17th Francophone Film Festival in Greece

31 MARCH 2016

This year's festival will kick off in Athens from April 7 through 13, then will travel to Thessaloniki from April 14 through 20. Around thirty French films will be showcased in screenings attended by numerous guests. Maïwenn's film Mon roi will open the event in Athens, with a world premiere screening of Eric Lavaine's Back to Mom's scheduled as closing film.

Since its creation in the fall of 2000, the Francophone Film Festival has stamped itself as a key industry event in the Athens springtime cultural calendar, and this year will once again give Greek audiences the chance to see a wide variety of current French films as well as productions from other French-speaking countries.

Now in its 17th year, the Francophone Film Festival offers a comprehensive selection of titles that embrace the diversity, genres, styles, and themes of the French-speaking world in a 14-day event packed with screenings. With support from Unifrance, this event plays an important role in the acquisition of both French films and French-language films by local distributors.

The 2016 jury will be led by the French directors Delphine and Muriel Coulin, and includes the Greek movie industry figures Léda Galanou, Stefania Goulioti, Panayotis Evangelidis, and Spyros Yannaras.

The French artistic delegation will include Thomas Lilti, Pascal Tessaud, Laurent Larivière, Denis Dercourt, Virginie Efira, Raphaël Personnaz, Vincent Macaigne, Jalil Naciri, and Lionel Baier, as well as other festival guests whose names are yet to be confirmed.

The "Writings on the Screen" section (showcasing 5 films from filmmakers ranging from Melville to Rivette and Bresson) will be inaugurated with a master class led by Orestis Andreadakis, artistic director of the "Nychtes Premieras" Athens International Film Festival, editor-in-chief of CINEMA magazine, and of cinemag.gr.

The festival program will be completed by a cine-concert and screenings for young audiences. The competition section features 12 films, with a panorama section offering 21 films that include productions from Switzerland, Morocco, Romania, Quebec, and a Franco-Tunisian title.