Returning to Palace Cinemas for its fabulous 32nd incarnation, the Alliance Française French Film Festival, will beguile and engage audiences nationally from March 2 until mid-April at 25 locations, all of which will be adhering to stringent Covid protocols to guarantee Festival patrons a safe cinema experience.
Awash with high-octane drama, seductive romance, nail-biting suspense, historical tales that will enthral and comedies guaranteed to elevate your spirits, the 2021 Alliance Française French Film Festival will showcase multiple Première screenings and special events to be revealed today when the Festival’s website goes live at: http://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org
Presented by the Alliance Française in association with the Embassy of France in Australia and the wonderful support of their Presenting Sponsor, Peugeot Australia, this year’s choice line-up of 37 features has something to delight the most discerning cinephile.
And we’re delighted to announce that the effervescent Catriona Rowntree, one of the country’s most popular television presenters, will be our 2021 Festival Patron. Catriona, who is known to audiences throughout Australia as the host of Nine Network’s long-running travel show Getaway, has harboured a love for France and French cinema since childhood. Indeed, her passion for French culture has led to her to the Alliance Française, where she’s currently a French-language student!
Courtesy of StudioCanal Australia, the Festival will launch with the World Premiere of Eiffel, a sumptuous, romantic, costume drama which explores the passionate love affair between celebrated engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built France’s iconic Eiffel Tower, and Adrienne, a mysterious woman from his past. Portraying these ardent lovers will be French superstar Romain Duris, and the magnetic Emma Mackey.
And for Closing Night the Festival will screen #Iamhere (jesuislà) an endearing culture-clash comedy from director Éric Lartigau (The Bélier Family), starring Alain Chabat as an eminent French chef who travels to the other side of the world after he falls in love via Instagram.
What lies between is a myriad of delights, including a newly restored 4K edition of director Jean-Luc Godard’s masterpiece, Breathless (À bout de souffle) (1960), acknowledged as one of the earliest and most potent examples of French New Wave (nouvelle vague) cinema.
With a screenplay by Jean-Luc Godard and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg as a pair of narcissistic young lovers on the run from authorities following a violent and impulsive crime, no debut film since Citizen Kane (1942) has had as great an influence on cinematic trends and styles.
National dates and venues for the 2021 Alliance Française French Film Festival are:
SYDNEY: 2 – 31 March, Palace Central, Palace Verona, Palace Norton Street, Chauvel Cinema & Hayden Orpheum Cremorne
MELBOURNE: 3 – 31 March, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn, Palace, Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth, Astor Theatre, The Kino & Pentridge Cinema
CANBERRA: 4 – 31 March, Palace Electric Cinema
PERTH: 10 March – 7 April, Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Windsor Cinema, Luna on SX & Camelot Outdoor Cinema
HOBART: 11 – 20 March, State Cinema Hobart
BRISBANE: 17 March – 13 April, Palace Barracks & Palace James Street
ADELAIDE: 23 March – 20 April, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas & Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
BYRON BAY: 24 March – 14 April, Palace Byron Bay
PARRAMATTA: 8 – 11 April, Riverside Theatres Parramatta
www.affrenchfilmfestival.org
