9th Annual Sacramento French Film Festival June 18-20 & 26-27th, 2010

The 9th annual SACRAMENTO FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL will be held over two weekends June 18-20 and 26-27th.

A Catered Opening Reception starts on Friday June 18th at 6pm in the lobby of the Crest Theatre with Open Bar and Music / Opening film starts at 8:30pm.

As always, the Crest Theatre will host the event. The Crest is located at 1013 K Street, in Downtown Sacramento.

For more ticket information call the Crest at 916 44-CREST or you can buy them here.

TICKET PRICES:
From $10 (single tickets) to $80 (Full Festival Pass)

ß SINGLE TICKET: $10 / $9 (for Students, Seniors, Deaf Community, Alliance Française, Club Français & Sacramento Jewish Film Festival members).

PASSES:

BLEU Opening Night Pass: $51
Access to Opening Night Reception and Film - Valid June 18 only.

BLANC First Weekend Pass: $35
Access to All Screenings, Opening Reception not included - Valid June 18 (film only)-20.

ROUGE Second Weekend Pass: $36
Access to All Screenings & Closing Party - Valid June 26-27.

Combinations:
BLEU + BLANC + ROUGE = $80
Two-Weekends Full Access to all Screenings & Parties - Valid June 18-27.

BLEU + BLANC = $60
First-Weekend Full Access to All Screenings & Opening Reception - Valid June 18-20.

BLANC+ ROUGE = $50
Two-Weekend Experience, Opening Reception not included - Valid June 18 (film only)-27.

CLOSING NIGHT FILM & RECEPTION: $14 / $13 (for Students, Seniors, Deaf Community, Alliance Française, Club Français & Sacramento Jewish Film Festival members).

All films are presented in French with English subtitles, and post-screening discussions follow some of the screenings.

Click here for more program information.

Premieres:
New French Films in their Sacramento premieres.
The 9th SFFF will open with A l’ORIGINE (In the Beginning) by Xavier Giannoli a thrilling drama based on the true story of a small crook who built a piece of highway leading nowhere…

• FAIS MOI PLAISIR ! (Please, Please me!) a charming, happy comedy by Emmanuel Mouret (Shall we Kiss?).

• LOUISE MICHEL a hilarious anarchist comedy by Benoît Delépine & Gustave de Kervern, starring Yolande Moreau (acclaimed at last year’s SFFF in Séraphine).

• The historical drama L’ARMÉE DU CRIME (Army of Crime) by Robert Guédiguian retracing the true story of the Manouchian resistant group during occupied France in WWII.

• LES BEAUX GOSSES (French Kissers) first feature of comic book artist Riad Sattouf, a John Hughes-style hysterical comedy that will enthrall everyone who has ever been a teenager.

• ’ARNACOEUR (Heartbreaker) by Pascal Chaumeil, a sophisticated and witty comedy full of adventure, starring Vanessa Paradis and Romain Duris.

• RAPT by Lucas Belvaux a social-thriller about the downfall of a powerful businessman portrayed by Yvan Attal.

• The pride of French intelligence returns to Sacramento! The Festival will close in style on June 27th with OSS 117, RIO NE RÉPOND PLUS (OSS 117, Lost in Rio) the sequel to the uproarious spy-spoof comedy that opened the 2008 SFFF.


Midnight Movies:
2 midnight movies for mature audience followed by discussions around free coffee and pastries.

THE TENANT (Le Locataire - 1976), the classic psychological thriller and Kafkaesque fantasy by Roman Polanski.

MAN BITES DOG (C’est arrivé près de chez vous - 1992) the this cult classic is an unsettling black comedy by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel & Benoît Poelvoorde.


