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

The Sisters Brothers (Les Freres Sisters), Jacques Audiard’s western starring Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, has received nine nominations, including for Best Director. The film has already enjoyed a number of international accolades including winning the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year and screened at the launch of the 2019 Alliance Française French Film Festival just two weeks ago.

The Alliance Française French Film Festival’s Opening Night film, Pierre Salvadori’scomedy The Trouble With You (En Liberté!) also received nine nominations whilst French actor-turned-director Gilles Lellouche’s Sink or Swim (Le Grand Bain) about a men’s synchronized swimming team received 10 nominations.

Among the other big-name nominees are fan-favourite, Audrey Tautou, in the best supporting actress category for her role in The Trouble with You and Vanessa Paradis & Johnny Depp’s daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, who is up for an award in the best new actress category for her role in Louis Garrel’s A Faithful Man (L’homme Fidele).

Brisbane film-lovers will have the chance to see six of the seven ‘Best Film’ nominees at the Alliance Française French Film Festival – The Trouble With You, The Sisters Brothers, Sink or Swim, Memoir of War (La douleur), Guy and In Safe Hands (Pupille).

The 44th Cesar Awards ceremony will take place this Friday February 22 (Saturday morning Brisbane time) at the Salle Pleyel in Paris and will be hosted by French actor Kad Merad. Legendary American actor, Robert Redford will receive this year’s honorary Cesar award and British actress Kristin Scott Thomas will preside over the ceremony as honorary president.

The Alliance Française French Film Festival is on from March 14 to April 14 at the Palace Barracks and Palace James Street

The full programme and complete list of ticket prices is available at: www.affrenchfilmfestival.org.

Tickets can be purchased via the Festival website or at participating cinema locations.

National dates and venues for the 2019 Alliance Française French Film Festival are:
SYDNEY: 5 March – 10 April, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central & Hayden Orpheum Cremorne
MELBOURNE: 6 March – 10 April, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Kino Cinemas & The Astor Theatre
CANBERRA: 7 March – 10 April, Palace Electric Cinema
PERTH: 13 March – 10 April, Palace Raine Square, Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX, Windsor Cinema & Camelot Outdoor Cinema
BRISBANE: 14 March – 14 April, Palace Barracks & Palace James Street
HOBART: 14 – 23 March, State Cinema
ADELAIDE: 21 March – 18 April, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
AVOCA BEACH: 22 – 27 March, Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
PARRAMATTA: 28 – 31 March, Riverside Theatres Parramatta
BYRON BAY: 4 – 17 April Palace Byron Bay
www.affrenchfilmfestival.org

This very special Festival edition, which will showcase its innumerable delights across 12 distinct categories with self-explanatory titles ranging from “Paris Snapshots,” “Summertime,” “Lighten Up,” and “Critically Acclaimed,” will also present a selection of outstanding movies from Belgium, Canada and Switzerland via its “Across Borders” category including The Fall of the American Empire (La chute de l’empire Américain), a richly amusing comedy drama from renowned Canadian director Denys Arcand, which is essential viewing.

Breathing life into the creative vision of the filmmakers represented this year are French cinema’s most defining actors from Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Bérénice Bejo, Emmanuelle Bercot, Charles Berling, Juliette Binoche, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Vincent Cassel, Laetitia Casta, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Catherine Deneuve, Lily-Rose Depp, Jean Dujardin and Charlotte Gainsbourg to Nicole Garcia, Sandrine Kiberlain, Laurent Lafitte, Virginie Ledoyen, Vincent Lindon, Fabrice Luchini, Noémie Lvovsky, Miou-Miou, Vanessa Paradis, Jacques Perrin, Niels Schneider, Kristin Scott Thomas, Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel and Lambert Wilson, amongst many others.

As in previous years, this internationally renowned event – acknowledged as the largest assemblage of French cinema outside of France – will celebrate the artistry of several emerging young filmmakers, such as Dominique Rocher (The Night Eats the World / La nuit a dévoré le monde), Coralie Fargeat (Revenge), Elsa Amiel (Pearl),Yann Gonzales (Knife+Heart / Un couteau dans le coeur), Cécila Rouaud (Family Photo / Photo de famille) and Lukas Dhont (Girl). Many of these films will feature in the Festival’s thrilling new “Dangerous Sphere” strand.

The latest output from France’s reigning directorial superstars, including Jacques Audiard, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, François Ozon, Christophe Honoré, Agnès Jaoui and the legendary Jean-Luc Godard, will also form part of the spectacular 2019 line-up.

Select highlights from the 30th anniversary programme include The Sisters Brothers (Les frères Sisters) starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal, which garnered director Jacques Audiard the Silver Lion (Best Director) at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival. This gritty, yet dryly humorous western ‘bromance’ ranks alongside the work of Sam Peckinpah at his best.

There’s also Claire Denis’ mesmerising sci-fi drama, High Life, awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2018 San Sebastián International Film Festival, with a cast led by Juliette Binoche and Robert Pattinson; Sink or Swim (Le grand bain) from Gilles Lellouche, the number one 2018 French box office hit about an all-male synchronised swimming team formed by a group of despondent 40 somethings; director Christophe Honoré’s Sorry Angel (Plaire, aimer, courir vite), an emotionally rich romance set in early 1990sFrance which won the prestigious 2018 Prix Louis Delluc, and from the legendary Jean-Luc Godard, The Image Book (Le livre d’image) – a work of audio-visual poetry awarded the inaugural Special Palme d’Or at Cannes 2018. And for lovers of classic cinema, the Festival will be screening a restored version of Alain Resnais’ 1961 para-surrealist masterpiece, Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad).

National dates and venues for the 2019 Alliance Française French Film Festival are:
SYDNEY: 5 March – 10 April, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central & Hayden Orpheum Cremorne
MELBOURNE: 6 March – 10 April, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Kino Cinemas & The Astor Theatre
CANBERRA: 7 March – 10 April, Palace Electric Cinema
PERTH: 13 March – 10 April, Palace Raine Square, Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX, Windsor Cinema & Camelot Outdoor Cinema
BRISBANE: 14 March – 14 April, Palace Barracks & Palace James Street
HOBART: 14 – 23 March, State Cinema
ADELAIDE: 21 March – 18 April, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
AVOCA BEACH: 22 – 27 March, Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
PARRAMATTA: 28 – 31 March, Riverside Theatres Parramatta
BYRON BAY: 4 – 17 April Palace Byron Bay
www.affrenchfilmfestival.org