The 19th Cork French Film Festival opens next Thursday with Céline Sciamma's well-regarded Water Lilies, in which three teenage girls compete for boys and places on the synchronised swimming team.
The programme encompasses French co-productions, among them the closing film, Nadine Labaki's Caramel, in which a Beirut beauty salon is the setting for five Lebanese women to confide in each other.
The festival will presents the Irish premiere of Ex Drummer, Koen Mortier's "blackly comic" picture about an author invited to meet three disabled musicians.
Russian director Slava Ross will attend the premiere of Fat Stupid Rabbit, in which an actor is demoralised after spending 10 years playing a rabbit in a ramshackle theatre.
Recent films also include Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris; Silent Light from Mexican director Carlos Reygadas; and Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely, with Diego Luna as a Michael Jackson impersonator.
Classic movies will include Jean Cocteau's Orphée, Rene Laloux's Fantastic Planet, Jean- Jacques Beineix's Diva and Andrei Tarkovsky's
The Sacrifice. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) will be performed to live accompaniment by 3epkano.
The festival continues until March 7th at Triskel Arts Centre and the Gate cinema. www.corkfrench filmfestival.com
