Saint-Tropez and cinema: at full speed toward the Antipodes!

2024 Olympic year but also the last year of cinema La Renaissance before these major works which are so necessary which will give it back its place in the heart of the city of Bailli, in the heart of a legendary cinema village, in the center of the Place des Lices, its pétanque players, its strollers and admirers of a beautiful village where resonates the soul of so many artists whether they are painters, novelists, actors, filmmakers, musicians or more simply transmitters of an openness to the world and diversity arts including that of the end of the world which invites you to explore the cinema of Antipodes.

While last March, the French Cinematheque paid tribute to the immense Australian director Peter Weir, and in May 2024 the Cannes Film Festival welcomes a new opus of the Mad Max saga “Furiosa” by George Miller, it is in October from 9 to 13 that you can let your curiosity carry you away to discover Australian and New Zealand cinema, the immensity of this Terra Australis, the telluric energy of the country with the long white cloud through a wide range of long and short films, documentaries, meetings and of course a beautiful exhibition in the Salles Jean Despas thanks to Céline Emery-Demion (Red Dunes Gallery, Mougins) and her eclectic and refined choice of works by Aboriginal painters.

To whet your appetite, let's filter out a few indiscretions about this 2024 edition and first of all about one of the pillars of this program, the Antipodes Juniors selection which will once again offer around fifteen short films in competition with the sagacity of nearly a hundred of high school students, whether they come for example from the Lycée du Golfe de Saint-Tropez, the Lycée de Lorgues or even the Lycée de La Coudoulière, who traditionally constitute a serious jury aware of its responsibility to choose the recipient of the Nicolas Baudin Prize.

And among the works that will be arriving in Saint-Tropez, allowing you to travel to Christchurch, New Zealand in the late 1970s, is Jonathan Ogilvie's “Head South”, a semi-autobiographical ode to post-punk culture. A lively comedy about the difficult coming-of-age of Angus, a young high school student fascinated by this post-punk music and who will do anything to join a group. But also, and still in New Zealand, there is Linda Niccol's first film "Poppy", a beautiful romantic comedy, in which you will meet Poppy, a young girl with Down syndrome who refuses to let herself be locked up in her disability and who will do everything to realize her dream of becoming a mechanic. We could also go to the farm with an independent film, the Australian comedy by Scott Corfield “The Nut Farm”. Without forgetting the documentaries with, who knows, “The Giants” by Rachael Antony and Laurence Billiet that we wanted to present to you last year and which explore the linked destinies of trees and humans in the gripping portrait of Bob Brown, former Green senator from Tasmania. But plenty of other surprises from the antipodes await you, and why not a foray into the series or a great preview.

But shush, we’re not going to tell you everything right away! So come to Place des Lices in Saint-Tropez from October 9 to 13 at the La Renaissance cinema for an exceptional 26th edition of the Festival des Antipodes.

Bernard Bories AM
President of Cinéma des Antipodes