The Toronto Film Festival opens the window wide to French cinema

The 41^st edition of TIFF provides a platform for some of the most prestigious contemporary auteurs, such as Bertrand Bonello, Benoit Jacquot, Olivier Assayas, Rebecca Zlotowski, Isabelle Huppert and François Ozon, who will all attend the event, while also putting the spotlight on emerging talent, once again demonstrating the great diversity and dynamism of our filmmaking.

Women Take Center Stage

The presence of many women directors highlights the specificity of our industry, which is open to gender diversity in an international universe that is still mainly masculine. Rebecca Zlotowski (whose highly awaited Planetarium will be presented in the prestigious Gala section), Mia Hansen-Løve, Katell Quillévéré, Emmanuelle Bercot, and the audacious Houda Benyamina (who won the Golden Camera in Cannes 2016 for Divines) pepper the pages of the program, showing that the excellence of French cinema is readily expressed in the feminine.

We are also particularly proud about the presence this year of two outstanding artists: Isabelle Huppert, who plays the lead in no fewer than three films in the TIFF line-up; and Agnès Varda, who will inaugurate the "Director’s Lounge," which this year is named in her honor.

Reality Strikes

French cinema, which has long been thought of as tackling intimate subjects, is emerging as an art form that is open to the world, one which readily takes on contemporary social topics, such as racism in the United States (I Am Not Your Negro), drug trafficking in Mali (Wùlu), religious radicalization (Foreign Body), or immigration (Blind Sun). Whether immersing us in the complexity of Franco-German relations in the aftermath of the Great War (Frantz), or exploring the failings and contradictions of Iranian society (The Salesman, a double award-winner in Cannes), French productions and coproductions provide a sounding board for problems all around the world and once again demonstrate their capacity to embrace universal subjects.

France at the Center of the Event, with UniFrance

A mini retrospective focusing on Agnès Varda, a major figure of the Nouvelle Vague and a trail-blazing feminist filmmaker, will allow audiences to see or see again Cleo from 5 to 7, Jacquot de Nantes, and The Gleaners and I, in her mischievous presence.

Isabelle Huppert, who presents three films this year at TIFF (Elle, Souvenir, and Things to Come), will meet with the public on September 10 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox for "A Conversation With... Isabelle Huppert," moderated by TIFF director & CEO Piers Handling, during which she'll look back at her career spanning four decades and of rare cinematographic richness.

The second edition of "Shoot the Book ! Toronto" initiated by the Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française, Bureau International de l'Edition Française, Institut Français, and the cultural services of the Ambassade de France in Canada. An event during the festival that proposes French literary works (submitted by four publishers) to a jury of professionals, with the goal of attracting enough attention to be transformed into film adaptation projects.

Last but not least, in an extension of the festival, French photographer Jean-Baptiste Le Mercier, a Toronto resident, will present his exhibition Cinema Faces, produced from portraits of French artists present in Toronto, from November 16 through December 16 at the Alliance Française Toronto.

UniFrance would like to thank the partners which accompany us on this event : CNC, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Ministère des Affaires étrangères et du Développement international, l'Institut français, Procirep, la Mairie de Paris, Renault Nissan, Lacoste, Air France & m0851.