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2010
The guests who joined us during the festival to share their passion for the French cinema and answered questions about the film they represented.

Sylvie Testud, actress | Léa Fazer, director | Guillaume Malandrin, director | Stéphane Malandrin, director

Sylvie Testud, Actress, Writer Gamines
Sylvie Testud was born January 17, 1971 and grew up in La Croix-Rousse, a neighborhood of Lyon with many Portuguese, Spanish and Italian immigrant families ; her mother herself had immigrated from Italy in the 1960’s and married a Frenchman who abandoned their family when Sylvie was only two years old. At the age of 14, upon seeing Charlotte Gainsbourg in Claude Miller’s L'Effrontée and intensely identifying with her character, she enrolled in drama classes in Lyon. She then moved to Paris in 1989, to study at the Conservatoire (CNSAD) and began appearing in small roles in the early 1990’s. In 2001, she starred in Les Sœurs Papin, (The Murderous Maids) and was awarded the César for Most Promising Actress for her portrayal of Christine Papin, who along with her sister made headlines in 1933 after the murder of their employer’s wife and daughter. In 2003, she published an autobiographical account of her everyday life as an actress entitled Il n'y a pas beaucoup d'étoiles ce soir. In 2004, she starred in the adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s Stupeur et tremblements, earning unanimous praise and winning a César and a Prix Lumière for best actress in 2004. She starred in 2007's two-time Academy Award winning filmLa vie en Rose, playing Edith Piaf's best friend Momone. In the 2008 film Sagan, she portrayed the iconic French writer Françoise Sagan and was again nominated for the César for best actress. Gamines is the adaptation of her 2006 semi-autobiographical eponymous novel, a half chronicle/half reminiscence of her childhood in Lyon which fictionalizes a meeting with her absent father.
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Léa Fazer, Director Ensemble c'est trop
Born in Geneva in 1965, Léa Fazer studied literature before leaving her home country to pursue dramatic studies at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. She eventually enrolled for a year in cinema studies at the University of Paris. She subsequently began to write plays (among which Porte De Montreuil, Les Fils De Noë and Pourvu Que Ça Dure) for the stage, cabarets and the revue musicale, all of which have been produced. She has written for both French and Swiss television networks. In 2004, she wrote and directed her first feature Bienvenue en Suisse, an astutely observed comedy, starring her compatriot Vincent Pérez, which delicately underlines the oft-ignored but no less significant culture clash between the French and the Swiss. In 2008, she dramatized the professional and personal conflicts of interest dividing a power couple played by Alice Taglioni and Jocelyn Quivrin in Notre univers impitoyable. With Ensemble c'est trop, her third feature, she continues to explore the challenge and costs of maintaining a harmonious life in the face of modern complexities.
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Guillaume Malandrin, Co-Director Où est la main de l'homme sans tête
Stéphane Malandrin: Co-Director Où est la main de l'homme sans tête

The Malandrin brothers were both born in Paris: Guillaume in 1968 and Stéphane in 1969. While Stéphane studied philosophy in Paris, Guillaume began their journey into cinema studying film at INSAS in Brussels. Settling down in Belgium, he began his career as a scriptwriter. Together with Michel Cauléa, he wrote the short film "Two Chimney Sweepers and an Opera Singer", winning several international awards, and directed his first short film, "Bonjour" in 1995. Co-founding the production company Le Parti Production together with 3 friends in 1999, he produced as a first project the short film "Story Telling". This 18-minute piece, written and directed by Guillaume himself, was selected by and recognized at several renowned festivals such as the Berlin International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival among others. Stéphane, who has also published several childrens books, has written several scripts with Guillaume, including that for "I Don’t Care if Tomorrow Never Comes" (directed and produced by Guillaume), over the last several years of collaboration with his brother. "Hand Of The Headless Man" is their first film with a shared director’s credit. Guillaume recently co-wrote the animated feature "A Town Called Panic", an official selection at the 2009 Cannes film festival, and is currently in the process of writing a new feature screenplay "Je suis mort mais j'ai des amis", produced by Le Parti Production and coproduced by COOP Montreal ( Canada/ Québec).

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