4 Classic Films Include:
A tribute to one of the most beloved French actors JEAN GABIN presented on June 26th-27th with:
• PÉPÉ LE MOKO by Julien Duvivier (1937) an undisputed classic of pre-WW II French cinema that combines poetic realism with gangster thriller.
• THE SICILIAN CLAN (Le Clan de Siciliens – 1969) by Henri Verneuil. One of the most popular and best French suspense thrillers of the 1960s, Le Clan des Siciliens brings together three giants of French cinema: Jean Gabin, Alain Delon and Lino Ventura. Chuck Zigman, author of the first English book about Jean Gabin The World’s Coolest Movie Star and Mary Moncorgé, Jean Gabin’s granddaughter, will introduce both films.

The SFFF will also present on June 19th-20th:
• DIVA by Jean-Jacques Beineix (1981). A classy 1980’s cult thriller with a dash of opera, Diva is a stunning piece of cinema that will grab you off your seat!

• THE STORY OF A CHEAT (Le Roman d’un tricheur – 1936) by Sacha Guitry, a hugely entertaining comedy, featuring some unforgettable visual comic gags. Besides being a comedy, Le Roman d’un tricheur is an original film with no dialogue but a voice-over commentary, in which the film’s central character (the cheat, played by the unforgettable Guitry himself) narrates the story of his life.

Short Films:
Each feature is preceded by a short film.
A short film program, comprising award-winning French shorts, completes the 2010 SFFF selection.

Special Guests this year include:
• Stéphanie Vasseur, screenwriter and director of 2 short films presented this year at the Festival: Le Petit Marin (The Little Sailor) and 3ème B 4ème gauche (international premiere) and Sous Mes Yeux (Under My Eyes) presented at the SFFF in 2007.

• Chuck Zigman, author of the first English book about Jean Gabin The World's Coolest Movie Star

• Marie Moncorgé, Jean Gabin's granddaughter

The Making of a Custom Cake…

cake delivered today for an awesome customer in Elk Grove!


Cake Making is both a tedious process and a passion…
…and not always so much a profit in the end. I wanted to explain the cake making process to some people out there who might get a little sticker shock when they ask for a cake quote from me and it comes back in the $100-$400 range. This is what special cakes cost, as they are not only food for your guests, but are focal points and works of art at your parties! :)

Before I elaborate, I'd like to thank the Bake Me a Wish Blog for contacting me and asking me to do a guest post.

I was given a little set of questions I'd like to answer before I go into the process of explaining one of my latest cakes. I'll address those first:

1.) What's your favorite cake flavor?
Come on!! That's like asking a mother about her favorite child. :) OK, I am partial to chocolate and love the incorporation of delicate mocha flavors in cakes... I love vanilla bean as well. I also really enjoy using flavors in cakes that are not used very often. Citrus zest is so delectable in buttercream. To answer the question though, I guess chocolate cake (brushed with Kahlua) with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla frosting is my fave.


2.) What got you started in the cake business?
I got started in 1999 when I began taking decorating classes at a local Michaels craft store, and bringing the leftovers into work. A coworker asked me how much I would charge for a birthday cake, and it all spiraled out of control from there. :) Soon, I was making 4 or 5 dozen Christmas cookies for another coworker, and then a wedding cake for another co-worker. I decided to get certified with the health department and soon I had a small bakery business out of my apartment in Dayton. When I moved to California, things changed a little, and I was no longer allowed by law to have a home bakery. I became ServSafe certified and now rent kitchen space when someone orders a custom cake.

3.) What do you think it is about cake that really makes people go crazy?
I think it's programmed in from birth. Cakes are always in direct relation to celebration. It's a big cake when you turn 8 or 10, and then a huge cake when you graduate, get your first big job, or get married. Cakes are the centerpiece of a celebration. I guarantee that most times, you won't remember what you had to eat at a party, but you will remember the cake, and if it was good or bad. Sometimes this means grocery store quality--memorable in a bad way--or a spectacular centerpiece, of course memorable in a good way.



4.) What's your dream cake experience?
Dream cake experience? Kind of weird question, but I guess mine would be that my buttercream and cake didn't contain any calories?? Unfortunately they do, and so I don't get to have much of it.


