French cinema at the 15th Festival du Film Français d'Helvétie

The FFFH will once again open in the charming bilingual city of Biel/Bienne, which sits on the boundary of French-speaking and German-speaking cultures, and, following a tradition begun two years ago, will also be held in the Swiss capital of Bern for three days.

As always, the five-day event will be dedicated to French-language films from France and Switzerland, showcasing this year around sixty features and short films including numerous major premieres of films that have not yet been released in France (such as Notre Dame, I'll Go Where You Go, The Dazzled, and The Prince's Voyage). Twenty-two "Podium" discussions between artistic crew members and the public will be organized with a focus on the films presented in the Official Selection.

In addition, the festival is divided into four other sections. One of these is the Discovery section, which includes a selection of short films in competition and several French or French-language productions that have never been screened in Switzerland.

With a program put together in partnership with Swiss distributors and UniFrance, the festival continues to give international exposure to French cinema and its artists. Among the actors and directors in attendance this year are Cécile de France, Arnaud Desplechin, Cédric Kahn, Éric Caravaca, Fabienne Berthaud, Cécile Denjean, Jalil Lespert, Géraldine Nakache, Vincent Macaigne, Mélanie Auffret, Alice Pol, Sarah Suco, Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec, Lyna Khoudri, Kacey Mottet Klein, and François-Christophe Marzal.

This year's festival trailer (see below) features Camille Chamoux, Estéban and Paul Minthe in a characteristically inventive presentation of the event. For your own pleasure, you may also like to watch Patrick Bruel appearing solo in the 2015 festival trailer and Ariane Ascaride in the 2016 trailer.

Further details about the festival can be found here.