BLAME IT ON FIDEL
JULIE GAVRAS
Synopsis
Anna is nine years old. For her, life is simple, consisting of order and routines. A life that peacefully and comfortably unfolds between Paris and Bordeaux, between her religious school, her home with her parents, Marie and Fernando, and her maternal grandparents’ vineyard. The only shadow cast over this ideal picture is an uncle, down there in Spain, who’s fighting Franco. He’s a communist, about whom nothing must be mentioned. “Communist,” “pro-Franco” – words and commitments that have a powerful meaning in 1970. For Anna is nine years old in 1970. But soon her ordered existence will become complicated. Her uncle’s arrest and death, a journey to Chile, several encounters… So many events whose importance Anna doesn’t perceive, but which will profoundly change her parents. Political commitment, altruism, fighting against imperialism, feminism, elections, demonstrations are now the keywords and the events that punctuate the lives of Marie and Fernando.For Anna, the shift in her parents’ world means other words and events: moving house, disorganization, changing nannies, a smaller apartment, new faces. So she resists, and fights with her meagre weapons. But the upheavals imposed upon her are too important. Her parents change inexorably. She’s marked by her new encounters. Her understanding of the world deepens. And like her mother and father, she changes, but differently from them. Anna grows up and accepts this new life. However she now casts her own gaze on the world and those around her.
Scenario
Julie Gavras, Jacques Fieschi, Olivier Dazat,
based on Domitilia Calamai's work
Cas
Nina Kervel, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi
Production
Les films du Worso, Gaumont, France 3 Cinéma
Financial partners
Région Ile de France, Sogécinéma
French distribution and sales
Gaumont
Broadcasters
Canal +, Cinécinéma, France 3
Genre
Drama
Release date
November 29th, 2006
Running time
99 min
Festivals and distinctions
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Vienna French Film Festival - Feature Film Sélection
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Tour du Cinéma français au Mexique - Sélection Officielle
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Prize Michel d'Ornano at the Deauville American Film Festival
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Best Film Prize at the Réunion Film Festival
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Fiction prize at the Festival international du film d'histoire de Pessac
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Laudable Mention at the Lucas Film Festival
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Sundance Film Festival
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Rio de Janeiro international Film Festival
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Barcelona Film Festival
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Gröningen International film festival
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Heidelberg International Film Festival
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Montpellier Film Festival
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Olympia Film Festival
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Copenhagen International Film Festival
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Hannover Film Festival
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Revohot Film Festival
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Edinburgh International Film Festival
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French-Mexican Film Festival of Mexico
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Rome International Film Festival
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Rendez-vous With French Cinema in New York
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Instanbul Film Festival