Champlain Film Festival: Colours of Light/La Venue de l’Avenir (Special Student Screening)

Directed by Cédric Klapisch. 124 minutes (followed by discussion). Not Rated. In French with English subtitles.

Brought together by the unexpected inheritance of an abandoned house in rural Normandy, four cousins discover they share a mysterious family history. In 1895, their ancestor Adèle, then aged 21, leaves her hometown to search for her mother in Paris. She discovers a city on the cusp of modernity, bustling with new-found avant-garde creativity, with the rise of photography and the birth of Impressionist painting. As her descendants retrace her steps, they unravel Adèle's surprising past. The two timelines of 1895 and 2024 intertwine and collide, confronting the cousins’ contemporary attitudes with life in late 19th century Paris, leaving everyone’s future forever changed.