FIAF's October CinéSalon: "Caroline Champetier: Shaping the Light"

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York’s premiere French cultural center, is thrilled to present the CinéSalon series Caroline Champetier: Shaping the Light throughout the month of October. On Tuesday, October 24, Champetier comes to FIAF in person for a special Q&A after the 4pm screening of The Innocents and the 7:30pm screening of Holy Motors.

Award-winning director of photography Caroline Champetier is a master of her craft. The orchestrator of lighting and camerawork on more than 100 films, her art is often felt as much as it is seen. Champetier has a rare ability to shape light to create palpable energy, evoke powerful emotions, and transform movie sets into fully-realized worlds. 

Champetier is the cinematographer behind some of France’s greatest filmmakers, past and present. A student of William Lubtchantsky, she has worked with generations of pioneering filmmakers, from Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette to Chantal Akerman, Arnaud Desplechin, and Léos Carax.  This fall’s CinéSalon series features some of Champetier’s most striking films, including Holy Motors, Of Gods and Men, and films recently restored under her supervision.

Caroline Champetier: Shaping the Light coincides with the New York premiere, on electronic billboards surrounding Times Square, of Voir la mer, from France’s foremost conceptual artist, Sophie Calle. Featuring cinematography by Caroline Champetier, the series of intimate, evocative video portraits reveals the emotional response of Istanbul residents seeing the sea for the first time. Voir la mer is presented as part of FIAF’s celebratedCrossing the Line Festival.

Films include:

• La Sentinelle, dir. Arnaud Desplechin, Tuesday, October 3 at 4 & 7:30pm.
• Toute une nuit, dir. Chantal Akerman, Tuesday, October 17 at 4 & 7:30pm.
• The Innocents, dir. Anne Fontaine, Tuesday, October 24 at 4pm. Screening followed by Q&A with Caroline Champetier.
• Holy Motors, dir. Léos Carax, Tuesday, October 24 at 7:30pm. Screening followed by Q&A with Caroline Champetier.
• Hannah Arendt, dir. Margarethe von Trotta, Tuesday, October 31 at 4pm. Screening will be introduced by film journalist Anne-Katrin Titze.
• Grandeur et décadence d’un petit commerce de cinéma, dir. Jean-Luc Godard, Tuesday, October 31 at 7 :30pm. Screening will be introduced by film critic Richard Brody.

• Related event! Sophie Calle: Voir la mer, Sunday, October 1 through Tuesday, October 31, nightly from 11:57pm-midnight, on Times Square electronic billboards from 42^nd-49^th Street betw. 7^th Ave & Broadway.

Series curated by Caroline Champetier and Delphine Selles-Alvarez.

About CinéSalon

In the spirit of the French ciné-clubs and literary salons, CinéSalon pairs an engaging French film with a social post-screening wine & beer reception. Every 7:30pm screening will be introduced by a high-profile personality in the arts.

Films in French with English subtitles unless otherwise noted.

Below is the press release with full details. For more info visit fiaf.org.