VCU French Film Festival

History

The VCU French Film Festival, an annual festival created by Drs. Peter S. Kirkpatrick and Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1993, is the largest festival of French film in the United States. Since 1993, it has welcomed a delegation totaling 160 directors, producers, actors, film scholars, critics, and French government officials. The festival usually takes place the last weekend of March, during which the entire city of Richmond, Virginia is filled with French speakers and aficionados of French cinema. The French cinema has a certain aura that attracts admirers from across Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New York State to attend the festival.The Festival’s founders and directors, Drs. Peter and Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick, were decorated at the 2004 Festival as “Chevaliers de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,” a high honor in the arts in France.

The Festival

The festival is host to a wide variety of French films produced in the previous year. The festival features both short films and feature-length ones. The festival is often the international debut for many of the feature-length French films. Most of all, the VCU French Film Festival provides a connection for the American public to the finest French cinema, as well as an opportunity to speak with the directors and actors who created the films. French directors and starring actors engages the audience in question and answer sessions following the screening of their films. Tickets to the films can be bought individually at the Byrd Theatre, or passes good for all showings can be bought in advance. The festival also features a meet-and-greet reception, open to all pass holders, and a formal dinner, for additional charge.

The Festival is sponsored by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Unifrance, l’ARP (Guild of French Directors and Producers), and the SACD (Guild of Authors, Composers and Directors). The Community Idea Stations (PBS), as well as the TV channel TV5MONDE also are partners of the festival. The festival is also proud to invite in its delegation the Governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, and The French Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency, Jean-David Levitte, who recognized The Festival as the largest, most prestigious and anticipated French cultural event on the US East Coast.

References

External links

* [http://www.frenchfilm.vcu.edu Official Festival homepage]
* [http://frenchfilm.mytimesdispatch.com Coverage of the 2007 Festival]