The 21st edition of the Festa do Cinema Francês will take place from October 8 through November 4 in six cities in Portugal, with more than 50 films presented, and many related events.
Now a key and unmissable event on Portugal's fall cultural calendar, this year the Festa do Cinema Francês offers a sterling program, including sixteen features presented at premiere screenings.
Miss by Ruben Alves will open this year's Festa, in the presence of the film's director and lead actor Alexandre Wetter. Of Portuguese descent, Ruben Alves encountered extraordinary success in Portugal in 2013 with his comedy The Gilded Cage, which attracted more than 750,000 spectaors.
Other screenings will also be accompanied by filmmakers: Martin Provost for How to be a Good Wife, Jean-Paul Salomé for Mama Weed, and Yann Arthus-Bertrand for Woman.
The Festa will also be central to the launch of the Delphine Seyrig retrospective at the Cinemateca Portuguesa, in the presence of Nicole Fernandez Ferrer, director of the Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir.
Lastly, a master class will be given by casting director Sarah Teper focusing on the film Heal the Living.
All the films of the 21st Festa do Cinema Francês
Premiere Screenings
- Miss by Ruben Alves (opening night film)
- Play by Anthony Marciano
- How to be a Good Wife by Martin Provost
- A Good Doctor by Tristan Séguéla
- The Best is Yet to Come by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière
- I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere by Arnaud Viard
- De Gaulle by Gabriel Le Bomin
- My Cousin by Jan Kounen
- Mama Weed by Jean-Paul Salomé
- Venice Calling by Ivan Calbérac
- Thalasso by Guillaume Nicloux
- One Role for Two by Anne Giafferi
- Notre Dame by Valérie Donzelli
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Justin Pemberton and Thomas Piketty
For younger audiences
- Spread Your Wings by Nicolas Vanier
- Proxima by Alice Winocour
- Fahim, the Little Chess Prince by Pierre-François Martin-Laval
- Forward by Gilles De Maistre
- Of Love and Lies by Julien Rappeneau
First Chance section
- Felicità by Bruno Merle
- The Girl with a Bracelet by Stéphane Demoustier
- Forward by Gilles De Maistre
Second Chance section
- Frankie by Ira Sachs
- Happy Birthday by Cédric Kahn
- Girls Of The Sun by Eva Husson
- Woman by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Anastasia Mikova
- The Translators by Régis Roinsard
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma
- Who You Think I Am by Safy Nebbou
- An Officer and a Spy by Roman Polanski
- Les Misérables by Ladj Ly
- Farewell to the Night by André Téchiné
Special Screenings
- Dog by Samuel Benchetrit
- Heal the Living by Katell Quillévéré
- Aznavour By Charles by Marc Di Domenico