuilds her life while redirecting her
efforts to contemporary dance in the troupe of real-life Israeli choreographer
Hofesh Shechter, playing himself. Opening with a lengthy performance sure to
delight ballet aficionados, Rise places real-life ballerina
Barbeau at the center of the latest crowd-pleaser from Cédric Klapisch (L'Auberge
espagnole; Rendez-Vous 2020 selection Someone, Somewhere). In a
star-making performance, Barbeau—a principal in the Paris Opera Ballet—proves
every bit as talented an actress on screen as she is a dancer on stage.
Wednesday,
March 9, 6:00pm
Sunday, March 13, 8:30pm
Robust / Robuste
Constance Meyer, 2021, France/Belgium, 95m
French with English subtitles
Well past his prime,
once-famed actor Georges (Gérard Depardieu) is struggling with health problems
and a reputation for being difficult to work with. While preparing for his
latest role, Georges is thrown for a loop when his assistant takes time off,
leaving him temporarily dependent on help from replacement security guard (and
amateur female wrestler) Aïssa (Déborah Lukumuena). The two develop an
increasingly warm and supportive relationship in Constance Meyer’s assured
feature debut, whose premise is reminiscent of the unlikely friendship in
2012’s Rendez-Vous selection The Intouchables, but with a drier
sense of humor that’s all its own. Front and center is Depardieu, winking at
his own image as an increasingly difficult and divisive legend in a part as
hilarious as it is poignant.
Sunday,
March 6, 3:30pm (Q&A with Déborah Lukumuena)
Thursday, March 10, 3:45pm
Secret Name / La Place d'une autre
Aurélia Georges, 2021, France, 112m
French with English subtitles
While serving on the
front lines of World War I, a former sex worker who’s now a nurse, Nélie
Laborde (Lyna Khoudri, The French Dispatch), is given the
unexpected chance to start a new life when one of her patients, Rose Juillet
(Maud Wyler), is seemingly killed by invading German troops. Nélie assumes
Rose’s identity and leaves the field of battle for the north of France, where
the well-off Eléonore de Lengwil (Rendez-Vous favorite Sabine Azéma) lives. Rose
was to be her ward, and—under her false identity—Nélie grows closer to Eléonore
over their shared love of literature. Loosely adapted and updated from a Wilkie
Collins novel, Aurélia Georges’s film (which premiered at last year’s Locarno
Film Festival) brings the intensity of a thriller to a thoughtful drama about
female identity.
Thursday,
March 10, 1:00pm
Saturday, March 12, 3:15pm (Q&A with Aurélia Georges)
A Tale of Love and Desire / Une histoire
d'amour et de désir
Leyla Bouzid, 2021, France/Tunisia, 102m
French and Arabic with English subtitles
Two students from very
different backgrounds, both enrolled at the Sorbonne, find themselves
passionately attracted to each other in Tunisian-born writer-director Leyla
Bouzid’s sophomore feature. Ahmed (Sami Outalbali) is a shy, socially
conservative Arab of Algerian background, born and raised in Paris; Farah
(Zbeida Belhajamor) is an outgoing, sexually confident young Tunisian
immigrant. They meet on the way to the same bookstore to purchase ancient,
sexually charged Arabic poetry, and their mutual study of these texts helps
kindle a spark between the two that causes Ahmed to increasingly question his
values. Bouzid’s sensual and sensitive drama is a cross-sectional portrait of
the diverse varieties of Arab diaspora life unfolding in the heart of a very
contemporary Paris. A Distrib Films US release
Saturday,
March 5, 12:30pm (Q&A with Leyla Bouzid)
Wednesday, March 9, 3:30pm
Touchez pas au grisbi
Jacques Becker, France/Italy, 1954, 94m
French with English subtitles
Aging hoods Max le
Menteur (Jean Gabin) and Riton (René Dary) are sitting pretty after pulling off
the heist of a lifetime—50 million francs in gold bullion snatched at Orly
airport. For Max, this grisbi (loot) will ensure him a cushy
retirement; for Riton, it will help him hold onto his two-faced girlfriend Josy
(Jeanne Moreau, in one of her earliest film appearances), who, along with Max’s
moll Lola, is appearing in a new floor show at the nightclub of their longtime
underworld buddy, Pierrot (nicknamed “Fats”). But Max and Riton have another
thing coming. Director Jacques Becker’s brilliantly crafted, surprisingly
poignant crime drama features Gabin in a tremendous performance that helped
relaunch his sagging career and won him the Best Actor award at the 1954 Venice
Film Festival.
