Q&A | Claude-Éric Poiroux: European cinema in town tomorrow

China’s leg of the Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers, a cinema festival taking place annually in Angers, France, is coming to Macau for the first time as festival organizers partner with the Alliance Française de Macao to hold the event here tomorrow. Three films will be shown at the Handover Gifts Museum: “La Belle Vie” (6:30p.m.), Flowing (2:00pm) and “Todos queremos lo mejor para ella” (8:30p.m.). The Times spoke with Mr Claude-Éric Poiroux, general and artistic director of the festival, to learn more about the event, ahead of his arrival in Macau.

Macau Daily Times (MDT) – Could you explain to us the concept behind the Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers?
Claude-Eric Poiroux (CEP) – It is a cinema festival that each year premiers European films. We invite about 100 young film directors from all over Europe, who present their films for the first time. These include short films, documentaries, animation and feature films. So there’s a group of young film directors, aged between 25 and 30 years old, who come to Angers to present their work for the first time.
MDT – This is also the first time that the festival’s China leg will be taking place in Macau. Which films will be shown this Saturday and what are their respective storylines?
CEP – We will be presenting two feature films and one documentary. This is the first time we’re coming to Macau, and two of the film directors will also be present: the French film director Jean Denizot and Catalan film director, Mar Coll. “La Belle Vie,” by Jean Denizot, takes place in France, and is set in the countryside. It tells the story of a father who takes  away his two children, travelling and hiding them for 10 years, since he has a problem with his wife. It’s a story about these years of traveling and hiding, but at the same time about education, and how these two children have been living on the edge of society.
Mar Coll’s film is about a young woman living in Barcelona. She has issues when it comes to relating with her family, her husband and at work. The third film is a French-Chinese documentary, which takes place in China.

MDT – Why did you choose Macau this time and these particular films?
CEP – We have a link with the Alliance Française de Macao, through its director Xavier Garnier. We are truly happy to be introducing the festival here for the first time. For us, it’s an opportunity to come to Macau and present young European film directors to an audience that lives far away from Europe. We believe that cinema is a universal language; the images, the stories can be understood and we are also subtitling the films. It’s wonderful to discover these films, as they are more personal, and produced with a higher degree of freedom, different from those that have been produced with larger budgets.
We will also be showing Chinese films in Angers, in January, because our presence in China after four years aims exactly at having an exchange; in cooperating and recognizing that [through this partnership] we aim to better understand Chinese cinema, while on the other hand, China also learns more about European cinema.