She portrays the titular Antoinette, a primary school teacher whose long-planned summer vacation with her married lover Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe) is upended when she discovers he is taking his family on a hiking trip in the picturesque Cévennes National Park instead.

Antoinette – completely unversed in the ways of the wilderness – decides to follow their trail and, paired with an unlikely donkey companion, discovers much more than she bargained for.

Antoinette in the Cevennes will be released in NSW•VIC•WA•ACT: 8 April 2021 | QLD: 15 April 2021 | SA: 22 April 2021
www.antoinetteinthecevennes.com.au

Inspired by the life of Florence Foster Jenkins. 1921, the beginning of the Golden Twenties. Not far from Paris it is party day at Marguerite Dumont’s castle. Like every year, an array of music lovers gathers around a great cause at the owner’s place. Nobody knows much about this woman except that she is rich and that her whole life is devoted to her passion: music. Marguerite sings. She sings wholeheartedly, but she sings terribly out of tune.

When a young, provocative journalist decides to write a rave article on her latest performance, Marguerite starts to believe even further in her talent. This gives her the courage she needs to follow her dream. Despite her husband’s reluctance, and with the help of a has-been divo, she decides to train for her first recital in front of a crowd of complete strangers.

Competition will be drawn 20 April 2016, winners will be notified by mail.

Alexander is like any other kid: playful, curious and naive. He is also a trained assassin. Raised in a hidden paradise on the outskirts of town, Alexander has grown up seeing the world through the eyes of his father, Gregori. As Alexander begins to think for himself, creeping fears take shape and Gregori’s idyllic world unravels.

www.facebook.com/madmanfilms

Competition will be drawn 27 May 2015, winners will be notified by mail.

The film has experienced great success at the French box office and has also been selected to screen at the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival 2015!

Samba migrated to France 10 years ago from Senegal, and has since been plugging away at various lowly jobs. Alice is a senior executive who has recently undergone a burnout. Both struggle to get out of their dead-end lives Samba’s willing to do whatever it takes to get working papers, while Alice tries to get her life back on track until fate draws them together.
www.transmissionfilms.com.au
[contact-form-7 id=”2037″ title=”Samba Competition Form”]

Competition will be drawn 01 April 2015, winners will be notified by mail.

During the 1800s Paris had witnessed the remarkable growth of the popular press. The technique of lithography, invented at the turn of the eighteenth century, was adopted by practicing artists as it was a printmaking technique conducive to drawing freely and directly. For publishers of newspapers, lithography allowed for larger print runs compared to earlier printing methods. Newspapers and journals begin to include serialisation of novels by writers like Émile Zola as well as caricatures by artists such as Daumier, which were often satiric and of a contemporary social or political nature. All of these factors helped to sell newspapers and journals to a growing and appreciative audience.

The generation of French artists who followed Daumier in the nineteenth century were inspired by his critical observations, which became an extraordinary reservoir of ideas. Both Degas and then Lautrec were enthusiastic admirers of French caricature, delighting in its animated qualities, stylistic freedoms and contemporary themes. They were particularly enamoured of Daumier’s caricature. Degas held Daumier in high regard, noting: ‘But I am of the opinion … that there have been three great draftsmen in the nineteenth century: Ingres, Delacroix and Daumier’. He was inspired by Daumier’s drawing, his interest in physiognomy, his expressive qualities and modern themes, which the younger artist then adapted. This is evident from Degas’ notebooks of the late 1860s and 70s, which include the artist’s copies of Daumier’s caricature and signature. Daumier’s art came to inform Degas as he looked to more contemporary ideas and left behind those grounded in classical or historical themes during this time.

Degas embraced motifs of modern French life—the ballet, the racecourse, the café-concert and the demi-monde—and played an important role in the rejection of mythological and historical subjects favoured by the more adventurist artists of the time. Many of Degas’ ideas on composition and subjects were drawn from Daumier. The caricaturist’s lithographs were a particular favourite and Degas acquired about 1800 out of almost 4000 prints for his own private collection. Degas was much taken with Daumier’s skill as a draughtsman, and both shared a mutual interest in physiognomy, and the theory that appearance reveals character.

In turn Lautrec adopted Daumier’s penetrating eye and wicked sense of humour. The youngest of the three artists featured in Impressions of Paris, Lautrec also assimilated lessons from Degas, borrowing themes and compositions from his idol. Lautrec admired and emulated Degas, which is evident in his compositions of drinkers at bars, dancers on stage, cabaret scenes and courtesans. All reveal the powerful role that Degas, and by extension Daumier, played in Lautrec’s artistic development. However, in his prolific yet short life, dying before his 37th birthday, Lautrec mapped out an extraordinarily inventive and original style.

These three master draughtsmen captured the spirit of Paris in their prints and posters. Through the examination of this work, we find clues as to why dramatic changes took place in French art over the nineteenth century. They formed part of other generations of artists who admired Daumier and who adapted the caricaturist’s critical lithographic observations. In this way Daumier’s legacy was a brilliant journalistic record of the modern capital and contributed to an era in France ripe for a new art.

Featuring over 150 prints, posters, drawings and monotypes drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Impressions of Paris: Lautrec, Degas, Daumier examines the role of each artist in the development of nineteenth century art in France—their influence and their originality.

Impressions of Paris Exhibition:Lautrec, Degas, Daumier
Venue: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Dates:  8 November 2014 – 15 March 2015
www.nga.gov.au