Catherine Deneuve At Film Festival

Legendary French actress, twice winner of the Cesar Award for the Best Actress, Catherine Deneuve will be a special guest of the 10th Odesa International Film Festival (July 12-20)

The actress will receive an honorary Award of OIFF – “Golden Duke” for her contribution to the cinema. Besides, during the festival, to the audience will be presented mini-retrospective of three films, classic and more recent, starring Catherine Deneuve.

The icon of French cinema, Catherine Deneuve, has played in more than a hundred films. The first success in the career of the actress was the musical “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964) by Jacques Demy. The picture is well known thanks to the music of Michel Legrand. The role of the young Genevieve, a gentle, a bit frivolous, melancholic girl from a small town, opened Catherine's way to the world of great cinema. The film received the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1964. The film drew attention from Hollywood – “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” received four nominations to “Oscar”.

Legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve will receive a special award

Her filmography also has many audacious and unusual roles. For example, In Luis Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour” (1967), she took on the role of a married woman indulging in masochistic fantasies. In “Hunger” (1983), co-starring with British singer and actor David Bowie, she took on the role of a female vampire. She also received the Cesar Award for Best Actress for her acting in La Nouvelle Vague leader Francois Truffaut’s “Le Dernier Métro” (1981) and in 1993 - for “Indochine” directed by Régis Wargnier. Thus, Catherine Deneuve established herself as a leading French actress.

She has appeared in many American films and also starred in films created in many other European countries besides France, yet her love for French cinema is strong. Catherine Deneuve's choices have always been driven by the script. If the script is interesting, she would join the film even if the director is young and unexperienced.

Besides, Catherine Deneuve is also active in social issues. In 1971, she wrote an open letter with leading female writers such as Simone de Beauvoir and Marguerite Duras, to proclaim that the French anti-abortion law of the time should be abolished.

In the frame of the Odesa International Film Festival, Catherine Deneuve will personally present a mini-retrospective of her films, and will hold a masterclass.