34th Rencontres Henri Langlois coming up

The 34^th Rencontres Henri Langlois (International Film Schools Festival) happens in Poitiers from 2 to 11 December. This year, the Festival shortlisted 40 films from 1323 entries from all over the globe. All genres are represented in its International Competition selection which features "the best-crafted, most hard-hitting and surprising works from young film-makers worldwide... Whether they’ll make you cry or laugh, the shortlisted films all have a good strong story-line... There will be something for everyone : off-the-wall comedies, intimate and involved documentaries, strange experimental work, classic drama, animation for children and for grown-ups too…"

Les Rencontres Henri Langlois is an annual international festival of film academies where schools from diverse countries can submit entries to the competition each year. It is also an opportunity for the public to view fine examples of independent filmmaking today from new, promising filmmakers. It also strives to be an active forum for young directors and professionals from all over the world and the public alike. And it seeks to be a centerpoint for the "cutting edge visual image education" covering all school levels, from primary to university.

The Festival aims to be a breeding ground for young filmmakers from all over the world. Some of the competition's "discoveries" include Nick Park (with the first Wallace & Gromit), Pascale Ferran, Noémie Lvovsky and Arnaud Desplechin, who all exhibited their films here.

The Jury's ‘Grand Prix’, the Public Prize and a French Critics prize are among the awards given to participants in the international competition.

The festival, initially dedicated to graduation films, was created 1977 in Tours by Henri Langlois, founder of the French Cinémathèque, who died a few weeks before the opening of the first edition. In his honor, the Festival was named after him. In 1990, Rencontres Internationales Henri Langlois moved to Poitiers. By 2000, Graduation Films festival became the International Film Schools Festival. And in 2004, the management of the Festival was entrusted to the Scène nationale de Poitiers which accommodates a "Research and discovery" art house theater. After celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2007, the festival inaugurated the Theatre & Auditorium of Poitiers in the following year.

Screening information here.