5th edition of the Young French Cinema program

20 DECEMBER 2018

The 2019 edition of the Young French Cinema initiative will be launched in January. The aim of the program remains the same as in past editions: to offer a simple and flexible programming model for bringing a selection of contemporary French films that have not yet secured distributors to movie theaters and universities in North America, accompanied in some cases by master classes and debates with the filmmakers.

The upcoming Young French Cinema program will once again throw the spotlight on rising young French filmmakers, presenting works that offer a blend of visually innovative approaches and cultural influences.

Offering a selection of independent films, high-profile documentaries, quirky discoveries, and short films, the 2019 edition of Young French Cinema will showcase a large number of films that were selected throughout 2018 at the major film festivals around the world, with the goal of making them accessible to American audiences outside New York and Los Angeles.

An initiative that was launched in 2014 by the cultural services of the French Embassy in the United States and UniFrance, the Young French Cinema program, which is also accessible in Canada, brings together 12 feature films and 8 shorts. Since 2016, thanks to a partnership with Telefilm Canada, the selection also includes an independent film from Quebec, with Genèse by Philippe Lesage to be shown in 2019. In addition, a partnership with ACID - Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion since 2017 has made it possible to include one or more films from their Cannes selection, with the 2019 program featuring Something is Happening by Anne Alix and Love Blooms by Michaël Dacheux.

The 20 films in the 2019 Young French Cinema program (12 features and 8 shorts) are available to all commercial movie theaters, universities, theaters belonging to the Alliance Française network, and non-profit organizations for a period of one year (from January 1 to December 31, 2019). It is possible to rent films individually ($300 per screening, with a maximum of two screenings) or as a complete program. Short films are also available for rental individually ($40 per screening, with a maximum of two screenings) or as a complete program, with accompanying promotional material (brochure and trailers) also available. This "à la carte" system for film rental allows theaters to program regular events or film programs in the form of a mini-festival.

Thanks to our sponsor Eclair, all of the films will be available in DCP quality on Eclairplay, an online content management platform in the United States that makes it possible to send digital as well as traditional physical DCPs to American theaters. Blu-Ray media is available on demand.

115 screenings held in 2018

Since the launch of the 4th edition of the Young French Cinema program by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States and UniFrance in January 2018, 115 film screenings have been held to date this year in 54 cities or sites in various locations across 21 states of the USA, which is 28 screenings more than in 2017.

Speak Up was chosen to be the YFC film to be shown to school children. A number of screenings were held for high school students at the following organizations: the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, the San Francisco Film Society, as part of the educational programs at the Chicago International Film Festival, and at the Alliance Française in San Juan, Porto Rico. This allowed more than 1,000 high school students to see the film.

The directors of the films presented took part in a number of tours as part of the program:

Karim Moussaoui traveled around the United States in March 2018, stopping at six locations to present Until the Birds Return and to lead master classes with university students: at the Avalon Theater in Washington, DC, the University of Cincinnati, the Facets Theater in Chicago, the Phi Center in Montreal, the University of Minneapolis, and the New Directors New Films Festival in New York. The director also traveled to Austin, Texas, to take part in the presentation of his film as part of a partnership between the Austin Film Society, Premiers Plans Angers, and the Young French Cinema program.
In April 2018, Leïla Alaouf traveled to San Juan, Porto Rico, and San Francisco to present Speak Up.
Hamé and Ékoué presented their film La Rumeur in New York (FIAF + Silvana in Harlem) and in Columbus, Ohio (Gateway Film Center) in June 2018.
Océan also made the trip to San Francisco in June 2018 (San Francisco Film Festival) and to Sacramento (French Film Festival) to present Kiss Me!