35 Shots of Rum

The new film from the renowned director Claire Denis is a beautifully observed and emotionally vibrant father and daughter relationship drama which captures the warmth and easy going love between family and close friends, drawing perfectly nuanced and sensitive, truthful performances from all of her cast.

35 SHOTS OF RUM premiered to great critical acclaim at last year’s Venice Film Festival, easily equalling Claire Denis’ superb earlier films Beau Travail and Vendredi Soir in its poetic and impressionistic portrait of a particular place and close-knit community, It is masterfully shot by Denis’ regular cinematographer Agnès Godard and with an emotionally evocative score by fellow long term artistic collaborators, The Tindersticks.

Lionel is a train driver. A widower, he has brought up his only daughter Joséphine since she was very small. Today, she’s a young woman. They live side by side, living in each other’s pockets, in a protective cocoon from the outside world. For Lionel, everything in his life revolves around his daughter and for Joséphine, her world is her father. Little by little, Lionel realises that time has passed and perhaps the time has come for them both to move on and find their independence.

Week Commencing 22.01.10

BFI Southbank

Belvedere Road, South Bank

London SE1 8XT

020 7928 3232

27-29 January 2010

Claire Denis was born in 1946 in Paris. She passed her youth in Djibouti, Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Graduate from IDHEC (La Fémis), she worked as an assistant for directors such as Jacques Rivette, Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders. She has been a film director since 1988.

Interview in the Times
Interview in The Guardian
Interview in Time Out
How we met with Stuart Staples in Independent On Sunday

Filmography

>Cinema
CHOCOLAT	1988 – 105 min - Feature
MAN NO RUN	1989 – 90 min - Documentary
S’EN FOUT LA MORT	1990 – 97 min – Feature
KEEP IT YOURSELF	1991 – 40 min - Short
J’AI PAS SOMMEIL	1994 – 110 min - Feature
A PROPOS DE NICE, LA SUITE	1995 – Short
NENETTE ET BONI	1996 – 1 h 43 min – Feature Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival
BEAU TRAVAIL	1999 – 1 h 30 min – Feature
TROUBLE EVERY DAY	2001 – 101 min - Feature
VERS NANCY	2002 - short – ‘Ten Minutes Older’ Collection
VENDREDI SOIR	2002 – 1 h 30 min - Feature
THE INTRUDER	2004 – 130 min - Feature
35 SHOTS OF RUM	2008 – Feature
WHITE MATERIAL	2009 (In post-production)
Television
JACQUES RIVETTE, LE VEILLEUR	1990 - 130 min - Documentary (With the collaboration of Serge Daney)
LA ROBE À CERCEAU	1991 – 24 min - Short
US GO HOME	1994 – 68 min - TV feature
UNE DÉCLARATION	1996 - (Cartier Foundation)

Directed by	............	CLAIRE DENIS
Written by	............	CLAIRE DENIS AND JEAN-POL FARGEAU
Produced by	............	BRUNO PESERY
Production Manager	............	BENOIT PILOT
Cinematography	............	AGNÈS GODARD
Editing	............	GUY LECORNE
Music by	............	TINDERSTICKS
Art Direction	............	ARNAUD DE MAULERON
Set decoration	............	BORIS PIOT
Sound	............	MARTIN BOISSAU
Sound Editing	............	CHRISTOPHE WINDING
Mixing	............	DOMINIQUE HENNEQUIN
Costumes	............	JUDY SHREWSBURY
Co-producers	............	KARK BAUMGARTNER,
		CHRISTOPHE FRIEDEL,
		CLAUDIA STEFFEN

A French/German coproduction    Soudaine Compagnie - ARTE France Cinéma - Pandora Film Produktion in association with Wild Bunch

And Sofica Cofinova 4, Soficinéma 4, with the participation of Canal +, de TPS Star,WDR/ARTE and with the support of the  Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (CNC), of the  Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), of Eurimages, the Région Ile-de-France, of Filmförderungsanstalt Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH), of Procirep, and Angoa-Agicoa.

COLOUR – 100 MINUTES -  DOLBY DIGITAL – 1.85 - FRANCE / GERMANY

Cast

Lionel	ALEX DESCAS
Joséphine	MATI DIOP
Noé	GRÉGOIRE COLIN
Gabrielle	NICOLE DOGUE
René	JULIETH MARS
With the special participation of INGRID CAVEN as the Aunt
And with:
Mani and Ozale
Thomas Murviel
Jacqueline Andrieux
Malaïka Marie-Jeanne
Virgile Elana
Eriq Ebouaney	style="text-align: left;">
Mary Pie
Stéphane Pocrain
Moulaye Diarra
Jean-Luc Joseph
Paul Bebga
Mario Canonge
Djédjé Apali
Cheikh Touré
Giscard Bouchotte
Tony Mpoudja
Mélanie Petzold
Adama Niane
David Saada
Meyen Ravine
Luvinsky Àtché
Anne Makangila-Lebo
Sylvana Martel

