The French Film Festival - Richmond, VA is an annual film festival held in Richmond, Virginia, focused on recently produced French-language films. It was created in 1993 by Drs. Peter and Françoise Kirkpatrick, professors of French literature, culture and film studies at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

and

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

, respectively. It is billed as the largest festival of French film in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Since then, and as of 2015, it has welcomed a delegation totaling more than 380 directors, producers, actors, film scholars, critics, and French government officials. At the 2004 Festival, the Festival's founders and directors, Drs. Peter and Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick, were decorated as "Chevaliers de l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", a high honor in the arts in France, and in 2011, the Médaille Beaumarchais by the French

Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques ( en, Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors. The Society manages, promotes ...

. The festival usually takes place the last weekend of March, during which the city is filled with French speakers and aficionados of French cinema. It is held at the historic

Byrd Theatre The Byrd Theatre is a cinema in the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It was named after William Byrd II, the founder of the city. The theater opened on December 24, 1928 to much excitement and is affectionately referred to as "Richmon ...

. At the 2014 Festival, there were approximately 22,000 attendees/tickets sold.

The Festival

The festival is host to a variety of French films, both short and feature-length. to promote French language, cinema, and culture in the U.S. and in American educational institutions. French directors and starring actors engage the audience in question and answer sessions following the screening of their films. The Festival is sponsored by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Unifrance,

l'ARP La Société civile des Auteurs Réalisateurs et Producteurs, acronym L'ARP is France's "Guild of Authors, Directors and Producers." It is a Copyright collective that ensures Collective rights management. L'ARP co-sponsors City of Lights, City of ...

(French acronym for "Guild of French Directors and Producers"), and the

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows mul ...

(a French acronym for "Guild of Authors, Composers and Directors"). The Community Idea Stations (PBS), as well as the TV channel

TV5Monde TV5Monde (), formerly known as TV5, is a French public television network, broadcasting several channels of French-language programming. It is an approved participant member of the European Broadcasting Union. The network is available across ...

also are partners of the festival. The

, rated by USA Today in 2011 as one of the best film palaces remaining in North America, is the annual venue for the Festival. Each year, the French Film Festival brings to the Byrd Theatre the very same technicians and projectionists responsible for the screenings at the International Cannes Film Festival, ensuring the highest quality of both sounds and images

Programme

Each year, the festival showcases a selection of features, shorts and masterclasses in various sections: *Feature and Short Selections – The main attraction of the festival **''Feature Films Selection''– A selection of around 15 US and world premieres of recently produced French features (fictions and documentaries) all presented by their directors, screenwriters or starring actors and screened at the

. **''Classics'' – A selection of a few award-winning restored French classics, also introduced by their director, cast or technicians. **''Special Screenings'' – exclusive screenings of newly found and restored French silent films by the likes of Georges Méliès or the

Lumière Brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: * Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, ...

, lent to the Festival by the French Cinémathèque. **''Short Films Selection'' – A selection of around 15 French short films screened at the ''Byrd Theatre'' and introduced by their directors and/or main actors. *Master Classes – Each year, the festival organizes several master-classes with distinguished guests from its French delegation, each centered around one central theme as well as the guests's career. All master classes are free and open to the public and either take place at the

or at the

Delegation

A large delegation of French directors, actors and producers of feature and short films come to the Festival each year to present their films and also interact with the audience through question-and-answer sessions after each showing.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Festival homepage

Coverage of the 2007 Festival
Film festivals in Virginia French Film Festival Culture of Richmond, Virginia Tourist attractions in Richmond, Virginia