FNC’s TEMPS Ø program features films from Gaspar Noé, Quentin Dupieux, Abel Ferrara, Dennis Hopper, and more

The 49th edition of Festival du nouveau cinéma kicks off on October 7 with a hybrid edition including traditional theatrical screenings and a new online component for this year. Today the festival unveiled its TEMPS Ø program, featuring the more extreme and challenging films the festival has to offer.

This year’s TEMPS Ø lineup includes a new chronological version of Gaspar Noé infamous Irréversible, a new restoration of Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue, the latest from gonzo director Quentin Dupieux, Mandibles, about a giant fly used to help commit crimes, and much more.

Read on for the full TEMPS Ø program via today’s press release. FNC 2020 runs from Wednesday, October 7 to Sunday, October 18. More information is available via the official FNC site.

ERASE HISTORY

Gustave Kervern et Benoît Delépine
France / Belgium
North American Premiere
70th Berlinale – Silver Bear

To get her hands on a sex tape shot without her permission, a woman (Blanche Gardin) goes to war against online injustice and Big Tech. After Mammouth and Le grand soir, Kervern and Delépine are back with another of their trademark funny-but-smart black comedies.

OUT OF THE BLUE (Brand New Restoration)
Dennis Hopper
Canada
With: Linda Manz, Dennis Hopper, Sharon Farrell
Quebec Premiere
Festival de Cannes 1980
Restoration World Premiere: Venice 2019

The great classic of counter culture signed Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider), finally restored and accessible. An ultimate and iconic film, with the immense actress Linda Manz and Neil Young to the music. Rock’n’roll is definitely here to stay! Essential viewing! Absolute beauty!

MANDIBLES
Quentin Dupieux
France, Belgium
North American Premiere
Venice Mostra 2020: Out of Competition
Telluride Selection 2020

Two magnificent losers find a giant fly in the trunk of a stolen car. Brilliant idea: they are going to train her to commit future thefts. Quentin Dupieux’s new comedy (Au poste!): Absurd and jubilant, one of the most anticipated films of the year.

SIBERIA
Abel Ferrara
Italy/ Germany/ Mexico
Quebec Premiere
Berlinale – Official Competition

Clint is a damaged man who has retreated to a wintry remote mountain cabin where he hopes to find serenity. He runs a modest cafe where the rare traveler or native of the region visits. But even in his relative isolation he cannot find peace nor escape. On a fateful evening, to confront himself, he begins a journey by dogsled to the world he once knew. He travels through dreams, memory and imagination in an attempt to find his true nature.

THE BOOK OF VISION
Carlo S. Hintermann
Italy / UK / Belgium
North American Premiere

Venice Critics’ Week 2020: Opening film

Eva, a doctor and student of the history of medicine, discovers a manuscript by Johan Anmuth, an 18th century physicist. In his Book of Vision, Anmuth focuses on the feelings, fears and dreams of over 1800 of his patients, whose spirits still wander through the pages. Immersing herself in these tales and visions, Eva questions the separation of the past, present and future, while confronting the challenges of modern medicine and its limitations with respect to her own body.

CAUGHT IN THE NET
Vít Klusák and Barbora Chalupova
Tcheck Republic / Slovaquia
QUEBEC PREMIERE
Festival selection
CPH: DOX

Three young actresses pretend to be under-age and see what happens when signing up for a popular online chat room. An eye-opening experiment revealing how this modern form of child abuse became an extremely spread out and common threat.

SHELL AND JOINT
Isamu Hirabayashi
Japan
Canadian Premiere
Festival selection
Rotterdam
Moscow
Slamdance

The succession of guests in a Japanese capsule hotel are stand-ins for society at large, broken down into a series of absurdist sketches in this offbeat comedy about life, sex and insects that’s somewhere between Roy Anderson, Woody Allen and Werner Herzog.

THALASSO
Guillaume Nicloux
France
North American Premiere
Festival selection
San Sebastian 2019

At a health spa, Michel Houellebecq and Gérard Depardieu do their very best to buck current wellness trends. An absurd, poetic and poignant comedy about two nasty boys in a world of overly clean adults.

L’ENLÈVEMENT DE MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ
Guillaume Nicloux
France
Festival selection
Tribeca: Jury’s Prize for Best Scenario
Sydney
Curitiba
CPH PIX
FNC 2014

Michel Houellebecq (playing himself) has disappeared! The renowned writer is being held hostage at the home of a random sweet old lady. The wine and food are good and plus, he can smoke. A comedy more absurd than real life, if that’s possible…

RED POST ON ESCHER STREET
Sion Sono
Japan
North American Premiere

A Genius film director, Tadashi Kobayashi holds an audition for his new film project. Several unique actors and actresses apply for the roles but most of them does not pass. They decide to participate as extras on his project. Can the film come to an completion without accident?

THE TREMOR
Balaji Vembu Chelli
India
World Premiere

A rookie photojournalist sets off to report on a massive earthquake that has allegedly destroyed an entire village. Being his first major assignment, he is anxious to reach the disaster site before anybody else. But soon, he finds himself lost in the desolate mountains amidst uncanny locals with cryptic clues that do not match the disaster he was craving to witness.

IRRÉVERSIBLE – INTEGRAL INVERSION

Gaspar Noé
France
With: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Jo Prestia, Philippe Nahon
North American Premiere

A couple, love, an evening, a rape, the horror … Previously moving backward in time, the scandalous and cult film by Gaspar Noé, rethought, reassembled and now linear. No one can emerge unscathed from this film-experience torn between love and hate.

MUSIC HOLE
Gaëtan Lekens et David Mutzenmacher
Belgique
North American Premiere
Festival selection
Prix de la critique – Festival International de Comédie de Liège 2019
Prix du public – Fifigrot Groland Toulouse 2019
Selected – Brussels International Film Festival 2020

A burlesque thriller scented with gueuze. A trash-hilarious comedy guaranteed to surprise even the most jaded of spectators (not too politically correct, though). On par to certainly be the new cult phenomenon made in Belgium.

POISSONSEXE

Olivier Babinet
France / Belgium
Canadian Premiere
Festival selection
Cabourg Film Festival
FIFIB – Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux

After all aquatic life has disappeared, a biologist looks for love and fish. From the director of Swagger, a comedy that looks for (and finds) humour in a seemingly depressing world – no small challenge.