Festivals

In addition to showcasing the work of veteran artists such as Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Assayas, François Ozon, Marion Cotillard, and Stéphane Brizé, this year's BFI London Film Festival (October 5-16) also gave screen time to young up-an-coming talents, including Julia Ducournau, Rebecca Zlotowski, Houda Benyamina, Léa Seydoux, Finnegan Oldfield, Daouda Coulibaly, and Sacha Wolff.

Claire Simon was in London for the event to present her documentary The Graduation / The Whiz Kids, and joined the Israeli director Alma Har'el in leading a master class entitled "What's Up With the Doc?" organized by the BFI in partnership with the London Film School.

Among new generation French filmmakers who are currently taking their films around the world, Davy Chou and Stéphanie Di Giusto traveled to South Korea for the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) (October 6-15), Rachid Djaïdani and Lola Doillon were guests at the Hamburg Filmfest (September 29-October), and Aïssa Maïga, Adèle Haenel, Solène Rigot, Julia Roy, Morgan Simon, and Cyril Dion, among others, were in attendance at the Namur International French-Language Film Festival (September 30-October 7).

And finally, the Antalya Film Festival in Turkey (October 16-23) celebrated the work of Audrey Tautou in a retrospective event and presented the actress with an award in honor of her contribution to cinema (photo).

Commercial releases

Artists promoting the release of their films in international theaters at this time include Nicole Garcia and Alex Brendemühl, who traveled to Belgium to introduce From the Land of the Moon (as well as attending the Namur Film Festival), while Olivier Ducastel and Geoffrey Couët were in Germany for the release of Paris 05:59, and Jérôme Salle and Lambert Wilson made the trip to Belgium for the release of The Odyssey.

Furthermore, UniFrance organized a trip to Russia from October 12 through 15 for Justine Triet, Virginie Efira, and Vincent Lacoste for a preview screening of In Bed with Victoria, prior to the film's release across the country on October 20. Two other preview screenings were also held in Moscow, at the Cinema Park Riviera on October 12 and the Pioner Cinema on October 13. Virginie Efira and Vincent Lacoste extended their stay in the Russian capital by 24 hours in order to present their film at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in Yekaterinburg, which was screened to a packed house.