Lionel Dray

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

In 1963, Esther gives birth to Roland, the youngest of a large family. Roland is born with a club foot that prevents him from standing. Against everyone's advice, she promises her son that he will walk like the others and that he will have a fabulous life. From then on, Esther will do everything in her power to keep this promise. Through decades of trials and miracles of life, this film is the story of a true, funny and moving story, that of an incredible destiny and the greatest love there is: that of a mother for her child.

Alain, a successful Parisian publisher struggling to adapt to the digital revolution, has major doubts about the new manuscript of Léonard, one of his long-time authors — another work of auto-fiction recycling his love affair with a minor celebrity. Selena, Alain’s wife, a famous stage actress, is of the opposite opinion.

What causes a man who has everything to jeopardize his comfort, career and relationship? A passion, as burning as it is fresh, for five acres of land in the Limoges region. But land has to be earned, especially when one comes from the city. And so Franck embarks on a quest for his own Holy Grail. He needs a tractor.

During the 1970s a student named Gilles gets entangled in contemporary political turmoils although he would rather just be a creative artist. While torn between his solidarity to his friends and his personal ambitions he falls in love with Christine.

Nathalie teaches philosophy at a high school in Paris. She is passionate about her job and particularly enjoys passing on the pleasure of thinking. Married with two children, she divides her time between her family, former students and her very possessive mother. One day, Nathalie’s husband announces he is leaving her for another woman. With freedom thrust upon her, Nathalie must reinvent her life.

Abel, Marianne and their 13-year-old son Joseph live together in Paris. Their everyday existence is thrown into turmoil when Abel and Marianne discover that Joseph has secretly sold valuables from the family home to finance a mysterious ecological project he and his friends have in Africa. They’re about to save the planet.

Sophie is far from being the model little girl one would like her to be, unlike her friends Camille and Madeleine. She always insists on having her own way, often getting into trouble, to the despair of one and all. But her mother is unbending and otherwise inclined. She will not let her get away with anything, and poor Sophie will often have to live with the consequences of her bad behaviour and learn her lesson.

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For years, Henri and Nora have shared everything: they love each other, and she directs the plays he performs in. When Henri lands his first film role, the production of their new show is threatened, and their relationship explodes. They start wondering: is it possible to love each other without belonging to one another?

Alma, alone in her big townhouse, and Mina, a single mother from a housing project in another city, have organized their lives around the prison visits they make to their respective partners. When the two women meet in the room outside the visiting area, an unlikely friendship begins...

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Thybald asks Émile, a peculiar detective, to find Claire, his missing girlfriend, allegedly kidnapped. In the course of his investigation, Émile finds something more.

This microcosm of power and money has no time for Gracieuse, whose only assets are her talent, her fiercely stubborn character, and, most particularly, her determination to succeed. A high tension wire who's ready to stand up to Franz Mann and to face any obstacle, even if it means stepping outside the law, she pursues her sole obsession: to have a horse to call her own that she will take to the top.

Once more, Yann is about to leave Calcutta, returning to Paris. He has just dropped off his son with his mother and has one night to wander the streets of the city where he will only be able to come back in a few months.

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Antonin (35) is not so young anymore, his ardor and insolence should have evaporated with the years, but he remains unpredictable in his social relationships, in his love and friendships. He is often funny, sometimes pathetic, or the opposite. Who can support his endurance? Antonin bumps up against reality, so come what may, he will end up breathless.

Camille has disappeared into his own life. Days follow on one after the other, steady as a metronome, between his work at the factory and regular visits to his grandparents. One evening, when he is dining with them, he is projected a few hours later into his own future, without recalling anything. Hours that he has nevertheless lived through, according to what the people around him say.