For the next event in the Chillfest Second Sunday Series we present the New York area premiere of THE WITNESSES by acclaimed French director André Téchiné!The scene is Paris, 1984, a city of lights teaming day and night with the widest range of possibilities of sex and romance. This is Paris after all. The young and beautiful Manu arrives and shares a small hotel room with his sister Julie (played by Julie Depardieu), much to her dismay as she struggles to pursue a budding singing career in opera. With a youthful adventuresome spirit, Manu soon shares his nights with other men in Paris parks, and it is there he’s spotted by Adrien, a wealthy doctor in his 50's, who is immediately smitten and tries to pick him up. The two form a warm, if complicated, friendship and Adrien introduces Manu to Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart) and Mehdi (Sami Bouajila, star of THE ADVENTURES OF FELIX), a young couple who have just welcomed their first child. Things are easy as summer for the group of five until an affair erupts just as a strange new illness appears.
THE WITNESSES, directed by the French master André Téchiné (WILD REEDS), is a heart-felt and intelligent drama of intense passions, strained loyalties, and the battle waged against a new plague. With captivating performances, it recounts history we must not forget while ultimately putting forth a powerful life-affirming message.
Just as LONGTIME COMPANION and PARTING GLANCES brilliantly captured the moment of the onset of AIDS New York, now comes a new film set in Paris about that same period by one of Frances most celebrated directors. THE WITNESSES is programmed to recognize World AIDS Day 2007.