Hollywood’s American French Film Festival Celebrates Cultural Inspiration Including Honors to Jodie Foster and Richard Linklater
France and the U.S. have a long and shared history in film, with a relationship that has always been very open to conversation and mutual influence and inspiration. This legacy is a major focus of this year’s American French Film Festival, which unspools at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles from Oct. 28-Nov. 3. The lineup for the festival includes 70 films and series, with 42 fiction features, nine series, six documentaries and 13 short films, many of which are either world, international, North American or U.S. premieres.
“All genres are represented to underline how diverse and creative French production remains,” says François Truffart, festival executive producer and programmer. “At a time when the importance of diversity is too often called into question, we take pride in continuing to present new and diverse perspectives to American audiences. The cultural exchange fostered by a festival such as ours has never been more essential than it is today.”
The Franco-American Cultural Fund was established in 1996 with the intention of strengthening the dialogue between the American and French film communities. “It’s always been very important to keep that bridge as strong as possible because that’s how artistic fluidity between the two countries is made possible,” says Anouchka van Riel, deputy director, TAFFF. Rebecca Zlotowski’s “A Private Life,” starring Jodie Foster in her first film performed entirely in French, epitomizes that spirit. Oscar-winner Foster will also be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the fest.
Also bridging the gap of language and art is American director Richard Linklater, who is being honored with a Franco-American Cultural Fund Award — his film, the French-language “Nouvelle Vague,” is the centerpiece of the festival. “Richard Linklater directed his first film in French, with a French crew and actors, about an iconic French director, Jean-Luc Godard. The crossover between French and American filmmakers is yielding ever more creatively interesting and entertaining visual storytelling, and audiences are not just paying attention, they are fully engaged and enthralled,” van Riel says.
“For 29 years, the mission of the Franco-American Cultural Fund has been to foster creative dialogue between France and the U.S. through cinema that inspires, connects and transcends borders,” says Cécile Rap-Veber, president of the Franco-American Cultural Fund and CEO of French distribution and rights company SACEM. “Throughout these years, we have celebrated artists who bridge our cultures. Honoring Jodie Foster and Richard Linklater at the American French Film Festival this year perfectly reflects that spirit: On one side the enduring love story between France and Jodie Foster, who has embraced our culture since her youth, and on the other side, ‘Nouvelle Vague,’ which echoes the long-standing admiration generations of American filmmakers have felt for French cinema.”
The festival is not only screening films, TV series and shorts, it’s also holding workshops with industry professionals, French filmmakers, actors and producers. Among the scheduled events are a DGA workshop with Sean Baker (“Anora”) and Jason Reitman (“Saturday Night”), who will talk about the importance of theaters and cinema, and a workshop with the Writers Guild about the craft of screenwriting. New Horizons, another series introduced at the festival this year, will offer cinephiles the opportunity to discover the films from both emerging and established French filmmakers who, in form and substance, offer a unique cinematic vision.
Truffart says, “This is a way creators in France are thinking about this business. We are talking about filmmakers, directors, writers [who] are the key in the French system, which is a little bit different in the U.S. It’s more shared with producers in the U.S. But it’s also an interesting difference that we compare every year. That’s also the purpose of the event: it’s dedicated to the industry and all the people who are working for it.”
“All genres are represented to underline how diverse and creative French production remains,” says François Truffart, festival executive producer and programmer. “At a time when the importance of diversity is too often called into question, we take pride in continuing to present new and diverse perspectives to American audiences. The cultural exchange fostered by a festival such as ours has never been more essential than it is today.”
The Franco-American Cultural Fund was established in 1996 with the intention of strengthening the dialogue between the American and French film communities. “It’s always been very important to keep that bridge as strong as possible because that’s how artistic fluidity between the two countries is made possible,” says Anouchka van Riel, deputy director, TAFFF. Rebecca Zlotowski’s “A Private Life,” starring Jodie Foster in her first film performed entirely in French, epitomizes that spirit. Oscar-winner Foster will also be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the fest.
Also bridging the gap of language and art is American director Richard Linklater, who is being honored with a Franco-American Cultural Fund Award — his film, the French-language “Nouvelle Vague,” is the centerpiece of the festival. “Richard Linklater directed his first film in French, with a French crew and actors, about an iconic French director, Jean-Luc Godard. The crossover between French and American filmmakers is yielding ever more creatively interesting and entertaining visual storytelling, and audiences are not just paying attention, they are fully engaged and enthralled,” van Riel says.
“For 29 years, the mission of the Franco-American Cultural Fund has been to foster creative dialogue between France and the U.S. through cinema that inspires, connects and transcends borders,” says Cécile Rap-Veber, president of the Franco-American Cultural Fund and CEO of French distribution and rights company SACEM. “Throughout these years, we have celebrated artists who bridge our cultures. Honoring Jodie Foster and Richard Linklater at the American French Film Festival this year perfectly reflects that spirit: On one side the enduring love story between France and Jodie Foster, who has embraced our culture since her youth, and on the other side, ‘Nouvelle Vague,’ which echoes the long-standing admiration generations of American filmmakers have felt for French cinema.”
The festival is not only screening films, TV series and shorts, it’s also holding workshops with industry professionals, French filmmakers, actors and producers. Among the scheduled events are a DGA workshop with Sean Baker (“Anora”) and Jason Reitman (“Saturday Night”), who will talk about the importance of theaters and cinema, and a workshop with the Writers Guild about the craft of screenwriting. New Horizons, another series introduced at the festival this year, will offer cinephiles the opportunity to discover the films from both emerging and established French filmmakers who, in form and substance, offer a unique cinematic vision.
Truffart says, “This is a way creators in France are thinking about this business. We are talking about filmmakers, directors, writers [who] are the key in the French system, which is a little bit different in the U.S. It’s more shared with producers in the U.S. But it’s also an interesting difference that we compare every year. That’s also the purpose of the event: it’s dedicated to the industry and all the people who are working for it.”