[press release from the PFTC]
The Brisbane premiere of the acclaimed retro musical comedy Paris 36 will open the 2009 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival tonight.
Local Francophiles and film enthusiasts will have a chance to celebrate the best of contemporary French cinema during the next 10 days.
The annual festival, now in its 20th year, is a popular fixture on Brisbane’s cultural calendar.
The Pacific Film and Television Commission proudly supports the festival and remains committed to developing a vibrant screen culture for Queensland audiences.
From tonight until 29 March, the festival will screen more than 35 films at Fortitude Valley’s Palace Centro and the stunning new Palace Barracks in Paddington.
A record 78,000 people across Australia attended festival screenings during 2008, an impressive result which may well be eclipsed this year.
This year’s program features some of the most internationally-celebrated French films of 2008.
The opening night film, Paris 36, a comedy set within an amateur cabaret theatre amid the turbulent days of the Great Depression in the 1930s, received five Cesar nominations.
Guests will receive treats from Brisbane’s own Le Bon Choix and M. Chapoutier Wines following the screening.
The festival program includes A Christmas Tale with Catherine Deneuve; the hilarious Disco; breakthrough Cannes documentary and prestigious Prix Louis Delluc winner, Modern Life; Martin Provost’s seven-Cesar-winning drama, Seraphine; and family-friendly offerings Asterix at the Olympic Games and animated feature U.
A festival centrepiece is the audacious Public Enemy Number One – Parts One and Two, winner of three Cesars and one of the most talked-about French cinema events in years.
To mark the film festival’s 20th anniversary, special events will be held around Brisbane, with a concert by Henry Padavani at the Judith Wright Centre on 20 March to coincide with the festival’s screening of Rock’n’Roll of Corse, a documentary which traces his life.
The 2009 Alliance Francaise Film Festival is screening concurrently in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra as part of a national tour.