French Film Festival to return to Grove in November

The publicly-acclaimed French Film Festival is coming to CocoWalk again this year.

It will take place November 7, 8 and 9 at the AMC Theater Cocowalk 16. A sister festival will debut this year in Boca Raton November 14, 15 and 16, at the Sunrise Cinemas in Mizner Park.

A selection of ten films will be shown Nov. 7, 8 and 9. These films were personally selected by Patrick Gimenez, the festival director. Patrick feels strongly that French culture, through cinema, is a positive addition to the ever-growing cultural scene in South Florida. “Seeing people’s eyes glimmer in a movie theater makes all the long hours worth it,” says Patrick about his motivation.

This year’s festival features the most popular film in the history of French cinema: “Welcome to the Land of Ch’tis.” This blockbuster has been seen by over 20 million people in France, a country of close to 62 million people. The film will be shown for the first time on the East Coast at the festival in the Grove. For the first time in the US, Kad Merad, the main actor will present the film and stay for Q&A.

Other talent will attend the festival, giving audiences the opportunity to hear directly from the creators and to interact with them in Q&A sessions. Director Pascal Bonitzer will present his film “The Great Alibi” on its US premiere. The critically-acclaimed film “Magic” will be presented by its up and coming director Philippe Muyl. The film is a French-Canadian co-production and will be preceded by a presentation by the Canadian consulate.

The festival will feature films for young audiences as well, including a live-action Asterix film with Gerard Depardieu and an animated Lucky Luke feature. All films will be shown in French with English sub-titles.

Advance tickets are available through France Cinema Florida’s website: http://www.francecinemafloride.com/Miami/index.html