French Taking Over The Irish Film Institute
“This year’s IFI French Film Festival is bigger and better than ever before.”
(Ross Keane, director of the Irish Film Institute)
The annual French Film Festival is returning to the Irish Film Institute in Dublin for the 16th time, starting on November 18 and continuing throughout the 29th. This year’s festival program is packed with a wide diversity of well-known French filmmakers, as well as award winning actors and actresses.
Ever since the all time classic French film "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" was released back in 2001, we all know, French filmmakers have a good hand for combining outstanding soundtracks, with phenomenal script writing. So it's no wonder, the French Film Festival has expanded its roots and is now available in a total of five locations nationwide.
Due to the popular demand, the program at the IFI, which is also one of the principal funders, was expanded to an amount of 35 screenings, which is an increase of 6 films comparing to last year. “This reflects the quality of French films made in the last year and the appetite the audience has for French cinema,” states Ross Keane, the director of the Irish Film Institute.
With 17 Irish premieres, the French Fest is showing some of the biggest French films of the year and many haven’t been seen since the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, back in May.
This year’s French Fest features a lot of successful filmmakers from France and guest of honour Jacques Audiard. The Oscar nominated producer and filmmaker, will present his latest film “Dheepan” on Friday and will also be joining for a Q&A afterwards. There are several other occasions where Audiard will be part of the Festival, such as his master class on Saturday, which will be followed by the screening of his masterpiece “A prophet” on Sunday.
With a sold out gala opening of the film “Standing Tall” last Wednesday, which featured leading lady and Parisian Catherine Deneuve, the festival is already off to a good start. The audience included a lot of French citizens, who have been part of the Festival for many years now and are overwhelmed by the success it has developed over the last century. French woman Gwen, who has been living in Ireland for 15 years now, returns for her 6th year and enjoys watching films from and around France, it is her “little check-up about the culture of France”, as she calls it.
When we talked to IFI director Ross Kean, about what separates the French Fest from other film festivals happening at the IFI, he said: “We do many film festivals over the year, but the French is a very obvious one”, referring to the variety of successful films they can choose from and the strong presence French filmmakers had at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The French Film Festival is also an ideal opportunity for non French-citizen to explore the French world of cinema and get in touch with professionals in the area.
About the Festival
This year’s program covers a wide range of genres and will also contain the annual IFI family screening for kids over the age of 10.
Tickets are €10.50 per film but a variety of discounted packages are available such as: €40 for five films or €70 for a package of 10 films. All screenings are held at the Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace St, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
To find out more information about the French Film Festival, log on to Facebook and Twitter, or visit the IFI’s homepage: www.ifi.ie/frenchfest
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