FILMS

How did the Louvre survive the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War II while the rest of Europe was destroyed? In this docudrama, famed Russian director and auteur Alexander Sokurov explores the noted museum’s precarious journey through that time by examining the relationship between the Louvre’s head, Jacques Jaujard, and German officer Count Franziskus Wolff Metternich, tasked with overseeing one of the world’s best-known collections of art treasures for the Nazi conquerors. Sokurov cuts between present and past in this “art” film, which is a love story to not only the Louvre itself, but to art and its impact on civilization.

Official Selection – Venice Film Festival

“Sophisticated, complex and thoroughly absorbing. Francofonia is bold and confident.” The Guardian

“It’s a truly bracing, provocative movie, and of course, as is always true with Sokurov, it’s a visual feast.” RogerEbert.com

Supported in part by the Russian Film Symposium and The Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.