NEW YORK, May 31, 2017— On June 16, 2017, the free outdoor French film festival Films on the Green will screen the 1957 comedy La Traversée de Paris (A Pig Across Paris) directed by Claude Autant-Lara. The film was selected for the festival by guest curator and actress Amy Hargreaves. The screening will take place at 8:30pm in Washington Square Park.

La Traversée de Paris depicts two unlikely companions, the straight-laced Martin (Bourvil) and the bombastic Grandgil (Jean Gabin), who must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris. While Martin tries to make it through efficiently, Grandgil seems to create, and then surmount, obstacles for the fun of it.

Directed by Claude Autant-Lara (Love is My Profession, Devil in the Flesh, The Red and the Black), the film stars Louis de Funès, Jean Gabin, Bourvil, Jeannette Batti and Robert Arnoux.

Amy Hargreaves on her selected film La Traversée de Paris:

“I first saw this film, by Claude Autant-Lara, after I had come back to New York after my first visit to Paris. 

The opening credits end and we find a blind violinist courageously and defiantly playing the Marseillaise on the Paris metro steps during the occupation.   Soon we are thrown into a buddy caper starring Jean Gabin and Bourvil as mismatched Frenchman schlepping four suitcases of black market pig parts across Paris under dark of night.  As air raid sirens scream in the background, the two-face stray dogs, collabo cops, a lady of the evening, and Nazi patrols in their quest to deliver their goods. 

The film is at times hilarious and heartbreaking, and through the duo’s courage and cunning we find a window into the lives of two very different French worlds. “

While currently starring in the new hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, directed by Oscar winning director of Spotlight, Tom McCarthy, Hargreaves has also acted in the Showtime hit series Homeland, and in Kevin Phillips’ thriller, Super Dark Times, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this past April. She is also preparing for her upcoming film, Wonderstruck, directed by Todd Haynes, which she will star in alongside Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.

The screening of La Traversée de Paris (1h20) is free and open to the public, and will take place in Washington Square Park (under the arch) on Friday June 16, 2017 at 8:30pm. DJs from New York University’s radio station, WNYU 89.1 FM will spin French music on-site before the screening. The film will be shown in French with English subtitles.

In its landmark 10th year, Films on the Green invited 10 guest curators—some of the most creative and compelling filmmakers, actors, and artists of our time–to select one film each for the summer’s program. The guest curators include: Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, James Ivory, Saul Williams, Isabella Rossellini, Wanda Sykes, Laurie Anderson, Matthew Weiner, Matías Piñeiro, and Amy Hargreaves.

2017 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

All films are in French with English subtitles, except for the film that will be screened on July 12th, which is in French and English with Spanish subtitles. Screenings begin at sunset.

• June 2 – Central Park (79th St & Fifth Ave): Potiche (Trophy Wife), by Ozon, selected by Wanda Sykes
• June 9– Washington Sq. Park: Tey (Today) by Gomis, selected by Saul Williams
• June 16 – Washington Sq. Park: La Traversée de Paris by Autant-Lara, selected by Amy Hargreaves
• June 23 – Transmitter Park (Brooklyn): Mauvais Sang by Carax, selected by Wes Anderson
• June 30 – Transmitter Park (Brooklyn): Contempt by Godard, selected by Jim Jarmusch
• July 7 – Tompkins Sq. Park: La Cérémonie by Chabrol, selected by Matthew Weiner
• July 12 – J. Hood Wright Park (West 173th St): The Science of Sleep by Gondry (2006), presented in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York (screening in French and English with Spanish subtitles).
• July 14 – Tompkins Sq. Park: Port of Shadows by Carné, selected by Laurie Anderson
• July 21 – Riverside Park, Pier I (at 70th St): Lumière d’été by Grémillon, selected by Matías Piñeiro
• July 28 – Riverside Park, Pier I (at 70th St): A Trip to the Moon by Méliès followed by Elena and Her Men by Renoir, selected by Isabella Rossellini
• Sept 7 – Columbia University (at 116th St): The Wild Child by Truffaut, selected by James Ivory, presented in partnership with the Columbia Maison Française

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy, FACE Foundation and NYC Parks would like to thank Films on the Green’s 2017 lead sponsor, Le Petit Marseillais™, and the festival’s 2017 official sponsors, Air France, Atout France-France Tourism Development Agency, BNP Paribas, JC Decaux, and TV5 Monde

More information: http://frenchculture.org/film-tv-and-new-media/festivals/films-green-2017

ABOUT

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, digital innovation, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services brings artists, authors, intellectuals and innovators to cities nationwide. It also builds partnerships between French and American artists, institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop Albertine, it fosters French-American exchange around literature and the arts. www.frenchculture.org

FACE Foundation is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting French-American relations through innovative cultural and educational projects. In partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, FACE promotes artistic, literary and educational exchange and collaboration between creative professionals from both countries. With additional corporate, foundation, and individual support, FACE administers grant programs in the performing and visual arts, cinema, translation, and secondary and higher education, while providing financial sponsorship to French-American festivals and other cultural initiatives. FACE focuses on new and recent work of living artists and the promotion of bilingualism and the French language. FACE Foundation (French-American Cultural Exchange) is a 501(c)(3) organization chartered by the state of New York. www.face-foundation.org

NYC Parks is the steward of approximately 29,000 acres of land — 14 percent of New York City — including more than 5,000 individual properties ranging from Coney Island Beach and Central Park to community gardens  and Greenstreets. We operate more than 800 athletic fields and nearly 1,000 playgrounds, 550 tennis courts, 66 public pools, 48 recreational facilities, 17 nature centers, 13 golf courses, and 14 miles of beaches. We care for 1,200 monuments and 23 historic house museums. We look after 650,000 street trees, and two million more in parks. We are New York City’s principal providers of recreational and athletic facilities and programs. We are home to free concerts, world-class sports events, and cultural festivals. www.nycgovparks.org

Media Contact:

Camille Desprez – + 1 (212) 439-1417   camille.desprez@diplomatie.gouv.fr
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