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Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF), powered by twofour54, will screen a selection of restored films by legendary filmmaker, François Truffaut, for the first time in the Arab world. Truffaut passed away 30 years ago, in 1984, an occasion for ADFF to remember and celebrate this influential director.

Many of the films have been newly restored and will be presented in the best possible quality at the Festival. The selected titles include THE 400 BLOWS, JULES AND JIM, THE WILD CHILD, THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN, SMALL CHANGE, Academy Award winning DAY FOR NIGHT and THE LAST METRO, which was screened at Cannes earlier this year as part of the Cannes Classics segment.

The films will be screened at ADFF, which takes place from October 23 to November 1, 2014.

Ali Al Jabri, Director, Abu Dhabi Film Festival, said: “Few filmmakers have had as much impact on the art of cinema as François Truffaut. We want to give local audiences the chance to experience these great works of cinematic genius on the big screen to relive some of the magic that captivated movie-goers at the time and today.”

THE 400 BLOWS often ranks among the greatest films of all time and won the Best Director Award in Cannes when it premiered in 1959. It is the semi-autobiographical childhood story of a troubled French youth who is ignored and misunderstood at home and school until he is placed in a juvenile detention centre. After running away, he ends up facing an uncertain future in one of cinema’s most legendary closing shots.

Another of the director’s celebrated films, JULES AND JIM, is a bittersweet tale centred on the lives of two friends, who fall in love with the same woman, Catherine. Truffaut’s timeless meditation, now stunningly restored, on loving more than one person at the same time features Jeanne Moreau in one of her iconic performances.

Influential film critic for “Cahiers du Cinéma”, mastermind of the “auteur theory” and heir to the humanistic cinematic tradition of Jean Renoir, Truffaut’s gift to the world were tender love stories, exciting crime films and brilliant literary adaptions. Known for his fluid camera work and post-modern approach, Truffaut was one of the key figures of the French new wave cinema of the late 1950s and is spoken in the same breath as other movie legends such as Jean-Luc Godard and Louis Malle. Truffaut died in 1984 and is still highly regarded within the filmmaking community and beyond.

ADFF was established in 2007 with the aim of helping to create a vibrant film culture throughout the region and has previously showcased the work of major figures in world cinema, including Ingmar Bergman and Naguib Mahfouz. A key event in Abu Dhabi’s cultural calendar, it features an extensive 10-day programme of Arab and international cinema, complemented by red-carpet premieres and associated events.

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