“The director's still-signature work is a sort of egghead cinephile love letter to star Maggie Cheung, and much more. It's an actively thinking, self-questioning film—and you can feel Assayas realizing a newfound freedom of experimentation” - Justin Stewart, Brooklyn
“Remains a perfect, hilarious, hand-held torrent of rock-n-roll movie-ness, satirizing the chaotic life of "art film" production even as it embodies it” - Michael Atkinson, The L Magazine
IRMA VEP finds humor and poetry in equal measure in the mistranslations and awkward exchanges of a newly borderless art cinema. Playing herself, Hong Kong movie star Maggie Cheung arrives in Paris to star in a remake of the silent classic series Les Vampires directed by the burnt-out René Vidal (Jean-Pierre Léaud). Little goes to plan, but the emotional power of the film is grounded in a different kind of movement—a hauntology of the past lives of cinema itself.
Awards & Nominations
1996 Cannes Film Festival - Official Selection
1996 Toronto International Film Festival - Official Selection
1997 International Film Festival Rotterdam - Winner, KNF Award
Contact Zones: Cinema of Globalization, 1989–2024
Fall 2026 Lecture Series
“We might have come to the end of something,” Adam Curtis reflected recently, referring to "globalization," which began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But just how well do we know this world that we were, until recently, living in? Brief lectures before screenings and open discussions afterwards will cover background on local histories related to films in the series as well as theories of globalization, neoliberalism, migration, and digital culture. Presented in collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism. Lecturer: Professor Daniel R. Quiles. Select titles offered with Sunday encores; encores do not include lecture.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu