The Little Cafe
Early Short Films of the French New Wave
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12m
Directed by François Reichenbach • Documentary • 1963 • 12 minutes
A slice-of-life film shot in a provincial cafe and hotel in the city of Bethune in the department of Pas-de-Calais, in Northern France. Older men smoke, drink beer and read the paper, young lovers gaze into each other’s eyes, and regulars play cards, while the owner blusters on the phone with potential banquet customers. Meanwhile, from behind the counter, the quiet woman who does the work of ensuring the place runs smoothly keeps watch—and occasionally sneaks a glance at the newspaper herself.
Up Next in Early Short Films of the French New Wave
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The Botanical Avatar of Mademoiselle ...
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The Fifteen Year Old Widows
Directed by Jean Rouch • Drama • 2023 • 25 minutes
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In this short, Jean Rouch turns his anthropological eye to bourgeois teenage girls in Paris, in the summer of 1964. Caught in the in-between world of adolescence (the...