The 24th annual Alliance Française French Film Festival will return to Palace Barracks Cinemas and Palace
Centro Cinemas from 14 March until 4 April with a selection of Gallic fare, incorporating 43
new films and documentaries. Fans of the event will be able to learn about the full programme and book
advance tickets when the Festival’s website goes fully live today – Thursday, 31 January!
The acclaimed gastronomic delight, Haute Cuisine (Les Saveurs du Palais), will launch the Festival. Screening
courtesy of Transmission Films, Haute Cuisine tells the story of Hortense Laborie who, upon her appointment as
personal chef to the President at the Elysée Palace, is faced with the challenge of creating culinary art in a world
of political intrigue. Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, whose experiences inspired the film, will be the
Festival’s opening night guest-of-honour in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.
And for closing night, we are thrilled to bring audiences Marcel Carné’s 1945 classic, Children of Paradise (Les
Enfants du Paradis), a sweeping, period romance generally acknowledged as the greatest French film of all time,
which has been meticulously restored from the original camera negative.
Artistic Director, Emmanuelle Denavit-Feller, has again selected the most critically acclaimed and entertaining
films to emerge from France’s thriving movie industry throughout the last 12 months, which will be showcased
across eight distinct categories encompassing such themes as the universality of love, art and cinema, suspense,
tales from our past, stories beyond fiction, inspiring women, laughter and tales for budding cinephiles.
And, in keeping with tradition, many of France and Europe’s most celebrated actors, including Juliette Binoche,
Isabelle Carré, Diane Kruger, Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Amalric, Dany Boon, Patrick Bruel, Charles Berling,
Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni, Isabella Rossellini, Agnès Jaoui, Sophie Marceau, Gad
Elmaleh, Denis Podalydès, Miou-Miou, Jeanne Moreau, Nathalie Baye, Mathieu Kassovitz, Gérard Depardieu,
Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuelle Seigner, Romane Bohringer, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tchéky
Karyo, Fabrice Luchini, Sandrine Kiberlain and Cécile de France, will bring to life these many fascinating stories.
2013 Festival highlights include:
AFTER MAY (Après Mai)
Director: Olivier Assayas (Starring: Lola Créton, Clément Metayer & Félix Armand)
A loosely autobiographical and evocative drama about a young French artist caught-up in a whirlwind of
politics, art and sex in the wake of the electrifying events of May 1968.
FLY ME TO THE MOON (Un plan parfait)
Director: Pascal Chaumeil (Starring: Diane Kruger & Dany Boon)
Isabelle has a successful career and a loving boyfriend, but her family is plagued with a curse: every first
marriage ends in divorce. So when her long-term boyfriend, Pierre, proposes, there’s only one thing to do.
Isabelle decides she needs to find a total stranger, marry him and divorce him – all before her actual wedding!
National Dates and Venues for the Festival:
SYDNEY: 5 – 24 March Chauvel Cinema, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona &
Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace
MELBOURNE: 6 – 24 March Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema
Como, Palace Westgarth Cinemas & Kino Cinemas
CANBERRA: 7 – 26 March Palace Electric Cinema
BRISBANE: 14 March – 4 April Palace Barracks Cinemas & Palace Centro Cinemas
ADELAIDE: 19 March – 7 April Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas
PERTH: 19 March – 7 April Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX & Windsor Cinema
