Until June 10, the second edition of the Aix-les-Bains French Film Festival will perhaps reveal a new nugget. Last year, it was here that the multi-award-winning film “La Nuit du 12” was screened for the first time.
Until 2021, there was no festival in France devoted solely to French films. An anachronism in a country where the 7th art holds an important place. Created by Valérie Thuillier (president of the festival) and Franck Presti (its director), the French Film Festival of Aix-les-Bains wants to be popular and of quality. Here, it is the public, and only the public, who vote to award the prizes.
This year, six feature films and six short films are in competition. But these are two out-of-competition films that open and close the Festival. On June 6, Jean-Pierre Améris came to present his new film, Marie-Line and her judge with Louane Emera and Michel Blanc. The film will hit screens on October 11. The Aix public is the first to discover this feature film that the director wanted to make for young audiences, by being positive. It’s not possible to be too desperate! says the filmmaker.
Test screening
The other characteristic of the Festival is that most of the films presented here are national previews. They have never been screened elsewhere. “For producers and distributors, the Festival therefore acts as a test screening, to see how the public reacts. emphasizes Arnaud de Gardebosc, the Festival’s programmer.
Everyone hopes that their film will experience the same beautiful destiny as The night of 12 by Dominik Moll. Presented in 2021 for the first time in Aix-les-Bains, the film won six awards, including best film and best director, at the 48th César ceremony. Indoors, it gathered more than 500,000 spectators.
Rewards and encounters
At the end of the festival, six prizes are awarded for feature films, two for shorts. This year, The “AIXcellence d’Honneur” will be awarded by Laurent Gerra, sponsor of the Festival to Jean Becker.
Free screenings of documentaries on legends of French cinema such as Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant or Robert Hossein are also offered, all in the presence of a close family member present to discuss with the public at the outcome of the screenings.
/2023/06/07/6480a3f9a56fd_festival-du-film-fran-ais-d-aix-les-bains-4435372-00-00-04-05.jpg)
Every afternoon from 5.30 p.m. at the Casino Grand Cercle theater, sSigning sessions (free admission) allow the public to meet the authors of works related to cinema: Antoine Duléry, Norbet Saada, Clélia Ventura, Laurent Delmas and Alex Lutz.