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.
