Welcome to the 30th anniversary edition of the French Film Festival UK!
For three decades the French Film Festival UK has been on a journey to explore the richness and diversity of francophone cinema and to expand cultural horizons. Post-Brexit the event’s sense of purpose in bringing together our French-speaking neighbours from Europe and beyond has become even more acute and essential. The organisers pay tribute to our audiences, sponsors and funders as well as passionate and committed individuals, who every year ensure the festival comes to vibrant life, not only in November and December but also influencing film events throughout the year. Vive le cinéma!
Richard Mowe – Director French Film Festival UK
Diane Henderson – Associate Director French Film Festival UK
Panorama
Angry Annie
Annie Colère
Annie, a pregnant working mother in the mid-1970s, comes into contact with an organisation that performs illegal abortions in the public eye.
Black Box
Boîte noire
Mathieu is a young and talented black box analyst on a mission to solve the reason behind the deadly crash of a brand new aircraft.
Brother and Sister
Frère et soeur
The story revolves around a brother and sister who are nearing their fifties – Alice is an actress, Louis was a teacher and a poet.
Diary of a Fleeting Affair
Chronique d'une liaison passagère
A single mother and a married man meet at a party then go home together, a delightful love tangle.
Don Juan
Tahar Rahim co-stars opposite Virginie Efira as an actor who finds himself playing the legendary lothario opposite the woman who jilted him.
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann
Adieu Monsieur Haffmann
The legendary Daniel Auteuil gives his best in a gripping adaptation by writer/director Fred Cavayé of the multi–Molière Award-winning play.
Lost Illusions
Illusions perdues
An adaptation of Balzac’s eponymous novel about a young idealist who learns that anything can be bought and sold.
Maigret
Maigret investigates the death of a young girl, then meets a delinquent who strangely resembles the victim.
Maigret + Q&A with Patrice Leconte
Maigret investigates the death of a young girl, then meets a delinquent who strangely resembles the victim.
Mali Twist
Twist à Bamako
In the 1960s, just after Mali gains its independence, a young socialist meets and falls in love with a woman trying to escape an arranged marriage.
Nobody’s Hero
Viens je t'emmène
Christmas Eve is ruined by an act of terrorism. As the city of Clermont-Ferrand descend into panic, thirty something Mederic falls in love with older prostitute Isadora.
Our Brothers
Nos frangins
Malik Oussekinean’s death is believed to be caused by an affair of police violence after several weeks of student protests.
Peter Von Kant
Peter Von Kant, a successful and famous director living with his assistant Karl (whom he likes to mistreat), falls in love with a handsome young man of modest means.
Simone Veil, a Woman of the Century
Simone, le voyage du siècle
An intimate and epic portrait of an extraordinary woman who eminently challenged and transformed her era defending a humanist message still keenly relevant today.
The Green Perfume
Le Parfum vert
An actor dies on stage in the middle of a performance and his friend becomes the primary suspect.
The Green Shutters
Les Volets verts
The portrait of a legendary stage actor who was at the peak of his career in the 1970s.
The Kitchen Brigade
La Brigade
The Kitchen Brigade explores the world of French gastronomy while also tackling issues of social justice and inclusion.
The Little Gang
La Petite Bande
The adventures of a group of passionate and fearless young children. One girl and four boys.
The Love Letter
Chère Léa
After being rejected by his ex-girlfriend Léa, Jonas goes to the cafe downstairs to write her a final love letter.
The Passengers of the Night
Les Passagers de la nuit
As Elisabeth finds herself alone and responsible for the care of her two children, she picks up a radio show job where she meets a youngster whom she decides to take under her wing.
Tori and Lokita
Tori et Lokita
In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the cruel conditions of their exile.
Femmes First
Alice Guy: 13 Short Films
Alice Guy : 13 courts métrages
A fascinating programme of 13 short films by pioneer filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché.
Feminist Riposte
Riposte féministe
A documentary looking at feminists and feminist activism across France.
Forever Young
Les Amandiers
A group of 20-something hopefuls at theatre school are launched into life, passion and love.
Jane by Charlotte
Jane par Charlotte
Charlotte Gainsbourg offers a truthful, touching, intimate portrait of her mother, Jane Birkin.
Jane by Charlotte + Q&A with Charlotte Gainsbourg
Jane par Charlotte
Charlotte Gainsbourg offers a truthful, touching, intimate portrait of her mother, Jane Birkin.
More Than Ever
Plus que jamais
A young French woman discovers she is suffering from a rare lung disease an embarks on a solo journey to Norway.
Rodeo
Hot-tempered Julia finds escape in a passion for motorcycles and the high-octane world of urban bike ‘Rodeos’.
