The Lovely Month of May / Le Joli Mai
Feb. 26 @ 5* & 8 PM / Feb. 27 @ 2 PM
*presented by Professor John Greene, Department of Classical and Modern Languages, University of Louisville

The Lovely Month of May / Le Joli Mai is Chris Marker's portrait of Paris and Parisians shot during May 1962.  Filmed just after the March ceasefire between France and Algeria, Le Joli Maidocuments Paris during a turning point in French history: the first time since 1939 that France was not involved in any war. It is a film with several thousand actors including a poet, a student, an owl, a housewife, a stockbroker, a competitive dancer, two lovers, General de Gaulle and several cats. Long unavailable in the U.S. and a major work in the oeuvre of filmmaker Chris Marker (1921-2012),Le Joli Mai was awarded the International Critics Prize at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival and the “First Work” Prize at the 1963 Venice Film Festival. See the trailer here.

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University of Louisville’s French Film Fest with a different award-winning film shown for free each week. The films offered include classics, animation, documentary, comedy and drama. The 5 p.m. showing of each film will be followed by a conversation with a subject matter expert TBA.

*Screenings at 5 PM & 8 PM on Thursdays & 2 PM on Fridays

All films are in French, with English subtitles.
*The 5 p.m. screenings will include post-film discussions with local experts on French-speaking cultures and film studies.