The Competition

The Competition begins, significantly, with the image of a locked gate—that of La Fémis, one of the most prestigious film schools in the world, offering hands-on training from working professionals and accepting only 40 students per year from hundreds of applicants. This Wiseman-esque documentary from Claire Simon, one of France’s premiere nonfiction filmmakers, observes the process whereby those lucky 40 are selected—a process that is revealed to be highly personal, idiosyncratic, and subject to the vagaries of taste and personal prejudice. Funny, penetrating, and surprisingly suspenseful, The Competition offers not only a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of an institution at the very heart of the French film industry but an invitation to look at the assumptions and roadblocks that shape any national film industry, and higher education in general.

A Metrograph Pictures release.

Previous Bookings
New Orleans French Film Festival, New Orleans, LA
Metrograph, New York, NY
Providence French Film Festival, Providence, RI
DocYard at The Brattle, Cambridge, MA
Laemmle Fine Arts, Beverly Hills, CA
Laemmle Playhouse, Pasadena, CA
IndieMemphis, Memphis, TN
Laemmle Glendale, Glendale, CA
Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY
North Park Theatre, Buffalo, NY
Lake Worth Playhouse, Lake Worth, FL
a/perture cinema, Winston-Salem, NC
Ragtag Cinema, Columbia, MO
Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, Lincoln, NE
Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
Austin Film Society, Austin, TX
Cleveland Cinematheque, Cleveland, OH
Webster Film Series, Saint Louis, MO
The Roxie, San Francisco, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Tallahassee Film Society, Tallahassee, FL
Boston University, Boston, MA
International Film Series, Boulder, CO
Connecticut College, New London, CT
Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR
Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN
Ashland University, Ashland, OH
Goucher College, Towson, MD
College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY
California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA
Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, OH
Boise State University, Boise, ID
University of Central Arkansa, Conway, AR