Une histoire américain will open the 64th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
The 64th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg will open with the masterpiece “Une histoire américaine” by the newcomer Armel Hostiou from France.
The French newcomer-director Armel Hostiou will be present when the 64th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg opens on Friday, October 9, 2015 with the German premiere of “Une histoire américaine” (“Stubborn”). The film is being screened in the International Competition of the official program.
“Une histoire américaine” (“Stubborn”) tells the story of Vincent, an obstinate but likable dreamer who has traveled to New York to find his ex-girlfriend. “A wonderfully stylized New York-Film, a visual declaration of love to the Big Apple, a very special kind of sight-seeing-tour. So foreign and yet so close, this is a way of experiencing New York that one very rarely experiences in a film,” says Festival Director Dr. Michael Kötz. “We are very happy to be opening the 64th edition of the Festival with this little masterpiece.”
The Grand Opening event traditionally takes place in Heidelberg with invited guests from politics, business and culture.
About the film
Vincent is alone in New York. He wants to win back the girlfriend that left him and returned to New York. The only thing is, he has no idea how he is supposed to find here in this haystack of a city. But Vincent is not giving up. He shows strangers pictures of his ex on his smartphone and is blind for everything else that the city has to offer – including the advances of an attractive Danish tourist. Vincent is afraid of another “love accident”. Imperturbable, he plods on, taking some lumps along the way, only to discover that his ex-girlfriend Barbara has long since moved on with another man. And he is very much the opposite of Vincent himself. This wonderful tragicomedy of passion lives on contrasts. This strange Frenchman keeps running into the brick wall of New Yorker’s proverbial aloofness – their practiced detachment. Vincent encounters the city that never sleeps with with the same naiveté with which he continues to hang on to his “amour fou”. He lives like a kind of intellectual “Clouchard” – a homeless person – in this American metropolis and one begins to root for the likable reality denier, hoping that he might find his lost love. Vincent Macaigne is a fantastic leading man (and screenplay coauthor) and has become a star in France and is well on his way to becoming one around the world.
About the director
Armel Hostiou was born in Rennes, France in 1976. After earning his degree at La Fémis in Paris he has worked on experimental films and music videos. Many of his short films have been screened at festivals in France and abroad. His feature length debut, “Rives” premiered at the Festival de Cannes in 2011. “Une Histoire Américaine” (2015) is his second feature film.
