We’re frothing with excitement at this year’s edition of the French Film Festival Aotearoa – starting on 5 June at the Lighthouse, Penthouse and our favourite Embassy big screen (and a couple of the smaller screens downstairs).
With a whopping 11 films direct from Cannes, Toronto and Karlovy Vary, plus the year’s French blockbusters and two new films from our favourite French stage presence, the irrepressible Isabelle Huppert, we’re grateful that the festival runs for a full three weeks, as there’s a lot to see.
Highlights we’re particularly looking forward to are:
- The Taste of Things: Tranh Anh Hung’s slow-cooking 1870s gastro delight, starring old hands Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel
- Rosalie: Benoit Magimel stays in the 1870s as the husband of the unconventional title character who refuses to live according to the rules of the time
- The Sitting Duck: Isabelle Huppert’s gritty turn as a whistleblower exposing the secret deals of the French nuclear industry
- Animal Kingdom: Not to be confused with the Aussie gangster film of the same name, this film stars Romain Duris in a dystopian future where people are mutating into animals
- Suddenly: The always interesting Thomas Bidegain (we showed his jihad drama Les Cowboys a few seasons ago) helms a survival flick off the coast of Antarctica, starring action man Gilles Lelouche
- The President’s Wife: A 90s throwback comedy starring the ageless Grande Dame of French Cinema, Catherine Deneuve, as Jacques Chirac’s wife, having a bumpy ride with the staff while settling into the Elysee Palace (our former President Chris Hormann is such a fan of La Deneuve that we’re sure he’s booked an entire row)
- Jeanne du Barry: Proof that #metoo has yet to reach Paris, Johnny Depp’s French language period piece fantasia, which somehow managed to open Cannes last year
You can download the full programme for Wellington, or pick up a hard copy after Monday’s screening.
Tickets are on sale now and we have three double passes available to give away to our members.
Update: Draw has been made and winners have been notified!