Presented at Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film Festival 2015

After thirteen years, the director of Russian Ark returns to the theme of museums. Sokurov deals with the value of culture and historical memory through one of its exemplary showcases: the Louvre, a symbol of Europe’s cultural identity. The museum’s director Jacques Jaujard met and collaborated with German officer Franz Wolff-Metternich to protect and safeguard the treasures of the Louvre during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Their story is a broader reflection of art as a cornerstone of civilization. Through a narrative experiment that engages fragments of the past with the present, along with archival footage, images of works of art and storytelling, Francofonia depicts the horror of war and the need to preserve and defend not only the physical, but especially the spiritual memory and heritage of civilization. 


Alexandr Sokurov 
Russian director and screenwriter, born in Podorvicha, Siberia, in 1951.Moloch (1999); the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow Film Festival for Mother and Son (1997); the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize 2003 for Father and Son; the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Faust (2011). 

Selected Filmography
2011 Faust 2007 Alexandra 2004 Il sole 2003 Padre e figlio 2002 Arca russa 2000 Taurus 1999 Moloch 1996 Madre e figlio