Wednesday means cinema. Today, we bring you our selection of films for the week to guide you best through the dark halls of the cinema.
1. Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Francis Lawrence
The Hunger Games franchise returns with a fifth installment twelve years after the first film. This prequel sets the stage 64 years before the events of the original saga led by Jennifer Lawrence. Still within this dystopian universe, the director revisits the rise of Coriolanus Snow, the ruthless president of Panem’s twelve districts, portrayed by Tom Blyth. As the 10th Hunger Games approach, the young man represents the last hope for his family that has fallen into bankruptcy and disgrace in a post-war Capitol. He is assigned as a mentor to young Lucy Gray Baird, hailing from District 12, the most disadvantaged and despised area of Panem, played by Rachel Zegler.
2. Sound of Freedom by Alejandro Monteverde
This thriller, directed by Alejandro Monteverde, which has gained immense popularity among American conspiracy theorists, arrives in French theaters this Wednesday. The biopic is based on the true story of a former American federal agent, Tim Ballard, who throws himself wholeheartedly into a rescue mission. He is determined to dismantle a powerful network of pedophiles thriving in South America in order to free the hundreds of children imprisoned by these sex traffickers.
3. How to Have Sex by Molly Manning Walker
High school is over, and Tara along with her two friends Skye and Em heads off for their first holiday together. They journey to the ultra-busy resort town of Malia in Crete to party. The trio is determined to make the most of their trip and indulge in all sorts of excesses, accompanied by English housemates they meet upon arrival. For Tara, still a virgin, it’s a significant challenge, and the pressure of the first time is palpable. One morning, upon waking, the group realizes she has disappeared, leaving only one of the boys who seems to know what happened to her during the night. This drama by British director Molly Manning Walker received the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival 2023.
4. Before the Flames Go Out by Mehdi Fikri
After the death of her younger brother, who died following a police arrest, Malika, portrayed by Camélia Jordana, embarks on a legal battle to bring about a trial. An epileptic seizure is said to have caused Mehdi Fikri’s death, but Malika doesn’t believe it and fights to prove that it was police violence that led to her brother’s death. In this quest for truth, the entire stability of a family life is turned upside down. This film is inspired by the Adama Traoré case.
5. Vincent Must Die by Stephan Castang
For his first film, Stephan Castang presents a thriller that blends horror and fantasy with a wild plot that grows increasingly suspenseful. A character named Vincent sees his life turned upside down overnight. From an initial workplace assault, he suddenly becomes the target of people trying to kill him. His only solution is to flee and change his way of life to survive this phenomenon that escalates and spirals out of his control. This psychological survival film tells a story of paranoia becoming real.
