In Australia, cinemas are open, but there are also festivals. The 32nd edition of the French Film Festival opened on Tuesday March 2 in Sydney. This French film festival, organized by the town’s Alliance française, will last until April.
And festival-goers are perfectly aware that drinking a glass of champagne at a cocktail party, before going to see a film in a cinema, is quite exceptional. “We are very lucky to live almost normally in Australia, recognizes Elsa. And we think a lot about our loved ones in France, who unfortunately are not so lucky. “
In France, the theatrical release of many films has been postponed by several months. It is therefore in Australia that several French films will make their world premieres, months ahead of their planned release in France. “We are going to have the world premiere, in theatrical release ofAline, Celine Dion biopic with Valérie Lemercier. We will also have Delicious. It’s wonderful for us. “, rejoices Philippe Ostermann, director of the Alliance française de Sydney.
The festival opened with the screening of the film Eiffel, with Romain Duris in the lead role, which will only be released in France at the beginning of May. Nearly forty films, including ten world premieres, are on the festival program.
Australia therefore hosts a festival, despite its very strict health policy. In recent weeks, several large cities have been re-confined for a few days, sometimes due to a single case of the coronavirus. Perth and Brisbane were thus reconfigured, as were Melbourne, as it hosted the Australian Open tennis tournament.
This risk is still present, but for now, the festival is getting off to a very good start. “We were very lucky to be the only festival in the world to be able to welcome people in venues, explains Karine Mauris, cultural attaché at the French Embassy in Australia. Since Friday, we have the right to 100% tonnage, which is exceptional. Since when we started the festival, we were on 50%. “
Australia’s French film festival, which is the most popular of its kind in the world, hopes to receive more than 200,000 spectators this year. Most of the festival-goers are Australians who, like Clinton, enjoy “more authentic stories that don’t always end well. “He finds French films “extravagant and very original, compared to Hollywood movies.”
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