French Film Festival UK 2024 Programme Announced

The French Film Festival UK have announced the 2024 programme with more than 200 screenings of 60 French-language films across more than 25 different locations.

Article Source: French Film Festival
Last Updated: 31 October 2024 13:33

With more than 200 screenings of 60 French-language films across more than 25 different locations the 32nd edition of the French Film Festival UK includes some of the most hotly anticipated titles of the year, many showing exclusively as UK premieres featuring such directorial talents as Jacques Audiard, Audrey Diwan, Emmanuel Courcol, Robert Guédiguian, Anne Fontaine, Nabil Ayouch, Arnaud Desplechin, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Christophe Honoré, Alain Guiradie, and Gilles Lellouche among others. Female directors making their debut include Laetitia Dosch and Charlotte Schiøler.

In attendance at this year’s festival will be Mathieu Amalric with Filmlovers! (London Ciné Lumière 29 Nov with screenings elsewhere), actor/director Charlotte Schiøler who will introduce her latest film Mousey (Glasgow GFT 15 Nov and Edinburgh Institut français d'Ecosse 16 Nov) and César award winner Yolande Zauberman for The Belle from Gaza (London Ciné Lumière 3 December).

Elsewhere Emmanuel Mouret will appear in person for a Q&A about his latest take on modern romance Three Friends (London Ciné Lumière 30 Nov), Wilfried Méance will present his farcical comedy of sexual manners Maybe More (Edinburgh Institut français d'Ecosse 20 Nov and Aberdeen Cineworld 21 Nov), and documentary legend Claire Simon will be in conversation with fellow filmmaker Sophie Fiennes for her return to the schoolyard in Elementary (London Ciné Lumière 6 December, and also screening at Glasgow Film Theatre 25 Nov).

Savages, Claude Barras’s long-awaited follow up to beloved modern classic My Life As a Courgette, and Julie Keeps Quiet, Belgium’s submission for the best foreign language film Academy Award make for two more highlights from this year’s festival.

Other previews range from Louise Courvoisier’s debut feature Holy Cow, from Glasgow-based distributors Conic, and audience favourite The Marching Band ahead of its French release on 27 November and UK release early next year from Vertigo film distributors. Alongside these is Audrey Diwan’s re-imagining of the cult erotic hit Emmanuelle, her hotly anticipated follow up to Venice Golden Lion winner Happening.

Diwan also has a writing credit on Gilles Lelouche’s Palm D’or nominee Beating Hearts, starring festival favourite Adèle Exarchopoulos, which heads up the DISCOVERY strand alongside Jessica Palud’s masterful interrogation of the film industry in Being Maria, winking Bernadette Chirac biopic The President’s Wife and with support from the Swiss Embassy, and featuring a Palm Dog winning performance, Dog on Trial, the debut feature from actor turned director Laetitia Dosch.

In the PANORAMA strand highlights include tense, Loachian drama in The Story of Souleymane; and the sly meta-textual fun of Marcello Mio. In CLASSICS we pay tribute to two icons who recently passed, with Anouk Aimee’s classic A Man and A Woman, and Alain Delon’s iconic The Swimming Pool. Alongside this we mark a centenary since the birth of auteur Claude Sautet with showings of his era-skewering romance César & Rosalie.

Now on its 32nd edition, and as the only francophone film event in the UK, the festival has maintained its commitment to offering a broad selection of exciting, invigorating and challenging films. It is with this in mind that the festival is delighted to partner with MUBI for this year’s edition. There is an opportunity to view films from several festival icons including Bertrand Bonello, Claire Simon and Quentin Dupieux, all at a special discount rate.

Richard Mowe, co-founder and director: "If it's French language cinema you're after then the Festival has it covered with films from Québec, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, African territories, and France, many accompanied by guests and specialist introductions. The event covers the country from rural and coastal communities to such key cities as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Chichester, Warwick, Nottingham, London and so many more. Book in for some of the year's most amazing cinema experiences all with a French accent, and, bien sûr, English subtitles."

The Festival is supported by Institut Français Royaume-Uni; Institut français Écosse; Alliance française Glasgow; Screen Scotland; Film Hub Scotland; BFI FAN; Unifrance; Air France; TotalEnergies; Wallonie-Bruxelles; Franco-Scottish Society; Embassy of Switzerland in the United Kingdom (Cultural Affairs); Eurostar and Eastern Western Motor Group.

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