French films attracted close to 78 million spectators abroad in 2008 (provisional figures). According to Unifrance estimates...   French films attracted close to 78 million spectators abroad in 2008 (provisional figures). According to Unifrance estimates, the final figure is expected to cross the 80 million admissions mark. French film production reached an all-time high in 2008, outshining the exceptional year of 2005 (76 million admissions). Moreover, movie attendance ...

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY CRITICS’ AWARD 2008 – Prix FIPRESCIgoes to Abdellatif Kechiche for LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (The Secret of the Grain / Couscous)As FIPRESCI’s Hassouna Mansouri, Director of the Department for African Affairs, explains, “giving this year’s prize to Abdellatif Kechiche, the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) recognises an author in the purest and simplest meaning of the word. The award not only pays tribute to all those filmmakers who are often margina...

 Friday, April 25-----New York City has had a love affair with French film for more than 75 years. From the silent film era to today’s Gallic gems, French films are consistently the highest audience attractions and the non-English cinema most represented in the Big Apple. The Tribeca Film Festival, which began its first day of screenings today, adds to this “Francophile” tendency with the premiere of several films a la francais. Five dramatic features dot the Festival’s various film st...

Friday, March 7---------Films from France have traditionally been among the strongest and most loved at the Miami International Film Festival. Not only does Miami have within its borders a large French expatriate community, but immigrants from French-speaking Africa and the Americas round out the French language contingent in this multi-cultural town. Even for those not fluent in “la langue,” French cinema has been the most popular non-English film product for more than 70 years in the Unit...

The 64th Venice Film Festival came to an end on Saturday 8 September. The awards ceremony took place, along with the Golden Lion of the 75th Anniversary presented to Bernardo Bertolucci, in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema. The Golden Lion for Best Film goes to Se, Jie (Lust, Caution) by Ang Lee; the Silver Lion for Best Director goes to Brian De Palma for Redacted; the Special Jury Prize goes to La Graine et le mulet by Abdellatif Kechiche and I’m not There by Todd Haynes. The Volpi ...