On Saturday, October 15, 2022, Lyon moviegoers welcomed a host of actors and film professionals for the opening of the 14th edition of the Lumière Festival, which will award its annual prize to the whimsical American director Tim Burton. “Today it is the largest movie theater in the world. it would be nothing without all of you, without this public who likes to watch on very large screens“, launched Thierry Frémaux, the director general of the festival, in front of nearly 5,000 spectators gathered in the Halle Tony Garnier for the launch ceremony. President of the Lumière Institute since 2021, the actress Irène Jacob did not hide her happiness in front of this ode to the 7th Art.
Among the long list of guests, several couples stood out. Usually rather discreet with his wife Christelle Bardet, Laurent Gerra has multiplied public appearances with his beloved in recent months. The mother of little Célestine was always so chic in the company of the comedian. Reconciled with his sublime Stefania Cristian, Samuel Le Bihan was also thrilled with his half in front of the photographers. Gilles Cohen and Karine Paschal or Géraldine Pailhas and Christopher Thompson are other romantic duos present.
The evening began with a tribute to Jean-Luc Godard, who died in September at the age of 91, with the broadcast of an extract from Contempt with Michel Piccoli (1963) on a huge central screen. The eclectic program of the festival promises more than 150 films over nine days, with among the guests, the Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro who comes to present in preview his highly anticipated Pinocchio.
Saturday evening, the public vigorously applauded the Franco-Greek director Costa-Gravas, the director Etienne Chatiliez, the actresses Sabine Azéma, Marina Foïs, Leïla Bekhti or the actors Hippolyte Girardot, Gérard Jugnot and Nicole Garcia. A very warm welcome too, for the filmmaker and former South Korean culture minister Lee Chang-dong, author of poetry (2010) and burning (2018). The latter will host a master class open to the public, as will American filmmakers James Gray and Tim Burton, Italian Monica Bellucci, Frenchmen Claude Lelouch, Marlène Jobert and Nicole Garcia.
“We are all here to continue to love cinema (…) Make way for the cinema “, concluded Thierry Frémaux, before inviting the audience to discover The Innocent, the latest film by Louis Garrel, screened at the opening of this edition. Released on the screens on Wednesday and shot in Lyon, this comedy-polar performed in particular by Noémie Merlant and Roschdy Zem, present for the occasion, caused a sensation at the last Cannes festival.