DIRECTOR: Sébastien Laudenbach, Chiara Malta
PRODUCERS: Marc Irmer, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron
PRODUCTION CO: Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, Palosanto Films
SCREENPLAY: Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach
EDITOR: Catherine Aladenise
MUSIC: Clément Ducol

WITH: Melinée Leclerc (Linda), Clotilde Hesme (Paulette), Laetitia Dosch (Astrid), Alenza Dus (Carmen), Linda's best friend, Estéban (Serge), Patrick Pineau (Jean-Michel), Claudine Acs (Grandma)


​FESTIVALS: Cannes, Annecy

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REVIEWS

“In the animated French feature Chicken for Linda! directed by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, a mother accuses her young daughter of stealing a ring of great and mournful value. When the mother, Paulette (voiced by Clotilde Hesme), discovers her error, she promises to do whatever Linda (Mélinée Leclerc) wishes by way of apology. Linda was an infant when her father died, so she asks her culinarily challenged mother to cook her father’s go-to dish: chicken and peppers.

A general strike — Vive la France! — tosses a slapstick wrench into Paulette’s pledge, closing stores and forcing her to secure the chicken by other means. Police officers give slapstick chase. A watermelon truck and its kindly driver enter the fray. Paulette’s older sister, Astrid (Laetitia Dosch) — a yoga teacher who self-medicates with candy — is dragged into the mess. And the children and denizens of the congenial apartment complex observe and participate in the increasingly madcap antics of mother and child.

For all its playful color-block hues and deceptively casual illustrations, the movie delivers a sharp mix of pathos and humor. Chicken for Linda! explores the differences in grief and memory for child and spouse with a touch as wisely light as the movie’s score, by the composer Clément Ducol’s, which lands festive, thrilling, sorrowful notes instrumentally and in songs.

As the indomitable chicken makes break after break for it, and more and more people are involved in its capture, you’d be right to wonder: What about the tray of peppers one of Linda’s friends left cooking in the oven?”

– Lisa Kennedy, NY Times

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FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Canterbury     
Monday, 24 March, 7.00pm

New Plymouth     
Tuesday, 06 May, 6.00pm

Westport     
Wednesday, 11 June, 7.00pm

Nelson
​Wednesday, 09 July, 6.00pm

Carterton
​Friday, 25 July, 7.00pm

Palmerston North     
Wednesday, 03 September, 6.00pm

Timaru    
Tuesday, 07 October, 6.30pm​

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French Connections is presented in
​co-operation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France