5.) Share your favorite cake memory.
I have many favorite cake memories. Some of them have been cakes made for me, and some of them have been cakes I have made for others. But I always remember the CAKE making or breaking the party. I guess the most inventive cake was one I did for my 30th birthday party in the shape of a piece of sushi. It was green tea flavored cake with lychee buttercream.


Sushi cake for my 30th


So now I would like to detail just exactly what goes into a special celebration centerpiece like the custom cakes I design…

First, I collaborate to come up with a concept with my customers. Usually they have something in mind they want to convey, and an occasion to celebrate. For the cake below, it was the screening of Le Couperet for the Sacramento French Film Festival. The client and I decided to make the cake into a reel-to-reel. The star came about in my mind when I had leftover cake from baking the main two and wanted to incorporate it into the design. I cut out a star to add to the "Hollywood" appeal.

So, to backtrack a little bit the cakes are baked. This particular cake (to feed 60-80 people) took about 3-4 hours to bake and cool. Then, the cakes are cut into their needed shapes. For the rounds, I simply leveled the tops and torted them to fill them with chocolate filling. I cut the star by hand. Usually I make the fillings and frostings while the cakes are baking and cooling.

Then, after the cakes are cooled and cut, they are covered in a layer of buttercream and then a layer of fondant. Now, I do not use the boxed fondant by itself. I make a fondant from scratch with better flavor and mix 50/50. Mixing the fondant and getting all the colors I need takes about an hour or two, depending on how many colors I need. So now, we are up to 6 hours without any decorating time at all.




Then the main cakes are covered and I clean all the extra powdered sugar off of them as I go. In this case, I spray painted the cakes with edible spray paint to clean them up really well before I continued decorating.





Then I rolled out big circles of gray fondant and used a cutter to make holes in it to resemble a reel. When laid down on the black layers of "film" the cake began to take shape… :) At this point, I have put about 7 hours into the cake.






Little pieces of rolled out black fondant are formed into the film, connecting the reel-to-reel, then I paint the entire cake that I want to be shiny with an edible metallic paint made from lustre dust and vodka.




Here's the final cake that was enjoyed at the Le Couperet premiere. It was one of my most fun pieces to make and decorate and a memorable piece for a good acquaintance of mine. I am looking forward to the French Film Festival this June and will be involved with it in some way, and even more with the upcoming tenth anniversary. I am pretty sure I put in about 10 hours into this cake. The price of this cake would be $200, so if you do the math, you can safely assume that with ingredients and labor, I don't really make much profit. I do these projects because they promote this website, they are fun, they make people gorgeously happy, and they rock your event!!

Screening of Le Couperet & Cake!

The Sacramento French Film Festival presents an exceptional screening of Le Couperet (The Ax) by Costa-Gavras, followed by a champagne reception and Q&A with Professor Elstob on Thursday April 29th, 2010 at 7:30pm at the Crest Theatre (1013 K Street).

I have been commissioned to do the cake for the reception. Yes, there will be a delectable cake in celebration of the screening and the upcoming Sacramento French Film Festival!

TICKETS:
$15 in advance / $20 at the door. Ticket includes film, reception and post-screening discussion with our favorite Kevin Elstob, Professor of French at CSUS.

Advance Tickets available at no fee at the Crest Theatre.

Based on the novel by celebrated novelist Donald E. Westlake, a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America Society, Le Couperet (2005) is a dark social comedy & thriller that tells the topical story of a middle-aged chemist (remarkable deadpan comic José Garcia) who, after having been fired following the merger of his company and having remained unemployed for three years, decides to improve his chances on the job market by literally eliminating his competitors…

Le Couperet, nominated for 2 French César Awards in 2006, was never released in the U.S. Chan-wook Park (Thirst), one of Korea’s best directors, will direct a remake of this amoral tale in 2011.

The screening is made possible by the support of the French Cultural Services in San Francisco, Cultures France, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Boudin Bakery, cakegrrl.com, and The Crest Theatre!