THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES

(La Plus Précieuse des marchandises)

CINEMA COMPETITION
RENOIR THEATRE
Animation, Drama

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2
8:10 pm (Screening ends at 9:50 pm)
Followed by a conversation with Academy Award® winner writer/director Michel Hazanavicius

Presented in association with:
StudioCanal
France Televisions
Lycée Français de Los Angeles
TV5 Monde

North American Premiere | France | 2024 | Drama, Animation | 81 min | In French with English subtitles

Directed by: Michel Hazanavicius
Written by: Michel Hazanavicius, Jean-Claude Grumberg
Based on the Book by: Jean-Claude Grumberg
Produced by: Christophe Jankovic, Florence Gastaud, Ria Sattouf & Michel Hazanavicius (Les Compagnons du Cinéma), Robert Guédiguian (Agat Films – Ex nihilo) Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Les Films du Fleuve), StudioCanal, RTBF
Art Direction: Julien Grande
Art Creation: Michel Hazanavicius
Film Editing: Laurent Pelé, Michel Hazanavicius
Original Score: Alexandre Desplat
Voices:  Jean-Louis Trintignant (narrator), Dominique Blanc (the wife), Denis Podalydès (the man with broken face), Grégory Gadebois (the woodcutter)
International Sales: StudioCanal

Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty and the war raging all around them had made their lives very difficult. One day, the woodcutter’s wife rescues a baby girl who is thrown from one of the many trains chugging through the forest. That child will change their lives, as well as those of everyone she comes in contact with. Some will do all they can to protect her, whatever the cost, revealing both the worst and the best in the hearts of men. Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius recounts this beautifully animated, timeless tale to remind us that, in the darkest of times, the soul of humanity can only be preserved through the bright light of love and the heroism of ordinary people.

Academy-Award winning director, Michel Hazanavicius began his career as a director of commercials and television projects. In 1999, he wrote and directed his first feature, Mes amis. His next film, the James Bond parody, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (COLCOA 2008), was such a box office hit, it spawned the equally successful sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio (COLCOA 2009).  Hazanavicius burst onto the international scene with the release of The Artist (2011), starring Jean Dujardin. A smash critical and popular hit, that film garnered 162 awards worldwide, including a Palme d’Or, Best Actor and Palm Dog Awards in Cannes; five Oscars and five BAFTA Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor prizes in each country; six César Awards; three Golden Globes; a Best Director Award from the DGA; and was named Best Film of 2011 by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the London Critics Circle.  That was followed by The Search (COLCOA 2015), Godard Mon Amour (2017), The Lost Prince (2020) and Final Cut (TAFFF 2022). The Most Precious of Cargoes premiered, in competition, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and will be presented at TAFFF prior to its release in France.