Summertime

In 1971 France, a young girl from a rural family moves to Paris and begins a life-changing affair with a feminist activist.

With La Belle Saison, veteran filmmaker Catherine Corsini, tells the story of a love between two young women that is both unabashedly sexy and utterly realistic and compelling.

Setting the film between the bucolic French countryside and the streets of Paris in the 1970s, Corsini casts a steady eye on a twenty-year-old farm girl whose homosexuality becomes a source of anguish when her very traditional parents expect her to marry a local boy who — in their eyes — seems perfect for her. Delphine takes a huge step in her life by picking up and moving to the big city. She finds an apartment and replaces her overalls with a leather jacket.

It's not long before Delphine is drawn to the dynamic Carole who heads up a feminist group. Carole has a boyfriend, but the two women quickly discover their mutual affection and become an inseparable couple. This bliss is interrupted, however, when Delphine's father falls sick and she must return to the farm — and to her mother — to assure its continued existence. The film kicks into high gear as Carole must choose whether to stay in Paris, or to follow Delphine.

2015 | Variety Piazza Grande Award: Catherine Corsini