The crème de la crème of French and French-language cinema will be presented in 31 theaters in the United Kingdom from November 3 to December 15, 2021, at the French Film Festival UK, an event that has become a movie-industry institution since 1992. An online edition of the event will also be held from December 3–12, showcasing a different lineup.
This 2021 edition of the event, which is supported, in particular, by the Institut Français, the Alliance Française, Screen Scotland, and Unifrance, and which remains helmed by artistic director Richard Mowe, will open at the Ciné Lumière in London with the British premiere of France by Bruno Dumont, who will attend the screening. The film will then be presented in Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lewes, and Stirling.
Over 30 films will be showcased at this year's festival, including British premieres, preview screenings, work by new talents, French cinema classics, and short films. Audiences will be able to discover a number of acclaimed titles presented at Cannes and other international film festivals held earlier in the year, such as the Palme d'Or winner Titane by Julia Ducournau, Constance Meyer's film Robust (which opened Critics' Week at Cannes, starring Gérard Depardieu as an ageing actor), as well as the animation Josep, winner of the 2021 César Award for Best Animated Film.
The selection of short films includes six titles and a bonus film, covering a wide diversity of genres. Audiences will have the chance to see award-winners from Clermont-Ferrand and the Angers Premiers Plans Festival. The short film program will also be screened in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London.
More than 1,000 students at film schools and high schools will also be offered a selection of films specially put together for them, to be screened at cinemas or at their schools.
In addition to Bruno Dumont, who will take part in the festival's open ceremony, Joachim Lafosse will also present The Restless at the Lewes Depot on December 8, while Jean-Pierre Améris is among guests of the festival's online edition and will speak about his film My Father's Stories.
For all further information, visit the festival's official website.
All of the sections of the 29th French Film Festival UK
Discovery
- Between Two Worlds by Emmanuel Carrère
- Good Mother by Hafsia Herzi
- Roaring 20s by Laurent Slama
- Titane by Julia Ducournau
- A Radiant Girl by Sandrine Kiberlain
- The Big Hit by Emmanuel Courcol
- Promises by Thomas Kruithof
- Ibrahim by Samir Guesmi
- Robust by Constance Meyer
- A Tale of Love and Desire by Leyla Bouzid
Panorama
- Eugenie Grandet by Marc Dugain
- Another World by Stéphane Brizé
- Peaceful by Emmanuelle Bercot
- OSS 117: From Africa With Love by Nicolas Bedos
- The Restless by Joachim Lafosse
- I Want to Talk About Duras by Claire Simon
- Deception by Arnaud Desplechin
- France by Bruno Dumont
- Paris, 13th District by Jacques Audiard
- Kaamelott by Alexandre Astier
- Fahim, the Little Chess Prince by Pierre-François Martin-Laval
- Délicieux by Eric Besnard
- Spread Your Wings by Nicolas Vanier
- Petite Maman by Céline Sciamma
- The Divide by Catherine Corsini
- Lingui - The Sacred Bonds by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Classics
- Let Joy Reign Supreme by Bertrand Tavernier
- Lumière d'été by Jean Grémillon
- Z by Costa Gavras
- The Pit of Loneliness by Jacqueline Audry
Documentaries
Animation
- Calamity by Rémi Chayé
- Josep by Aurel
- Hello World by Anne-Lise Koelher & Éric Serre
