25th ALLIANCE FRANCAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW

A heady mix of contemporary French films will contrast retrospective strands from two of European cinemas giants at the 2014 French Film Festival, touring Australia in March and April under the stewardship of the French cultural initiative, Alliance Francaise.

From its launch in 1989, the event has grown to become the biggest foreign-language film festival annually in Australia; organisers boast that it is one of the world’s largest celebrations of French cinema outside of France. The public continues to respond; attendance figures have risen an astonishing 194% over the last eight years, with screenings now held in six capital cities. In 2014, a ‘Best of…’ season will debut in Byron Bay, an artistic regional centre on the New South Wales north coast.

Next year’s event will launch 40 new works, including 32 Australian premieres, from such celebrated auteurs as Betrand Tavernier (political satire Quai d’Orsay; featured, below), Sylvain Chomet (whimsical fantasy Attila Marcel), Phillippe Le Guay (the feel-good comedy Cycling with Moliere) and Bruno Dumont (controversial period drama Camille Claudel 1915, with Juliette Binoche; pictured, top). The event kicks off in Sydney on March 4 with the International Premiere of Nils Tavernier’s rousing sports drama, The Finishers.

International guests have yet to be confirmed, although there is no shortage of star power on display. In addition to Binoche, stars featured include Diane Kruger (Guillame Gallienne’s Me Myself and Mum), Daniel Auteuil (Christian Duguay’s Jappeloup), Romain Duris (Regis Roinsard’s Populaire), Tahar Rahim and Lea Seydoux (Rebecca Zlotowski’s Grand Central), Gabriel Byrne (Jerome Bonnell’s Just a Sigh), Jean Dujardin (Eric Rochant’s Mobius), Mads Mikkelsen (Arnaud des Pallieres’ Michael Kohlhaas), Tcheky Karyo (Belle and Sebastian) and Fanny Ardant (Marion Vernoux’s Bright Days Ahead).

Of particular interest is the Festival organiser’s faith is first-time works from a new wave of French directing talent. Anne Weil, co-directing with Philippe Kotlarski, debuts on the 70’s-set thriller, Friends from France; Stephan Archinard and Francois Prevot-Leygonie adapt the play, True Friends; cinematographer Christophe Offenstein’s epic open-sea adventure, Turning Tide (pictured, right); Jean-Marc Rudnicki’s crowdpleaser, Wrestling Queens; and, David Perrault’s monochromatic crime thriller Our Heroes Died Tonight, a supremely stylish exercise in noir than has drawn comparisons to Tarantino and Scorsese.

In tune with the celebratory tone of the 25^th anniversary gathering, two of the greats of French film will have some of their most iconic works screened. Fully restored versions of classic works from comedy great Jacques Tati will be on show. These include Jour de Fete (1949), Mon Oncle (1958; featured, below), Mr Hulot’s Holiday (1953), Parade (1974), Play Time (1967) and Trafic (1971). The Closing Night film will be chosen by audience poll from Tati’s retrospective. And rarely-seen works from new-wave great Francois Truffaut will feature in one of the Festival’s most prestigious programming strands in its history (titles yet to be announced).

Honouring their nation’s presence and legacy in the Pacific, the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival will also screen a selection of titles from Le Festival du Film Documentaire Oceanien (FIFO), the region’s leading factual film screening platform, held in Tahiti.  Films screening are Gils Breussail’s seafaring chronicle, And Sail to the Australes; Vincent Perazio’s mystical shipwreck story, La Monique, A Caledonian Wound; and, Alain Gordon-Gentil’s and Laurant Ramamonjiarisoa’s autobiographical account of Belgian cult-figure, Jacques Brel, The Home Stretch.

The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival will post details of the schedule closer to the event on its official website.