A 10 minute standing ovation — this is how US director Richard Linklater's newest film was received at the Cannes Film Festival.

The French-language comedy-drama will also open this year's Tartuff on the evening of 4 August in the biggest open-air cinema in Estonia: the Tartu Town Hall Square.

It's an exuberantly funny tribute to filmmaking - about Jean-Luc Godard making his debut feature, “Breathless", in the summer of 1959, which is also considered the beginning of modern cinema.

“My aim was to recreate the free and immediate atmosphere, without rules, in which this period film was born, and which we are now missing,” Linklater says of his new film.

The historical characters are not only Godard and his leading actors Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, but also François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Éric Rohmer, Jean-Pierre Melville, Roberto Rossellini and Jean Cocteau - a whole host of filmmakers associated with or influenced by the French New Wave.

Celebrating the 65th anniversary of "Breathless”, the Godard classic will also be screened in Tartu Elektriteater during the festival.

The Black Night's (PÖFF) Love Film Festival Tartuff will take place from 4 to 9 August. All screenings are free of charge.

The full programme will be announced in mid-July. Tartuff is presented by Elisa and the City of Tartu.

Photo: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) ja Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) in 'New Wave'', ©©Jean Louis Fernandez.