Festival L'Etrange, September 7-18, 2016

The next three months will be very busy for me - I have about 6 different events, all over the world that I'll be involved in - the first one was the Festival L'Etrange in Paris.  My new feature "Revengeance" that I directed with Jim Lujan was invited to have its world premiere there.

My French distributors, E.D. Distribution felt that it would be a great place to launch the film, so I accepted the invitation to attend.

So last Wednesday I flew to France on XL Airlines (XL has nothing to do with the description of the seating space...) and as I took a car from the airport to the hotel, we got stuck in typical Paris traffic, because of the constant "Manifestations".  So my sleeping plans were totally upset. and I was constantly lacking sleep during my entire stay in Paris.

                                         Outside the Festival L'Etrange before the screening

The Festival L'Etrange is run by my old friend, Frederic Temps, and it takes place deep underground, in an awesome cinema complex called the Forum des Images.  They've got state-of-the-art cinemas,
libraries - everything for anyone who loves films.

The first screening of "Revengeance" had a great crowd, with super applause.  The second screening was even better, with a standing ovation and tremendous love from the audience.

                                                             Hey, a standing ovation!

The festival had a very prestigious line-up of films - especially films that are off-beat and different - the kind of films I like, films by Jodorowsky and Miike.

Unfortunately, because of my screwed-up sleep schedule I missed all of the great parties - but if you get a chance, try to attend the Festival L'Etrange - you'll love it!  I give it an "A".

If you want to read some of the early reviews on "Revengeance", here are some links - but the reviews are in French, so I need to get them translated:

http://www.focusonanimation.com/critique-letrange-festival-xxii-la-vengeresse-32989/

http://www.celluloidz.com/2016/09/la-vengeresse/

http://culturellementvotre.fr/2016/09/18/etrange-festival-2016-la-vengeresse-bill-plympton-jim-lujan/

--Bill Plympton

                                       Taking questions from the audience after the screening

                                    With Nicole Renaud, who composed music for my films
                                  "Cheatin'" and "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger"

                                                Signing for the fans after the screening