Film lovers from around the world will join Michel Gondry, Joachim Lafosse, Nadav Lapid and Abderrahmane Sissako to select their favorite French films on the web.
UniFrance films president Jean-Paul Salomé and Director General Isabelle Giordano today announced the lineup for the 5th edition of MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, at a press conference in the presence of French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin and Michel Gondry, president of the jury. From 16 January to 16 February 2015, film lovers from around the world will have access to the complete selection from this, the world’s first online festival of French cinema, created by UniFrance films.
The selection
Ten feature films (first and second films released in France in 2013/2014) and 10 shorts, subtitled in 13 languages, will compete online for a one-month period. The selection includes two Belgian films in competition, and one classic movie and two French-language Canadian films screening out of competition.
10 feature films IN COMPETITION:
How I Came to Hate Math by Olivier Peyon
Eastern Boys by Robin Campillo
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Belgium)
Les Gazelles by Mona Achache
Hippocrates by Thomas Lilti
Miss and the Doctors by Axelle Ropert
Tristesse club by Vincent Mariette
A Place on Earth by Fabienne Godet
Respire by Mélanie Laurent
Vandal by Hélier Cisterne
OUT OF COMPETITION:
Hunting the Northern Godard by Éric Morin (Quebec)
Heritage film: Purple Noon by René Clément (restored version)
The filmmakers’ jury
Presided over by Michel Gondry, with Joachim Lafosse (Belgium), Nadav Lapid (Israel) and Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania).
The prizes
The Prix Chopard filmmakers’ prize: Awarded by the jury, the Prix Chopard filmmakers’ prize is worth €15,000 for the winning film. Chopard is an official partner of the 5th edition of the festival, and as such, is demonstrating its support for fresh French talents and helping boost their notoriety through this prize that is divided into three, giving the film’s director, producer and international sales team the sum of €5,000 each.
The Prix Lacoste public prize: Film lovers around the world can vote online for their favorite films via the festival’s online platform.
Where to watch the films
All the films are available to viewers around the world on the myfrenchfilmfestival.com online platform. The festival is also available through 25 partner platforms, which vary from territory to territory, including iTunes in more than 90 countries. The short films are free, worldwide. The feature films are free in certain territories (including Latin America, China, India, Poland, Russia, and Turkey) and can be purchased as a pack (€9.99) or singly (€1.99) elsewhere.
When?
Purple Noon will be available around the world and free of charge for a period of 24 hours on the opening day of the festival (16 January 2015).
All the films in the festival selection will be available for a period of one month and in 13 languages (Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish).
Last year’s edition of MyFrenchFilmFestival was an unprecedented hit, with visitors from 205 territories accounting for four million screenings of the short and feature films in the selection over a period of one month, via the myFrenchFilmFestival.com site and partner platforms.
MyFrenchFilmFestival is organized by Unifrance films with the support of the CNC, the SACD, the Institut Français, Telefilm Canada, Wallonie Bruxelles Images, l’Alliance Française, the Cavilam and its partners: Renault, Chopard, Lacoste, Air France, LVT, France Médias Monde, TV5 Monde, Eurochannel, Télérama, Le Monde, So Film, and Variety.