The country’s second largest film festival – the French Film Festival Aotearoa – which kicks off on June 10th, brings over 20 amazing French movies of 2020/21 to New Zealand!
The programme has been designed to take audiences on an incredible journey, showcasing the crème de la crème of French cinema and its filmmakers. From comedies and thrillers to dramas and documentaries, the 2021 French Film Festival Aotearoa is a proud celebration of French culture and storytelling.
The festival launches in Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, Masterton and Nelson on June 10th 2021 and will run for four weeks. Seven more cities will join on later dates. Tickets are already available at frenchfilmfestival.co.nz
Here are some of the movies you’ll be able to see this year:
Antoinette in the Cevennes: Laure Calamy (Netflix’s Call My Agent!) leads this Cannes-selected comedy as a 40-something primary school teacher who, due to an unexpected decision from her lover’s wife, embarks on a six-day trek through the Cévennes mountains with a donkey named Patrick.
How to be a Good Wife: Oscar winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient), a recent widow, takes over her and her late husband’s housekeeping school, only to discover it’s close to bankruptcy. Though it’s a rough position to be in, it presents an opportunity to transform the training grounds for subservient housewives into an establishment that challenges social norms.
Skies of Lebanon: In the fifties, young Alice leaves her native Swiss mountains for the sunny and vibrant shores of Beirut. She falls madly in love with Joseph, a quirky astrophysicist intent on sending the first Lebanese national into space. Alice quickly fits in among his relatives, but after years of bliss, the civil war threatens their Garden of Eden.
Delicious: France, 1789, just before the Revolution. With the help of a surprising young woman, a chef who has been sacked by his master finds the strength to free himself from his position as a servant and opens his first restaurant.
The Rose Maker: Eve used to be one of the most famous rose creators in the world. Today, her company is on the verge of bankruptcy. On top of that, her secretary Vera has hired three outcasts with absolutely no gardening skills. Though they have nothing in common, they come up with the most crazy plan that could change their lives forever.
Perfumes: Having lost her career as a luxury perfume maker, a woman working in the world of fragrances forms a bond with her new chauffeur.
Miss: A young man decides to make his dream of becoming Miss France come true.