Friday,
March 4, 6:30pm (Introduced by Jim Jarmusch)
Undercover / Enquête sur un scandale d'État
Thierry de Peretti, 2021, France, 121m
French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Based on the real-life
scandal that led to the 2017 indictment of police chief François Thierry for
drug smuggling, Undercover patiently untangles a complicated
trafficking scheme that unfolded within the legal system itself. When informant
Hubert Antoine (Roschdy Zem) makes his initial outreach to Libération journalist
Stéphane Vilner (Pio Marmaï), he produces documentation that reveals narcotics
chief Jacques Billard (Vincent Lindon, also in this year’s Opening Night
selection Fire) to be a high-level trafficker. The dogged,
sometimes thorny relationship between the two men over three years—and the
consequences of their revelations—drive this methodical procedural in the
tradition of All the President’s Men and Spotlight,
shot by Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) with classical
restraint and elegance.
Sunday,
March 6, 6:15pm
Thursday, March 10, 8:45pm
FREE TALKS
All talks are held at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 W. 65th St.)
Free Talk: Claire Denis & Jim Jarmusch
Claire Denis, the
singular cinematic visionary behind Beau Travail (NYFF37), Let
the Sunshine In (NYFF55), and High Life (NYFF56), returns
to Film at Lincoln Center with this year's Opening Night selection Fire,
a searing and unsparing romantic drama. We're excited to bring together Denis
and Jim Jarmusch—an icon of the American independent filmmaking landscape, and
the official Guest of Honor at the 2022 edition of Rendez-Vous—for an extended
conversation about their decades-spanning careers.
Friday,
March 4, 5:00pm, Francesca Beale Theater
Free Talk: Juliette Binoche & Déborah
Lukumuena
In a Rendez-Vous lineup
that features an abundance of extraordinary performances from women, two names
stand out: Juliette Binoche, a much-acclaimed icon of French and international
cinema, anchoring new films from directors Claire Denis (Fire) and
Emmanuel Carrère (Between Two Worlds); and Déborah Lukumuena, a singular
talent and rising star who embodies the best of a new generation of young
French actors, performing opposite Gérard Depardieu in Constance Meyer's Robust.
Join us for a conversation in which we'll explore two women's professional
trajectories and creative influences, their philosophies and priorities in
selecting new projects, and their respective relationships with the American
film industry.
Saturday,
March 5, 4:30pm, Amphitheater
Free Talk: Working the image: A
French-American look at cinematography
The collaboration
between a film's director and its director of photography is central to
crafting the film's visual language, defining its forms and rhythms, and
bringing its characters and setting to life. This special panel conversation
will bring together French and American filmmakers and cinematographers—working
across a range of genres, styles, and moods—to discuss their influences, their
creative philosophies and working methods, and the choices that shape their
artistic practice. In partnership with French In Motion and the Gotham Film
& Media Institute
Monday,
March 7, 5:00pm, Amphitheater
UNIFRANCE
Founded in 1949 and
strengthened thanks to its merger with TV France International in 2021,
Unifrance is the organization responsible for promoting French cinema and TV
content worldwide.
Located in Paris, Unifrance employs around 50
staff members, as well as representatives based in the U.S., in China, and soon
in Japan. The organization currently brings together more than 1,000 French
cinema and TV content professionals (producers, talents, agents, sales
companies, etc.) working together to promote French films and TV programmes
among foreign audiences, industry executives, and media.
Unifrance is supported by the French
government, the CNC, the PROCIREP and by many public and private partners.
Visit UNIFRANCE.ORG for more information.
FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center is dedicated to
supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film
culture.
Film at Lincoln Center fulfills its mission
through the programming of festivals, series, retrospectives, and new releases;
the publication of Film Comment; and the presentation of podcasts,
talks, special events, and artist initiatives. Since its founding in 1969, this
nonprofit organization has brought the celebration of American and
international film to the world-renowned Lincoln Center arts complex, making
the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broad audience and
ensuring that it remains an essential art form for years to come.
This project is supported in part by an award
from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the
Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State
Legislature. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter and Instagram.
Labels: Anaïs Demoustier, Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis, Emmanuel Carrère, Fire, Jacques Audiard, Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Amalric, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema