The American French Film Festival opens with a North American premiere for Jean-Jacques Annaudis’ Notre Dame on fire on October 10.
Annaudis, who will attend the festival, brings his latest film, which recreates the events of April 15, 2019 when Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, leading to a heroic rescue of the famous church.
Previously called COLCOA, the festival ends on October 16 with Dominik Moll’s thriller The night of the 12th screening at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles. The American French Film Festival dedicates its annual Focus on a Filmmaker spotlight to Moll and also closes with Irma VepoOlivier Assayas’ HBO remake of his 1996 film, which had its world premiere at the festival.
A total of 75 films and series and 20 short films were unveiled at a press conference on Tuesday as part of the festival’s 2022 lineup.
“This selection of French films and series in competition for the American French Film Festival Awards underlines – despite the two-year pandemic period – the amazing dynamism of the French production community,” said Francois Truffart, the festival’s executive producer and programmer, in a statement. .
Other titles booked in the French film showcase from October 10-16 include a world premiere for Kevin Ossona and Fabrice Garcon’s Blowing neon and North American premieres for Celine Devaux’s Everyone loves JeanneOlivier Peyon’s lie with meLauriane Escaffre and Yvonnick Muller’s Mary in lifeClement Cogitor’s Son of Ramses and Salah Issaad’s soul.
There are also North American first looks for Mathieu Gerault’s South Sentinel; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent; Olivier Ducray and Wilfried Méance’s Two of a kind; and the festival gives a North American theatrical premiere for the epic Netflix drama Athens, written and directed by Romain Gavras.