History

From 4^th to 13^th Sep­tem­ber 2015.
This was a col­or­ful edi­tion, sym­bol­ized by the Stars and Stripes, which were cho­sen to fea­ture on the Fes­ti­val poster this year. Deauville wel­comed Jane Hart­ley, the recent­ly appoint­ed US ambas­sador to France, who described the event as “the most amaz­ing fes­ti­val of exclu­sive­ly Amer­i­can movies”. There were some pres­ti­gious trib­utes, with the pres­ence of per­son­al­i­ties as var­ied as Michael Bay, Lawrence Ben­der, Orlan­do Bloom, Patri­cia Clark­son, Ian McK­ellen, and Keanu Reeves – in addi­tion to a trib­ute to Ter­rence Mal­ick, who was, inevitably, absent. For the first time in the Festival’s his­to­ry, the Jury, presided over by direc­tor Benoît Jacquot, crowned a film – 99 Homes by Ramin Bahrani – that would only be avail­able via video-on-demand in France. The Prix Michel‑d’Ornano, giv­en to a French film debut, was renamed the Prix d’Ornano-Valenti as a joint trib­ute to Jack Valen­ti. Through­out the Fes­ti­val, meet­ings and recep­tions con­tin­ued well into the night at the Kiehl’s Club, a fes­tive and con­vivial venue cre­at­ed by Kiehl’s, the new part­ner of the Deauville Amer­i­can Film Festival.