Last night in Auckland, festival organisers unveiled the full programme for this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival, taking place nationwide from 20 February to 23 April 2014 in 11 different cities.
2014 marks the festival’s largest and most diverse film selection to date – featuring a whopping 27 films*, including successful French titles that have recently been doing the rounds at various international film festivals.
Hot off the success of their Toronto Film Festival screenings, Nicole Garcia’s Going Away, Sylvain Chomet’s Attila Marcel, Nils Tavernier’s The Finishers and his father Bertrand Tavernier’s Quai d’Orsay will all première during the festival. Other highlights include François Cluzet and Guillaume Canet in Christophe Offenstein’s, Turning Tide, Katell Quillévéré’s emotional powerhouse Suzanne, and Swiss director Yves Yersin’s universally appealing documentary Blackboard, which chronicles life at a remote mountain school for over a year, focusing on the pupils who share the same class, along with their successes and failures.
Similarly, Guillaume Gallienne’s acclaimed comedy Me, Myself and Mum, which won the Director’s Fortnight category at the Cannes International Film Festival 2013, will screen in an exclusive series of three screenings in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.
The festival’s opening night film will be acclaimed director Cédric Klapisch’s final instalment of The Spanish Apartment trilogy, Chinese Puzzle, starring French acting royalty Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou.
“We’re really happy with this year’s selection,” says Festival Director Sarah Reese, “I think it’s fun, diverse and enthralling. I’m sure people will find films that appeal to them and I hope they may even explore new genres and styles as French cinema offers such a diverse range of filmmaking.”
Visit the official website to see the full line-up of films in this year’s festival.
* NB: Not all films screen in each city nationwide. Refer to festival website for more details.
