While the professional battle rages across the Atlantic with the Hollywood actors' and screenwriters' strike, the fall festival season in the USA sees a strong presence of French cinema.
The end of summer and the beginning of autumn are of vital importance for French cinema in the USA, whether in the race for the Oscars or for release strategies.
After the recent closing night of the Telluride International Film Festival, which traditionally marks the kick-off of the new film season and this year presented four French films in Official Selection - Anatomy of a Fall (photo - presentation of the film in the presence of Justine Triet, Sandra Hüller and David Thion), The Taste of Things, Orlando, My Political Biography, and Tehachapi - the Toronto International Film Festival, renowned for its love of French cinema, takes over with an impressive selection of some forty French films across all sections, including five world premieres: Les Indésirables by Ladj Ly, A Difficult Year by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, Spirit of Ecstasy by Héléna Klotz, Sisterhood by Nora El Hourch, and After the Fire by Mehdi Fikri.
The third major stop on the North American cinematic calendar is the prestigious New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, from September 29 to October 15, featuring a dozen French feature films. Only two French films have managed the Telluride/Toronto/NYFF triple: Anatomy of a Fall and Orlando, My Political Biography. Several films are fortunate enough to combine at least two of these key festivals, such as Last Summer and The Beast, which will screen at both TIFF and NYFF, or The Taste of Things, selected at Telluride and NYFF.
In Los Angeles, the month of October promises to be particularly busy, with the GKids Animation is film festival (October 21 to 23), AFI Fest (October 25 to 29), and AFM (October 31 to November 5).
In all, from Telluride to Toronto, from New York to Los Angeles, nearly forty artists are travelling to promote French cinema in all its diversity. Among them: Justine Triet, Trần Anh Hùng, Juliette Binoche, Ladj Ly, Bertrand Bonello, Paul B. Preciado, Catherine Breillat, Léa Drucker, Kaouther Ben Hania.
At each of these festivals, Unifrance's U.S. office works hand in hand with American distributors and programmers, and French producers and sales agents to best support the travel and reception of French artists in New York and Los Angeles. In this regard, as of September 1, 2023, Unifrance is reorganizing its presence in the United States, particularly in Los Angeles, by welcoming Anne Takahashi, who joins Adeline Monzier as co-director of the U.S. office.
