AFS Essential Cinema Brings Us the End of Summer (in French)

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Mademoiselle Chambon

The latest Essential Cinema series from Austin Film Society is titled, "La fin de l'été: Recent French Cinema." The idea of an end to summer -- and summer heat -- is certainly compelling around here. Starting tonight, AFS brings us five fine French films from the past five years, one of which I've seen already and can recommend.

The movies screen on Tuesday nights at 7 pm from September 4 to October 2 -- all but one at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. You'll have to go to Alamo Village for the Sept. 25 selection, since Lamar will be overrun by Fantastic Fest. Tickets are $8 general admission ... and either free or $5 for AFS members, depending on your membership level. AFS has just rolled out a new membership program with easy-to-remember levels (Make, Watch, Love, and then premiere levels) and Essential Cinema selections are free if you're in the Love or higher levels. 

The descriptions of the five movies are below, taken verbatim from the AFS website. The last movie on the schedule, Sleepless Night, played Austin at Fantastic Fest last year and I can vouch that it is genuinely thrilling.

Mademoiselle Chambon (pictured above)
Tuesday, September 4, 7 pm
A small town homebuilder, happily married, unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with a shy teacher when she plays a wistful tune on her violin.

The Grocer's Son (Le fils de l'épicier)
Tuesday, September 11, 7 pm
A young man, who left his family and small town behind ten years earlier, is reluctantly drawn back into helping out with the family business after his father suffers a heart attack.

A Burning Hot Summer (Un été brûlant)
Tuesday, September 18, 7 pm
A wealthy, apolitical artist and a vaguely committed leftist become friends who too frequently ignore their girl friends, as the fortunate foursome moves back and forth between Rome and Paris.

The Father of My Children (Le Pere de Mes Enfants)
Tuesday, September 25, 7 pm at Alamo Village
A film producer has an enviable life with the accoutrements of wealth and a wonderful family, but the economic and creative pressures of his profession are beginning to tear him apart.

Sleepless Night (Nuit blanche)
Tuesday, October 2, 7 pm
An undercover police lieutenant has to fight and kill his way through a sprawling gangland nightclub to try to save his son from his captors.