Lyon (AFP)

Ten years after Clint Eastwood, the first film giant to be celebrated, the Lumière festival opens Saturday in Lyon for an 11th edition that culminates with the arrival of another American legend: Francis Ford Coppola.

The director of "Apocalypse Now" (1979), a cult film about the Vietnam War that will be screened on October 20, at the closing of this event dedicated to the classics of the 7th Art, will give a masterclass and receive the Prix Lumière. He succeeds the actress Jane Fonda.

The kick-off of the event will be given by the screening on Saturday evening in preview of "La belle epoque", the second feature film by Nicolas Bedos which staged a Daniel Auteuil disillusioned sexagenarian, embarking in the 1970s on traces of a youthful love.

In addition to the author of the trilogy "The Godfather", the festival will pay tribute in their presence to several other film personalities, including Frances McDormand, Marco Bellocchio, Donald Sutherland or Bong Joon-ho, awarded the Palme d'or in Cannes in May.

Ken Loach, Gaspard Noe, Gael Garcia Bernal, Marina Vlady, but also the cinephile singer Vincent Delerm and the whole team of "Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra", the comedy of Alain Chabat, are also expected between Rhône and Saone .

Awarded the Prix Lumière in 2015, New York director Martin Scorsese will again be in Lyon to premiere "The Irishman", his latest feature produced by Netflix with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci in the main roles.

As usual, the festival will plunge into the arcane history of cinema to focus on figures or periods of the 7th Art less known moviegoers. Spectators will be able to discover the films of French filmmaker André Cayatte, Italian "rebel" Lina Wertmüller and the Hollywood of the 1930s struck by censorship.

On the sidelines of the screenings will also be held the 7th edition of the international classic film market, an appointment reserved for professionals - created in 2013 - during which will be discussed the main issues of the industry of heritage film.

Launched in 2009 by the Lumière Institute in the Lyon district, where the cinematograph was invented in 1895 and shot "La sortie du usine Lumière", the first film in history, the Lumière festival is spread across all cinemas. of cinema of the Lyon conurbation.

In total, 185,000 festival-goers had attended in 2018 its 10th edition. The budget of this new vintage is around 4 million euros.

© 2019 AFP