Oscar-winning film, The Artist, debuts in Nairobi

For good reason, the French film, The Artist won five Academy Awards including Best Film in 2012, plus three Golden Globes, seven British BAFTAs, six French Cesars and one Spanish Goya film awards.

“The most awarded French Film in history”, which will premier in Nairobi this coming Monday night at the Alliance Francaise, is a touching love story set within a critical historic moment for cinema.

It’s the end of an era when silent movies were all the rage, and Georges Valentin (Jean Du Jardin) was king of cinematic stardom.

But his reign was about to end with the rise of ‘talkies’. The unknown actress Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), who got her break being in his last box office hit, became the new darling of Hollywood films.

Stellar success

So while he’s in free fall, she’s gliding up to the peaks of celebrity and stellar success.

The black and white silent movie (which will feature a very few English sub-titles on Monday night), is a wonderful study of Tinseltown at that historic juncture when film was being revolutionised by the power of sound and the human voice.

Directed by Michel Hazanavicious, The Artist won accolades not just for the acting, sound track, cinematography, choreography, screen play and directing.

By winning an Oscar for Best Film of 2012, The Artist put French film on a whole new footing, confirming that European filmmaking has arrived and like Peppy Miller, it’s on the rise while the old school of cinema, coming out of Hollywood for decades, may, like Georges Valentin, be on the wane.