★★★★★
Claire Denis's marvellous latest feature   -  read the full review
Wally Hammond  Time Out

Is this summer 2009's best film?
Time Out

★★★★
A miraculous family drama.
This outstanding new film from Claire Denis demonstrates her fluency and mastery in the kind of movie-language that is rich, quietly complex and subtle...
Descas and Diop give lovely performances and their final scene together is tremendously moving.
A film to be savoured.
Peter Bradshaw  The Guardian - read the full review

★★★★
The magic of Claire Denis’ exquisite 35 Shots of Rum is that although so much is left unsaid, it’s one of the most emotionally eloquent films you’ll see this year...A richly textured meditation on family, friendship, love and loss.
Wendy Ide  The Times

★★★★★
A profound, discreet, hugely touching  work that resonates in the memory
David Gritten   The Daily Telegraph - read the full review

'We are constantly held by this quiet, subtle, elliptical film that observes its characters' moods and their shifting relationships with the same uncloying love and concern the characters show towards each other'
Philip French  The Observer

'Warm, tender and handsome portrait of a father-daughter relationship...rich and rewarding...One of those delightful films in which not a lot has to happen because you're just happy to be in its company. This French drama touches lightly on many subjects and looks gorgeous throughout'
Guardian Guide

'Every shot is so sensuously vivid that you know you're dealing with a film-maker of intense vision and stylistic subtlety...35 Shots of Rum is as heady as the title suggests, quietly crackling with intimacy and intensity'
Jonathan Romney  The Independent on Sunday -read the full review

'...Claire Denis, the French director with an almost unequalled human touch.'
If you are looking for a neat distillation of the genius of the director Claire Denis, look no further than her latest film, the exquisitely understated 35 Shots of Rum.'
'There are few directors working with Denis's skill in capturing the ebb and flow and the unspoken undercurrents of human interaction.'
Wendy  Ide,  The Times, 2/7/09

'...mesmeric...'
Kira Cochrane, The Guardian

'...a tender portrait of father-daughter relationship in Paris, which is set to be one of the (quiet) hits of the summer.'
'...poetic, sometimes mysterious, but always warm and enthralling portrait of a father and his young daughter...'
'...a quiet and touching film...which deserves to be seen and heard amid the metallic noise of this summer's blockbuster season.'
'...a film which many agreed was one of the best at last year's Venice Film Festival.'       
Dave Calhoun, Time Out

★★★★★
Marvellous...a beautiful family drama...a film od warm, subtle power, remarkable for its delicate handling of its quiet moments of joy
Jason Solomons  The Independent on Sunday

★★★★
The warmest, most humane flm so far by director Claire Denis
Laurence Phelan Independent Information


'With her new feature 35 Shots of Rum, broadly a family drama, Denis has made arguably her most accessible film to date...'
'Agnes Godard's cinematography is as beguiling, as haunting as ever...'
'...Denis and Godard have perfected a heightened, multisensory cinema...and very few directors are this preternaturally attuned to the lineaments, the rhythms of desire.  Beau travail indeed.'
Kieron Corless, Sight & Sound

★★★★
'...a slow-burning pleasure...'
'one of the finest pieces of ensemble acting I have seen in a long time.'
Wendy Ide , The Times
read the full review

★★★★
'... exquisite domestic drama...(with) a quiet confidence to match its acuity and compassion.
David Parkinson, Empire

★★★★
'A wonderful film'  
Tom Dawson, TOTAL FILM

★★★★
This is the work of a cinematic master...warm engaging and utterly beguiling
Allan Hunter  The Daily Express

'...stands comfortably alongside Beau Travail as one of Denis' greatest achievements...'
'...mesmeric,... Descas is also by turns fragile and resolute.'
Jason Woods, LITTLE WHITE LIES

'This tender film is infused with honesty and humanity.'
Michael Dwyer, IRISH TIMES

'French arthouse cinema at its best'
Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter

'One of the greatest living French directors turns her jeweller's eye to a tender father-daughter bond.'
'Breathtaking in its simplicity, sensitivity and insight...this softly stirring human drama permits Claire Denis to display her master of atmosphere and communication to wholly satisfying effect.'
Edinburgh International Film Festival, 2009

'The warmth radiating from 35 Shots of Rum, (is) smoother than the finest liquor...a flawless package...marvellously profound.'
'...reminds viewers how rarely movies capture the easygoing love embodied in a functional family, with all its support and tenderness.'
'...moving work...'
'Denis has perfected her crew family, crafting a flawless package.'
Jay Weissberg , Variety