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The Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF) has unveiled the full lineup of films and series for the 30th American French Film Festival (TAFFF), which will compete for the TAFFF Awards.
The fest, running Nov. 3-8 at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater Complex on Sunset Boulevard, will screen international feature film contenders galore, from Minotaur and Fjord to All of a Sudden. Overall, it will showcase 60 films and series.
“Since 1997, the Franco-American Cultural Fund, founder of The American French Film Festival, has brought more than 1,200 French films and series into the Hollywood spotlight and given thousands of French artists, from newcomers to well-known directors, to writers, composers, actors, and producers, the opportunity to present their work before their American peers in the heart of Hollywood,” said director Taylor Hackford, a FACF board member. “This year, there will be another spectacular selection and delegation to celebrate the 30th anniversary event at the Directors Guild of America, making TAFFF the second oldest film festival in the city of Angels.”
François Truffart, executive producer and programmer of the festival since 2004, added: “Supporting filmmakers from their earliest short films to eventual Oscar recognition, creating a platform where both established and emerging talent can present their work, being the first to launch a series competition alongside feature films, and consistently championing female filmmakers are just a few of the many meaningful milestones I cherish with TAFFF.”
Anouchka van Riel, TAFFF’s deputy director, described this year’s selection as “a cinema of resistance.” She added: “Individuals stand up to systems that exist to grind them down: a corporate machine in A Good Little Soldier and Minotaur, a courtroom built by men in Women on Trial, an online mob in Forsaken, and an exploitative labor chain in Strawberries. Running alongside that is a quieter thread about care, illness and what we owe one another.”
The entire lineup for the 30th anniversary edition of the festival includes 31 fiction features, 11 series, four documentaries and 14 short films, many of which are getting either their North American or U.S. premieres. 58 will be up for The American French Film Festival Awards.
Among special events at the fesf are the first U.S. screening of the biopic and box office phenomenon De Gaulle, written and directed by Antonin Baudry, which stars Simon Abkarian as General Charles de Gaulle, the U.S. premiere of the comedy All About Corinne, written and directed by Marc Fitoussi and featuring Isabelle Huppert, the North American premiere of Guillaume Canet’s psychological thriller, Karma, starring Marion Cotillard, and the political thriller Jupiter, written and directed by Alexandre Smia.
The list of official submissions for the best international feature film Oscar include France’s entry Minotaur, written and directed by Andrey Zviagintsev, Japan’s All of a Sudden by Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Belgian submission Coward by Lucas Dhont, Romania’s Fjord, the winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, and Morroco’s Strawberries by Laïla Marrakchi.
The TAFFF program will also highlight French animation with three features: opening film In Waves by Phuong Mai Nguyen, Iron Boy, written and directed by Louis Clichy, and Blaise by Dimitri Planchon and Jean-Paul Guigue.
With the festival moving from spring to fall, TAFFF is this year also bringing the best French films from Cannes, Venice and Locarno to Hollywood, including Gentle Monster, written and directed by Marie Kreuzer and starring Léa Seydoux, One Minute to Midnight by Nicolas Pariser, The Green Eyes, written and directed by Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh.
Seven films will compete for the best first feature at TAFFF this year, including Congo Boy, written and directed by Rafiki Fariala, and Cannes Critics’ Week winner La Gradiva, written and directed by Marine Atlan.
English (US) ·