Richmond to co-host 18th French Film Festival

For the second consecutive year, the University of Richmond will join Virginia Commonwealth University in presenting the 18th French Film Festival.

The festival will take place at the Byrd Theater from March 25-28, 2010. A delegation of 40 French directors, actors and cinema professionals have arrived to present 12 French feature films and 20 short films.

There will also be a class on 3D cinema, and one of the master class panels will include four Richmond students.

For the first time, the festival reception, which honors the 40 members of the French delegation, will take place on Richmond's campus at the Jepson Alumni Center.

The reception will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 27, in the presence of: Pierre Vimont, the Ambassador of France to the United States; Michael Rao, president of VCU; Steve Allred, vice president and provost at Richmond; and Francoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick and Peter Kirkpatrick, directors of the film festival.

Students, faculty and other pass holders are all welcome to attend the event.

The selected feature films are "Marching Band," by Claude Miller, Helena Cotinier and Pierre-Nicolas Durand; "Les Plages d'Agnes," by Agnes Varda; "Portrait de Groupe avec Enfants et Motocyclettes," by Pierre-William Glenn; "Soeur Sourire," by Stijn Coninx; "Orpailleur," by Marc Barrat; "Sans rancune!," by Yves Hanchar; "Le Herisson," by Mona Achache; "Welcome," by Philippe Lioret; "En terre etrangere," by Christian Zerbib and Touria Benzari; "Erreur de la Banque en Votre Faveur," by Gerard Bitton and Michel Munz; "Commis d'office," by Hannelore Cayre; and "Meres et Filles," by Julie Lopes-Curval.

A discussion with the directors, producers and actors will follow each film. The master class on 3D technology in cinema for Friday, March 26th, will be directed by Alain Besse and will include a presentation of four short films by students at La Femis: "Le Train ou ca va," by Jeanne Guillot; "Chantier," by Damien Dufresne; "Birds Get Vertigo Too," by Sarah Cunningham; and "The Sad and Lonely Death of Edgar Allan Poe," by La Femis and VCUarts Cinema students.

La Femis is the French state film school. FEMIS is an acronym for Fondation Europeenne pour les Metiers de l'Image et du Son. Other shorts include: "7.57am-pm," by Simon Lelouch; "Allons-y! Alonzo!," by Camille Moulin-Dupre; "De si pres," by Remi Durin; "En Attendant que la Pluie Cesse," by Charlotte Joulia; "La Clef du Probleme," by Guillaume Cotillard; "Plus Tard, Je Serai Zorro," by Joel Olivier; "Procuration," by Vital Philippot; and "Vers ou S'envolent les Papillons ...," by Julie Voisin.

In addition, the James River film festival will unite with the Richmond/VCU festival for two special screenings of "Marching Band" and "Les Plages d'Agnes" on Thursday night. The festival in its entirety has been dedicated to Paul Carpita, a French director who died last year.

Contact online reporter Rachel Bevels at: rachel.bevels@richmond.edu