Pascal Verroust

Three disparate people meet in a bizarre skiing accident: an alcoholic doctor who has just been left by his wife, a beautiful but directionless woman, and the bumbling Algerian man who caused the accident. They become fond of each other, and of liquor.

Karnaval is set against a backdrop of intolerance and hostility in the gloomy Northern French city of Dunkirk. The story is set during carnival time, when the citizens let themselves loose for six weeks of partying, carousing and having a good time. The film centers on Larbi, an Arab youth, and his confrontation with one of the turning points of his life. After a violent argument with his father, Larbi decides to leave the family's business and go to Marseilles for a fresh start. On his last night in the town he grew up in, he sleeps in the hallway of an apartment building, where he is disturbed by Béa and Christian, a couple having fun at the carnival. Larbi is attracted to Béa and decides to stay a few more days to try his luck. In the free atmosphere of the carnival, Larbi discovers a world that he did not know existed, a world which is about to clash with his conservative outlook, and the three lives are changed forever.

Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measures in the United Kingdom. Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran. Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland. Saddam Hussein's rise to power in Iraq. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The nuclear accident at the Harrisburg power plant and the birth of ecological activism. The year 1979, the beginning of the future.

On November 20, 1979 at 5:30 in the morning, hundreds of armed men take over the Grand Mosque of Mecca, transforming the holiest shrine of Islam into a fortress and a trap for almost 100,000 pilgrims inside. This was the beginning of the siege of Mecca…

After the death of her husband, Lilia's life revolves solely around her teenage daughter, Salma. Whilst looking for Salma late one night, Lilia stumbles upon a belly dance cabaret and though initially reserved and taken aback by the culture of the place, Lilia gets consistently drawn back to it. She befriends one of the belly dancers and is encouraged into dancing for the audience. Lilia also starts a romance with one of the cabaret's musicians, who unbeknown to both of them, is also romancing Salma.

In Saint-Nazaire in 1967, a hotbed of workers' struggles, Clémence, 26, is married to a young worker, Gérard. Like many women of her generation, she does not work and takes care of her two children. But she longs for a different life while Gérard confuses the happiness of his family with the acquisition of household appliances. Trained by an old friend, Agnès, in family planning meetings, Clémence will meet a young philosophy teacher, Jérôme. For him, she will abandon her husband and her children, and try to live the utopia of a life of total freedom. Blinded by his pain, a stranger to his wife's questioning, Gérard will have to become aware of the upheavals that will overwhelm society a few months later. Life will never be the same again.

In this French comedy-drama, actor Angelo Bastiani installs satellite dishes when not auditioning for films. After being told he's not convincing enough for a role in a gangster flick, Ange dons a mask and stages a parking-lot holdup, terrifying the film's director and casting director to prove his point.