Presented by Facets Cinematheque and French Cultural Services in Chicago, this festival runs Friday, December 1, through Sunday, December 10, at Facets Cinematheque. For more information call 773-281-4114; a complete schedule is available online at www.facets.org. All films are in French with subtitles.
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Fissures A sound recordist (Emilie Dequenne of Rosetta) investigates the murder of her mother, a clairvoyant in a farming community, and discovers she can record the past as well as the present. Using string to chart the paths taken by old sounds, she constructs a kind of spiderweb in the house where her mother died–so it may not be coincidental that her name is Charlotte. It’s a striking poetic conceit, developed with some flair by first-time writer-director Alante Kavaite, though eventually it engulfs the mystery story, making the latter seem almost like an afterthought. The French title translates as “Listen to Time.” 87 min. (JR) a Sat 12/2, 9 PM, and Tue 12/5, 7 PM.
RA Ticket to Space Hoping to sell its expensive space program to a reluctant public, the French government holds a national lottery in which the top prizes are two seats on the next space shuttle, and two dubious contenders win. Eric Lartigau’s slick and engaging farce gets sillier by the moment, especially once the crew is taken hostage and a monstrous giant turkey turns up on board. But you probably won’t mind if you’re looking strictly for laughs and good-natured send-ups of other SF movies. With Andre Dusollier. 90 min. (JR) a Sat 12/2, 3 PM.
