Madame Hofmann
Sébastien Lifshitz, 2024, Documentary, 104 min.
In French with English subtitles
Q&A with Sylvie Hofmann and Fanny Guex

Sylvie has been a nurse for 40 years at the North Hospital of Marseille. Her life is running. Between patients, her sick mother, her husband and her daughter, she has always devoted her life to helping others. What if she decided to think a little about herself? To retire? Does she give herself the right, but above all, does she really want to retire?

Watch the trailer (French).

Sébastien Lifshitz is an award-winning French screenwriter and director. He teaches at La Fémis. Lifshitz has navigated between fiction films (Wild Side 2004 and Going South 2009) and documentaries (Bambi 2013, The Lives of Thérèse 2016, Adolescentes 2019, Little Girl 2020) becoming one of the masters of the genre in French Cinema along with Nicolas Philibert. His work has received the most prestigious awards in France and has been featured in international film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, among others.

Speakers

Sylvie Hofmann has been a nurse since 1980 at the North Hospital of Marseille. She is a daughter, a wife, and a mother. Sylvie is now the new heroine of Sébastien Lifshitz’s last documentary film. Lifshitz spent one year following her (in and outside the hospital) during the Covid pandemic.

Fanny Guex is the Associate Director of the Columbia Maison Française.

This film screening is presented as part of the Columbia University Maison Française 2024 Film Festival, CINEMA/CARE. The Festival is produced and presented by the Columbia Maison Française and curated by Fanny Guex, and Shanny Peer, and Eva Martin. The full festival program can be found here.