VCU news

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley

RICHMOND, Va. – Drs. Peter and Françoise Kirkpatrick, the founders and directors of the Virginia Commonwealth University French Film Festival, will be decorated as “Chevaliers dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,” France’s highest arts honor in the French Legion of Honor, during this year’s event.  

VCU President Dr. Eugene P. Trani will introduce the French Ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, who will bestow the medals upon the couple decorating them as Knights in the Order of Arts and Letters.  The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m., Saturday, March 27 at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, the site of this year’s 12th annual VCU French Film Festival.

The award recognizes eminent artists and writers who have made significant contributions to advancing the arts in France and the world.  “France and the French film industry thank you for the unending passion and energy you give to the VCU French Film Festival and for making it the ultimate venue for the promotion of French film in the United States,” said David Kessler, director of the Centre National de la Cinématographie Française in Paris, who informed the Kirkpatricks of the honor.  

Other American recipients of the medal have included Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, author Susan Sontag, actors Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and historian Robert Paxton.

This is the second award that the Kirkpatricks have received from the French government.  On separate occasions, they each were awarded the medal for Academic Excellence, called “les Palmes Académiques,” for their contributions and publications within their respective fields of research.

“We are very touched to be receiving together, side by side, medals of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for our founding and directing of the VCU French Film Festival,” said Dr. Peter Kirkpatrick.  “Pure excitement is the only way to describe how we feel knowing that our work and efforts have created the largest French film festival in the United States and that Virginia Commonwealth University, here in Richmond, is the home of it all.”

Dr. Peter S. Kirkpatrick is an associate professor of French in the VCU School of World Studies and the executive director of the Office of International Education at VCU.  Dr. Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick is a professor of French at the University of Richmond.  They created the annual VCU French Film Festival 12 years ago.

The 2004 VCU French Film Festival takes place March 26 – 28 at the Byrd Theatre, 2908 W. Cary Street, Richmond.  Films are presented by their directors and-or starring actors.  The festival will welcome a delegation of 85 directors, producers, actors, film scholars, critics and French government officials.

The VCU French Film Festival is the largest French film festival in the United States.  For more than a decade, it has earned acclaim in the United States and France for introducing more than 130 French and francophone films to American audiences.  For more information on the 2004 VCU French Film Festival, visit www.frenchfilm.vcu.edu.