L'Alliance Française French Film Festival is an annual
French film
French cinema consists of the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe; with primary influ ...
festival in Australia organised by
Alliance Française
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. With the intention of highlighting the richness and diversity of French cinema, the festival supports a selection of 35+ new, French films every year.
The Alliance Française
The
Alliance Française
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
was founded in 1883 in Paris, by writers and academics including Jules Verne and Louis Pasteur with the intention of promoting and encouraging a love of French language and culture around the world. Shorty thereafter in 1886, Alliances begun to open abroad in cities including Barcelona, Senegal, Mauritius and Mexico.
Today there are 1040 Alliance Françaises in 136 countries, each operating as independent, local, not-for-profit organisations. In Australia there are currently 30 Alliance Françaises open and operating.
The French Film Industry in Australia
As one of the worlds most dynamic film industries, over 300 French films are released commercially each year, including co-productions. This level of production is assisted by significant investment from the government and community bodies including the cinema agency of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, CNC, tax revenue from cinema tickets as well as TV stations investing in film production.
In Australia, there has been a strong growth in demand for French films, with more than 3.5 million admissions in 2012, as compared to less than 500,000 in 2005.
In comparison to other nations, in Australia French films are the fourth most popular, preceded only by English language films from the US, UK and Australia. Each year, between 25 and 32 French films are sold to Australian distributors for commercial release, not including films released on DVD. Across television, SBS buys the rights to distribute over 70 French films annually for broadcast on free-to-air TV, and generally screens one or two French films per week.
The Festival
The Alliance Française French Film Festival is jointly organised by the Alliance Française of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
,
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and is supported by the French Embassy.
As one of the main French cultural events and one of the largest film festivals in Australia the festival showcases the best of contemporary French cinema with genres including action, romance, comedy, thrillers, children's films, animation and documentaries.
Since its inception, 33 festivals have been hosted attracting over 170,000 patrons every year.
Films are shown at a number of cinemas across the country including:
Palace Cinemas
Palace Cinemas is the fifth largest major cinema chain in Australia, with various locations in CBD and inner suburban areas of most capital cities. Palace Cinemas currently comprises 24 cinemas with 180 screens and more than 550 staff. Its head o ...
, Hayden Orpheum, Greater Union Cinema, NFSA, Centro, Cinema Paradiso, Luna on Essex and Windsor Cinema.
Over the course of its lifetime, The Alliance Française French Film festival has also hosted a number of honourable special guests including:
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Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...
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Gérard Jugnot
Gérard Jugnot (; born 4 May 1951) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer.
Jugnot was one of the founders of the comedy ''troupe'' Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Cl ...
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Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (; born 3 September 1953) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter. His films combine fantasy, realism and science fiction to create idealized realities or to give relevance to mundane situations.
Debuting as a di ...
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Jan Kounen
Jan Kounen (born Jan Coenen; 2 May 1964) is a Netherlands-born French film director and producer.
In France, he is mostly known for his films ''Dobermann'' (1997), '' Blueberry, l'experience secrete'' (2004) and ''99 francs'' (2007). Outside Fr ...
*
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
*
Philippe Lioret
Philippe Lioret (born 10 October 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on ...
*
Clotilde Hesme
Clotilde Hesme (born 30 July 1979) is a French actress best known for playing Lilie in Philippe Garrel's ''Regular Lovers'' and Alice in Christophe Honoré's ''Love Songs''. She is also known for the role of Adèle from the TV series '' Les Rev ...
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Rémi Bezançon
Rémi Bezançon (born 25 March 1971) is a French director and screenwriter.
Life and career
Rémi Bezançon studied at the École Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle (ESRA) in Paris and the École du Louvre.
In 2005, he released his f ...
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Inna Modja
Inna Bocoum, also known as Inna Modja (born May 19, 1984), is a Malian-French female singer and model. "Modja" means "bad, not good" in Fulfulde.The actual word in the Fula language (Fulfulde) is ''moƴƴa'', being a negative form from the root '' ...
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Rebecca Zlotowski
Rebecca Zlotowski (born 21 April 1980) is a French film director and screenwriter.
Education
A former student at prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure, Rebecca Zlotowski received her teaching qualification in French modern literature in 2003. ...
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Emmanuelle Bercot
Emmanuelle Bercot (born 6 November 1967) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter. Her film '' Clément'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Her 2013 film '' On My Way'' premiered in competi ...
See also
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Cinema of France
French cinema consists of the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe; with primary infl ...
External links
The Alliance Francaise French Film FestivalAlliance FrançaiseAlliance Française de SydneyAlliance Française de MelbourneAlliance Française de BrisbaneAlliance Française de PerthAlliance Française de CanberraAlliance Française d'AdelaideLa France en Australie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alliance Francaise French Film Festival
Film festivals in Australia
Alliance Française
French-Australian culture