Over the next seven days, the Cine Lumiere will host London’s French Film Festival, part of a nationwide exhibition of French cinema for UK audiences.
The inaugural event was a screening of Woman Up, a film by Tonie Marshall about a woman’s struggles in Parisian boardrooms to lead a major energy company.
Speaking after the event, Tonie Marshall said it was important for her to depict the reality of sexism in the French corporate world – something she assumed her British audience could relate to.
Celebrating 26 years of French film
Now in its 26th year, the festival has garnered widespread support, from the Shetland Islands to Southampton.
The festival’s director and founder, Richard Mowe, explained to City News why it has been such a success:
“France seems to be one of the world’s cinemas that people in the UK react very strongly to so there’s a ready-made audience for French films and people are very cine-literate with regards to French cinema in this country. French cinema compared to maybe Italian or German cinema has a much higher profile and the audience every year is ready and waiting to see what is on offer”.
Art and cinema ‘central’ to French culture
For an estimated 250,000 French citizens living in London, the film festival offers a chance for French people in the capital to take pride in their culture.
Gallery manager Julia Malleret told City News that London’s arts scene was overwhelmingly dominated by French people and French speakers.
“Everyone I work with speaks French – even the English people speak in fluent French. It is natural that we French people cluster together, and that tends to happen around art and cinema because they are so central to French culture”.
But the French Film Festival is not aimed exclusively at French people.
Although it inevitably attracts French speakers, the festival is an opportunity to showcase the best in international cinema to each and every Londoner.
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HeadlineUK French Film Festival opens in South Kensington
Short HeadlineFrench Film Festival opens in South Ken
StandfirstThe festival will present 200 screenings in 19 cities across the country
Over the next seven days, the Cine Lumiere will host London’s French Film Festival, part of a nationwide exhibition of French cinema for UK audiences.
The inaugural event was a screening of Woman Up, a film by Tonie Marshall about a woman’s struggles in Parisian boardrooms to lead a major energy company.
Speaking after the event, Tonie Marshall said it was important for her to depict the reality of sexism in the French corporate world – something she assumed her British audience could relate to.
Celebrating 26 years of French film
Now in its 26th year, the festival has garnered widespread support, from the Shetland Islands to Southampton.
The festival’s director and founder, Richard Mowe, explained to City News why it has been such a success:
“France seems to be one of the world’s cinemas that people in the UK react very strongly to so there’s a ready-made audience for French films and people are very cine-literate with regards to French cinema in this country. French cinema compared to maybe Italian or German cinema has a much higher profile and the audience every year is ready and waiting to see what is on offer”.
Art and cinema ‘central’ to French culture
For an estimated 250,000 French citizens living in London, the film festival offers a chance for French people in the capital to take pride in their culture.
Gallery manager Julia Malleret told City News that London’s arts scene was overwhelmingly dominated by French people and French speakers.
“Everyone I work with speaks French – even the English people speak in fluent French. It is natural that we French people cluster together, and that tends to happen around art and cinema because they are so central to French culture”.
But the French Film Festival is not aimed exclusively at French people.
Although it inevitably attracts French speakers, the festival is an opportunity to showcase the best in international cinema to each and every Londoner.
