250 years in 15 films
“All great American films talk about America,” Jean-Luc Godard used to say.
What better setting than cinema to tell the story of a country’s 250 years, its great myths and the major chapters of a history intimately linked to that of France since the early days of its revolution?
The Deauville Festival could not overlook this founding date to tell the story of America and the American dream, the America of conquest and the defense of freedoms, civil rights, and great wide spaces; the America of optimism, youth, and freedom, without obscuring the dark sides of a young nation that Alexis de Tocqueville, the most subtle and visionary analyst of democracy in America, had detected so early.
The Western, a founding genre of American cinema, is in itself a moving narrative of American legend and myths: the Gold Rush, the conquest of the West, the Civil War, the extermination of indigenous peoples, the building of the rule of law, the relationship with nature, law and violence…
This program does not aim for exhaustiveness. It simply wishes to recall the past, illuminate the present and question the hopes of an America that continues to bring its share of light and hope to the world.
“They’ve all come to look for America,” sang Simon & Garfunkel. Today’s independent cinema seems to continue this tradition of American folk songs by telling stories of injustices, struggles and the ordinary lives of all the John Does of an America that aspires to be a melting pot of diversity and a land of welcome for generations to come.
Beyond this retrospective, the films of this 2026 edition will confirm that the America of freedom has not said its last word and continue to echo the poem by Emma Lazarus, engraved at the foot of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Aude Hesbert
Still from Once Upon a Time in America by Sergio Leone (1984)
1925 THE GOLD RUSH (LA RUÉE VERS L’OR) Charlie Chaplin
1939 MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (MR. SMITH AU SÉNAT) Frank Capra
1947 THE GRAPES OF WRATH (LES RAISINS DE LA COLÈRE) John Ford
1964 DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (DOCTEUR FOLAMOUR) Stanley Kubrick
1980 HEAVEN’S GATE (LA PORTE DU PARADIS) Michael Cimino
1984 ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (IL ÉTAIT UNE FOIS EN AMÉRIQUE) Sergio Leone
1987 FULL METAL JACKET Stanley Kubrick
2009 MILK (HARVEY MILK) Gus Van Sant
2012 ZERO DARK THIRTY Kathryn Bigelow
2013 DJANGO UNCHAINED Quentin Tarantino
2014 SELMA Ava DuVernay
2015 THE BIG SHORT (THE BIG SHORT : LE CASSE DU SIÈCLE) Adam McKay
2022 SHE SAID Maria Schrader
2023 KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Martin Scorsese
2024 HERE (HERE — LES PLUS BELLES ANNÉES DE NOTRE VIE) Robert Zemeckis
These films will be notably presented by:
Pete Doherty (singer, composer), Manuel Alduy (head of cinema at France 2), Olivier Père (Arte France), Damien Bonnard (actor), Ava Cahen (director of Critics’ Week), Vincent Pérez (actor), Anne Berest (writer, screenwriter), Thierry Klifa (director), Lou Lampros (actress), Julien Colonna (director), Martin Bourboulon (director)…
