French Film Festival 24 to 28 April

Cinephiles and romantics rejoice! Australia’s most glamorous film event is returning to Palace Cinemas and for the first time coming to Byron Bay. Thursday 24 to Tuesday 28 April 2014, PALACE BYRON BAY, 108-110 Johnson St.

Presented by the Alliance Française in association with the Embassy of France in Australia and the generous support of Gold Sponsor Citroën, the Alliance Française French Film Festival will screen 14 of the best films of the festival over five days.

The Finishers, a poignant drama with characters inspired by a true story, will take centre stage on Opening Night in. Screening courtesy of Madman Entertainment, directed by Nils Tavernier and starring Jacques Gamblin and Alexandra Lamy, The Finishers follows the journey of an embittered, former Ironman champion, and his disabled son who join forces to compete in a triathlon.
The films thereafter will feature the bewitching talents of a ‘who’s who’ of French and European silver-screen luminaries.

BRIGHT DAYS AHEAD (Les beaux jours)

Director: Marion Vernoux (Starring : Fanny Ardant, Laurent Lafitte, Patrick Chesnais, Jean-François Stévenin)

In this tender romantic comedy, an older, still vibrant woman, embarks upon an affair with a much younger man, which becomes complicated by their age differences, her marriage and his string of other lovers.

IT BOY (20 ans d’écart)

Director: David Moreau (Starring: Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney, Gilles Cohen, Charles Berling, Amélie Glenn)

A hilarious look at sexual politics in the world of Parisian publishing. Beautiful, capable but uptight Alice suddenly finds her career chances improve, when a series of misunderstandings label her with a ‘cougar’ persona.

POPULAIRE (Populaire)

Director: Régis Roinsard (Starring: Romain Duris, Déborah François, Bérénice Béjo, Shaun Benson, Mélanie Bernier)

This utterly delightful film is a sparkling homage to classic Hollywood romantic comedies. Set in the late 1950s, Populaire’s heroine is Rose Pamphyle (César Award winner, Déborah François), a girl who lives with her widowed father but yearns for so much more than the aimless life her inevitable marriage to the local mechanic’s son promises.

TOUR DE FORCE (La grande boucle)

Director: Laurent Tuel (Starring: Clovis Cornillac, Bouli Lanners, Ary Abittan, Bruno Lochet, Élodie Bouchez)

Family man François Nouel (Clovis Cornillac) is the number one fan of the Tour de France – an obsession that costs him his wife and his job. At a loose end, François meets a former sports manager, Rémi (Bouli Lanners) who encourages him to take the plunge and do the Tour himself.

TURNING TIDE (En solitaire)

Director: Christophe Offenstein (Starring: François Cluzet, Guillaume Canet)

A thrilling adventure picture set on the open seas. This big budget production stars François Cluzet (The Intouchables and Art of Love) as Yann Kermadec, a taciturn Breton. After his friend Franck breaks a leg, Yann steps in to skipper a high-tech yacht for the Vendee Globe, a strictly solo three month round-the-world yacht race.

VIOLETTE (Violette)

Director: Martin Provost (Starring: Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet, Catherine Hiegel)

Set against the heady intellectual atmosphere of 1940s Paris, this is the compelling tale of novelist Violette Leduc and her struggle to find her voice as a writer. Scarred by both a childhood trauma and a loveless marriage, she finds a complex mentor in Simone de Beauvoir, and subsequently gains entry into the world of literary giants.

April 2014
For updates, visit the Festival’s official website at:
www.affrenchfilmfestival.org