Saint Omer
At Saint-Omer court of law, young novelist Rama attends the trial of Laurence Coly, a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter.
The Blue Caftan
Le Bleu du caftan
Caftan shop owners Halim and Mina keep his homosexuality a secret, but the arrival of an apprentice causes tension.
Discovery
Close
Two teenage boys who have always been close distance themselves after their relationship is questioned by schoolmates.
Continental Drift (South)
La dérive des continents (au sud)
A woman organises the upcoming visit of presidents Macron and Merkel to a migrant camp, whilst her family is on the verge of a breakdown…
For A Fistful of Fries
Poulet frites
A joyful and dark crime mockumentary by the directors of the cult series Strip-Tease.
For A Fistful of Fries + Q&A with Yves Hinant and Judge Anne Gruwez
Poulet frites
A joyful and dark crime mockumentary by the directors of the cult series Strip-Tease.
Full Time
À plein temps
Julie finally gets an interview for a job where she can raise her children better only to run into a national transit strike.
Full Time + Q&A with director Eric Gravel
À plein temps
Julie finally gets an interview for a job where she can raise her children better only to run into a national transit strike.
Hard Shell, Soft Shell
Fragile
Az works for an oyster farmer in Sète. When he decides to hide a ring in an oyster to ask his girlfriend to marry him, she doesn’t say yes.
Love According to Dalva
Dalva
Dalva is 12 but dresses and lives like a woman. One day, as the police takes her away from her house, she meets Jayden, a social worker, and Samia, a teen with a temper.
Two of a Kind
Jumeaux mais pas trop
Funny and touching comedy about the intertwining lives of two unlikely twins.
Two of a Kind + Q&A with Wilfried Méance
Jumeaux mais pas trop
Funny and touching comedy about the intertwining lives of two unlikely twins.
Classic
A Room in Town
Une chambre en ville
A sung-through drama in the style of Umbrellas of Cherbourg that expresses life’s dark complications.
Children of Paradise
Les Enfants du paradis
Cited at the Cannes Film Festival as the greatest French film of all time, and shot in Nice and Paris during the Nazi occupation.
Dear Louise
Chère Louise
Divorced and childless in her 40s, Louise becomes infatuated with 20-year-old Italian immigrant, Luigi. 4K restoration presented in Cannes Classics.
Fearless Little Soldier
Fanfan la tulipe
A devil-may-care romantic action-comedy set in 18th-century France.
Madame Bovary
In 19th-century France, Emma Bovary, a farmer’s daughter brought up in an elegant convent, marries a dull country doctor. Bored, she searches for something more…
Paris Frills
Falbalas
A Parisian dressmaker and serial seducer falls in love with his best friend’s fiancée.
Extras
Bloody Oranges
Oranges sanguines
A satirical commentary on political correctness, weaving together the tales of an indebted retired couple, a social-climbing lawyer and a teenager.
Christmas & Co
Santa & Cie
Santa makes an emergency trip to Earth with his reindeer to search for a remedy when all his children’s toy manufacturers become sick at the same time.
Delicious
Délicieux
A wildly enjoyable tale of reignited passion, mentorship, revenge and gastronomy in pre-Revolutionary France.
Drift Away
Albatros
A story about the chief of the local police force in the picturesque community of Étretat in Normandy and the crimes he has to deal with.
France
Léa Seydoux stars as a celebrity journalist who falls out of love with fame after a freak car accident.
France
Léa Seydoux stars as a celebrity journalist who falls out of love with fame after a freak car accident.
French Tech
Les Deux Alfred
An upbeat and moving comedy starring the Podalydès brothers as two characters overwhelmed by the modern world and new technologies.
Gallant Indies
Indes galantes
Thirty dancers descend on Paris’ legendary Opéra Bastille for a mesmerising ode to life and art.
Good Mother
Bonne Mère
An instantly involving portrait of a fifty-something woman in contemporary Marseille diligently holding together several generations.
Magnetic Beats
Les Magnétiques
In the early 1980s a burst of post-punk creativity in the cultural landscape of Brittany provides an outlet for two brothers.
The French Minister
Quai d’Orsay
A young graduate in the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs finds a world filled with ambition and dirty dealings.
Vicky and her Mystery
Mystère
A young girl is given a puppy as a present but it isn’t long before her father discovers that the animal is in reality a wolf.
Special Screening
Final Cut
Coupez !
Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low-budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies.
Isabelle Huppert talk – Half a Century of Films (+ screening)
A look back at the career of one of the great French actresses of the past fifty years.
Tribute
The Best Years of a Life
Les Plus belles années d'une vie
Claude Lelouch reunites the iconic stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée 53 years after A Man and a Woman.
