Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #45. Aleksandr Sokurov’s Francofonia: Le Louvre Under German Occupation

Published on January 7, 2015

Francofonia: Le Louvre Under German Occupation

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov // Writers: Alexei Jankowski, Aleksandr Sokurov

Russian auteur Aleksandr Sokurov is perhaps best known for his cinematic feat, Russian Ark (2002), an entire film that consists of one elaborate take. A career that began in the late 70s, Sokurov is one of the most prolific directors to emerge from Russia over the past several decades, delivering a series of masterpieces such as 1997’s Mother and Son, and most recently his zany rendition of Faust (2011), which took home the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He’s back with Francofonia: Le Louvre Under German Occupation, and is rumored to be a companion piece to Russian Ark in that Sokurov’s filming within the actual Louvre leading us to assume the film will exist solely within that space.

Cast: Not available.

Producer: Zero One Film’s Olivier Père

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.

Release Date: Apparently filming took place at the tail end of 2013, and since this didn’t show up on this year’s fall circuit, we’re thinking Sokurov aims to attend Cannes (where he has played in competition five times previously).

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.