Nation’s largest French film festival returns to Richmond

The 24th French Film Festival, recognized as the largest and most important festival of its kind outside of France, returns March 31-April 3 with free pre- and post-festival events, master classes and 32 screenings of the best films France has to offer.

The event, which attracted visitors from 42 states in 2015, will feature a French delegation of nearly 50 high-profile directors, screenwriters, actors and artist-technicians who will premiere 19 feature films and documentaries and 13 short films. Sponsored by the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, the festival turns Richmond’s Carytown shopping district into a mini-Paris and makes the historic Byrd Theatre the place to see French film in the United States.

World-renowned aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand selected this year’s festival and the Byrd as the venue to present an unprecedented North American screening of his breathtaking new film “Human” – the Byrd provides an unmatched cinematic experience as the sound and image will be tweaked by the same technicians who are in charge of the Cannes International Film Festival. “Human” is a film that concerns all of humanity, and the free screening will be April 2 at 8 p.m.

Among those in the prestigious delegation:

•  Acclaimed actress Josiane Balasko will present two of her most recent films, “Le Grand Partage” and “Arrête ton cinema,” just released in France.
•  The young actor Félix Bossuet, face of the festival’s poster this year, will introduce the sequel “Belle et Sébastien, l'aventure continue.”
•  French journalist Denis Robert will be on hand to present “L’Enquête,” a film that retraces his true-life experience in breaking the recent Clearstream Affair, which shook up the French governing class. Bringing into the open the extremely sensitive and complex issues at stake in international finance, Robert is today’s equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein.
•  Keeping in the political realm, French director Yves Jeuland and film editor Lizi Gelber will present “Un temps de Président,” a more than candid documentary placing viewers in the corridors of power within the French Presidential Palace at a time when François Hollande faces some of the most challenging political and personal issues of his presidency, not to mention the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

 

A number of films at this year’s festival illustrate the social and economic challenges facing the French. “Le Grand Partage” handles the social and economic issues of class and property by using comedy, and no one does that better than Balasko. Director and screenwriter Ivan Calbérac will take up the difficulties students face to secure housing in Paris in his first comedy feature film, “L’Etudiante et Monsieur Henri.” The challenge of co-habitation finds an unusual and upbeat twist in French actor Clovis Cornillac’s directorial debut, “Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément.”

Comic relief deepens viewers’ perspectives regarding Asperger’s syndrome in the visually stunning and touching film “Le Goût des merveilles” presented by director and screenwriter Eric Bernard, and viewers’ sensitivities concerning Alzheimer’s disease through colorful and spirited father-daughter exchanges in the feature “Floride” to be introduced by director and screenwriter Philippe Le Guay.

Ken Loach and French film have shared many connections and affinities. French director and screenwriter Louis-Julien Petit and producer Liza Benguigui in their film “Discount” highlight the mutual assistance and solidarity between workers in a large chain supermarket as they feel the squeeze of today’s financial crisis and the often brutal practices of mass distribution industry. Actor Vincent Lindon, winner of Best Actor at the 2015 Cannes Festival, masterfully portrays the moral dilemma a father faces when, after 20 months of unemployment, he is placed in an untenable and unfair situation at his new job in Stéphane Brizé’s “La Loi du marché,” presented by screenwriter Olivier Gorce. Denis Dercourt’s film “En Equilibre” shows that less than honest practices of insurance companies are no match for love and the will to overcome one’s handicap.

Fans of French wine and romance will not want to miss “Premiers crus.” Literary aficionados will be mesmerized by director and screenwriter David Oelhoffen’s “Loin des hommes,” based on Albert Camus’ short story “L’Hôte.” Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony serves as the rhythm and conduit of a relationship between an orchestra director and his, until then unknown, son in “Le Dernier Coup de Marteau.” Of all the films in 2015 on immigration, the award-winning feature film “Hope” brings viewers into the inner world of migration as it has never been witnessed before.

Film lovers and future filmmakers are in for a special treat at this year’s festival. “Arrête ton cinema,” presented by Balasko, delves into the follies of film production. Does cinema have a gender? This is the question explored in the sequel “Cinéastes: les hommes” presented by co-director Mathieu Busson and producer Christie Molia.

The festival’s special partnership with the celebrated Cinémathèque Française continues with the director of Cultural Heritage and Conservation of Cinematographic Technologies, Laurent Mannoni, who will introduce the newly restored 1898 and 1900 films about Joan of Arc from early film directors Gaston Breteau and Georges Méliès, respectively, and accompanied by the Mighty Wurlitzer, s’il vous plaît.

For those looking for more to satisfy their passion for cinema, a presentation of Jacques Rivette’s recently digitally restored 12-hour-55 minute film “OUT 1”, presented by the film’s director of photography, Pierre-William Glenn, will take place three days before the festival begins at VCU Grace Street Theater. On the University of Richmond campus, four master classes explore acting, film technologies, film editing and even Native American films with actor George Aguilar (Apache/Yaqui). Aguilar will share his perspective as a Native American actor who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic. Other Native American and First Nations actors, directors and producers are coming to join Aguilar, such as actress and filmmaker Georgina Lightning (Cree).

All screenings during the festival have English subtitles. All pre-and post-festival events and master classes are in English. For the full program, pre- and post-festival events, master classes, film descriptions, interviews, trailers and pass/ticket information, visitwww.frenchfilmfestival.us.

For phone interviews before the festival with actors and directors and/or press credentials to attend the festival, contact festival directors Peter and Françoise Kirkpatrick at richmond@frenchfilm.us or by phone at 804-357-3456. Film photos and press kits available online at the festival website or by request for high-resolution images.

 

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