Jacques Audiard Film Retrospective Opens with Director Q&A

SBIFF Film Center Brings Multiple Screenings of ‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped,’ ‘Rust and Bone,’ ‘Dheepan,’ ‘The Sisters Brothers,’ ‘A Prophet,’ and ‘Paris, 13th District’ to Downtown Santa Barbara

By Leslie Dinaberg Fri Jan 03, 2025 | 03:22pm

Celebrated French filmmaker Jacques Audiard will be further feted at the new SBIFF Film Center downtown, with a career-spanning week’s worth of films beginning with an in-person Q&A on Friday, January 10, following a screening of his latest masterful work Emilia Pérez, a film which was the 2024 winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and Best Actress Award for the female ensemble, and was nominated for 10 Critics’ Choice Awards, 10 Golden Globes, and shortlisted for six Oscars, in addition to garnering rave reviews, including one from yours truly (see https://bit.ly/3Pn3oE8).

Starring Zoe Saldaña (who will receive the American Riviera Award at SBIFF on February 7, see https://bit.ly/3Pn3oE8), Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, and Édgar Ramírez, Emilia Pérez uses song and dance to follow the journey of four women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness in world populated by cartel violence. The screening and Q&A take place on Friday, January 10 at 7 p.m. at the Riviera Theatre. It will also screen on January 12 at 2 p.m. and January 15 at 4:45 p.m. at the SBIFF Film Center.

“Audiard is a master of cinema — combining genres in order to tell his complex yet compelling stories which always draw attention to important and urgent subjects like immigration and the disenfranchised. As a filmmaker, he is generous, challenging, and humane, and he exemplifies the best of world cinema. He is cinema!” said SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling of the renowned filmmaker, who he interviewed in November at a Cinema Society screening, along with composers Camille and Clément Ducol.

‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ | Photo: Courtesy

Among the additional films screening for the retrospective are The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), one of Audiard’s most acclaimed works, a gripping drama about a man torn between violence and his dream of becoming a pianist, which won eight César Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. It will screen January 11 at 5 p.m., January 14 at 2:30 p.m., and January 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Rust and Bone (2012), starring Marion Cotillard, tells the story of a former boxer/single father who is a nightclub bouncer and who falls in love with a woman who trains killer whales and loses her legs in a workplace accident. It will screen on January 10 at 5 p.m., January 12 at 7:30 p.m., and January 15 at 2:30 p.m.

Dheepan (2015), a poignant tale of Sri Lankan refugees seeking asylum in France, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It will screen on January 11 at 2:30 p.m., January 12 at 5 p.m., and January 14 at 7:30 p.m.

‘Paris, 13th District’ | Photo: Courtesy

Paris, 13th District (2021) is the story of four young people who fall in and out of love (and sex) with each other while figuring out their lives in Paris. It screens on January 10 at 2:30 p.m., January 13 at 7:30 p.m., and January 16 at 5 p.m.

A Prophet (2009), considered a masterpiece, chronicles the rise of a young Arab man in a brutal French prison, earning the Grand Prix at Cannes, nine César Awards, and an Oscar nomination. It screens on January 11 at 7:30 p.m., January 13 at 4:30 p.m., and January 16 at 2 p.m.

‘The Sisters Brothers’ | Photo: Courtesy

The Sisters Brothers (2018, starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jake Gyllenhaal) revolves around the colorfully named gold prospector being pursued across 1,000 miles of 1850s Oregon desert to San Francisco by notorious assassins. It screens on January 13 at 2 p.m., January 14 at 5 p.m., and January 15 at 7:30 p.m. —Leslie Dinaberg

The Q&A and initial screening of Emilia Pérez will take place at the Riviera Theatre on January 10 at 7 p.m. All other film screenings will take place at the SBIFF Film Center multiplex, 916 State Street. For tickets and the complete retrospective schedule, please visit sbifftheatres.com/audiard.