The full program of the 37th Arles peplum film festival

“Gladiator”, symbole d'un nouvel âge d'or du péplum.

The Arles peplum film festival invites you to rediscover Antiquity through cinema.

For 37 years, film buffs who love ancient history have been meeting at the Arles ancient theater for the traditional peplum film festival, which will take place this year from Monday to Saturday, August 24, with a taster starting on Saturday, August 17 at the Arles Ancient Museum.

On the program:

Saturday, August 17, 6 p.m.: opening, games “The 5 Hortus Trials”, “Slam on the Fly”. 7 p.m.: show On the Road to Olympia. 8:30 p.m.: evening “Asterix Olympics”, game “The 12 Words of Asterix” and screening of the animated film The 12 Tasks of Asterix, by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Museum of Ancient Arles, Roman Circus peninsula.

Monday, August 19, 6:30 p.m.: aperitif meeting “Between incest and gladiatorship: Commodus, the worst of emperors”, by Pauline Ducret, from the French School of Rome. 7:30 p.m.: film club, “Russell takes out the Crowes in front of a Phoenix not Commodus for the 3rd golden age of the peplum!”, by Laurent Silvestrini, film circus. 8:45 p.m.: epic evening, Roman pompa, opening speech and screening of the film Gladiator, by Ridley Scott with Russell Crowe.

Tuesday, August 20, 6:30 p.m.: aperitif meeting “Pharaohs in History”, by Bernard Mathieu, lecturer in Egyptology. 8 p.m.: game “Locus Ludi”. 8:45 p.m.: family evening, “Olympic Games Athletes” by the reenactors of Acta then screening of the animated film The Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess, by Michel Ocelot. 

Wednesday, August 21, 6:30 p.m.: aperitif-meeting “The Battle of Marathon: A Matter of Races”, by Pascal Charvet, Hellenist. 7:30 p.m.: film club “When Cinecittà appropriates the Battle of Marathon”, by Olivier Renne, musician, painter and film buff. 8:45 p.m.: show La divine Olympiade de Cymbalum by Dardanis, directed by Olivier Renne and in dance by Anette Darda, then screening of La Bataille de Marathon, by Jacques Tourneur, with Steve Reeves and Mylène Demongeot. 

Thursday, August 22, 6:30 p.m.: aperitif-meeting “Canons, not canons ? Are the traditions about Jesus still biblical ?”, by Anne Pellegrini, graduate in biblical studies. 7:30 p.m.: film club “Gabin s'en lave les pognes", by Gaël Le Ny, film specialist and Olivier Renne, musician, painter and film buff. 8 p.m.: games “Locus ludi". 8:45 p.m.: classic evening, Carmina Amoris, by the Cie Les oreilles en ventilateur and screening of Golgotha by Julien Duvivier, with Jean Gabin, Edwige Feuillère. 

Friday, August 23, 6:30 p.m.: aperitif-meeting "Is Conan a barbarian, a knight, a gladiator or a fascist ?", by Florian Besson, doctor in medieval history. 7:30 p.m.: film club "From hyperborea to hyperbole: fantasies and obsessions of Reaganian America", by Laurent Silvestrini, film critic. 8:45 p.m.: evening outside the borders, Peplum farce: true or false ?!, by Cie Le Rouge et le Vert, then screening of Conan the Barbarian, by John Milius, with Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Saturday August 24, 6:30 p.m.: aperitif-meeting "Beauty, the Doctor and the Pharaoh", by Alain Charron, Egyptologist, chief curator. 7:30 p.m.: "O Akhenaton, ah what have they said about you!", by Gaël Le Ny, cinema specialist. 8 p.m.: "Locus Ludi" games. 8:45 p.m.: masterpiece evening, preview screening of the documentary Jules, then of i, by Michael Curtiz.

Aperitif meetings and free film club. Screening 7 €, 5 €, three-evening pass 15 €, 6 evenings 25 € at the ancient theater of Arles. Free evening at the Museum of Ancient Arles.