Tribeca in love with french cinema to be continued...

The Tribeca Film Festival - the renowned international film festival co-founded by Robert De Niro - has announced its program, which includes several films with French roots.  Since its founding nine years ago, Tribeca has showcased a breadth of work from around the world.  This year's films represent contemporary international filmmaking at its finest, bringing together fresh voices with established storytellers.  

Some of the films in the selection have French ties. From Kim Chapiron's French feature "Dog Pound," which examines the unlikely friendship formed between three incarcerated teenagers fighting for their lives in a detention center, to a romantic comedy starring Vanessa Paradis about a brother and sister duo who make a living by breaking up couples ("Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur)"), there are a range of French films that will engage, inspire and entertain Tribeca audiences.

Below please find additional information about these French films, and others, that are appearing in this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which runs from April 21 - May 2. 

A Brand New Life (Yeo-haeng-ja), directed and written by Ounie Lecomte. (South Korea, France) - New York Premiere. When her father offers to take her on a trip, nine-year-old Jin-hee happily sings him a love song, the bittersweet notes inaudible to her own ear, until she realizes he has abandoned her at a Catholic orphanage. Celebrated from the Cannes to Berlin film festivals, Ounie Lecomte's directorial debut, a semi-autobiographical portrait of 1970s South Korea, masterfully captures the emotional journey of loss, friendship, and starting anew. In Korean with English subtitles.

The Chameleon (Le Cameleon), directed by Jean-Paul Salomé, written by Jean-Paul Salomé and Natalie Carter. (France, USA) - World Premiere, Narrative. When teenager Nicholas Barclay (Marc-André Grondin, C.R.A.Z.Y.) mysteriously resurfaces after he went missing three years ago, his sister (Emilie De Ravin, Lost) and mother (Ellen Barkin) welcome him back with open arms, but a no-nonsense FBI agent (Famke Janssen) is out to prove he's an impostor. Working from a true story, director Jean-Paul Salomé (Female Agents) delivers an unsettling psychological thriller-featuring an unforgettable performance by Barkin-that will keep you guessing. In English.

Dog Pound, directed by Kim Chapiron, written by Kim Chapiron and Jeremie Delon. (France) - World Premiere. In North America more than 100,000 children are held in detention centers. Sixty percent are destined to become repeat offenders. Director Kim Chapiron (Sheitan, TFF '06) takes a searing look at three incarcerated teenagers fighting for their lives and for hope. An electrifying cast delivers blistering performances packed with intensity and emotional power in this story of unlikely friendships in the midst of a brutal and deficient correctional system.

Gainsbourg, Je t'Aime... Moi Non Plus, directed and written by Joann Sfar. (France) - International Premiere. From a young man in Nazi-occupied Paris to the sultry crooner who bedded Brigitte Bardot and married Jane Birkin to the vulnerable poet hidden behind a shroud of provocation-Serge Gainsbourg's is a life large enough for grand treatment on film. One of France's greatest mavericks is brought back to life (uncannily, by Eric Elmosnino) in this imaginative and visually flamboyant film debut from one of France's greatest cartoonists. In French with English subtitles.

Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur), directed by Pascal Chaumeil, written by Laurent Zeitoun, Jeremy Doner, and Yoann Gromb. (France) - New York Premiere. Alex (Romain Duris) and his sister (Julie Ferrier) break up couples for a living. They have a 100 percent success rate and only two rules: Never split a healthy couple, and never fall in love. But with a week to break up beautiful Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) and her seemingly perfect boyfriend, the rules start to bend, and soon the heartbreakers risk having their own hearts broken. This charming and glamorous romantic comedy veers from laughs to tears to tears of laughter. In French with English subtitles.

Lola, directed by Brillante Mendoza, written by Linda Casimiro. (Philippines, France) - New York Premiere. Two elderly matriarchs bear the consequences of a crime involving their grandsons: one is murdered, the other is the suspect. Frail, poor, but resolute, they individually traipse around to the prisons, funeral homes, and courtrooms of a stormy Manila in hopes of raising the funds necessary for the victim's burial, and the suspect's bail bond. Brillante Mendoza, named best director at Cannes for Kinatay (2009), is one of the strongest cinematic voices from the Philippines. In Filipino, Tagalog with English subtitles.

Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Anne Wermelinger. (France) - New York Premiere, Narrative. Bazil (Dany Boon, Joyeux Noël) is a gentle-natured but unlucky man with a bullet lodged in his brain. Together with a motley crew of wacky new friends, he exacts an intricate revenge plot against the giant weapons manufacturers responsible for his lowly lot in life. From the inimitable and hyper-imaginative director of Delicatessen and Amélie comes a wild and whimsical underdog story, a David and Goliath tale by way of Buster Keaton. In French with English subtitles. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Moloch Tropical, directed by Raoul Peck, written by Jean-René Lemoine, Raoul Peck. (Haiti, France) - New York Premiere. Haitian auteur Raoul Peck meticulously drapes the poetic across the political in his reflection on the universal malady of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Inspired by the last days of 19th-century Haitian king Henri Christophe, but set in the 21st century in the palace of Port-au-Prince, Moloch Tropical unnervingly resonates in the contemporary moment across different leaders and nations-from Saddam Hussein to Bill Clinton. In English, French, Creole with English subtitles.