Francophone film fest shares culture
Specially invited guests were given a glimpse of what to expect at this year’s Francophone Film Festival, with a screening of Swagger at the Embassy of France in St Andrew on Tuesday.
“I hope that Jamaicans can know better our film industry and production. Today it’s also a Francophone festival. We have wanted to enlarge the scope of our festival,” Denys Wibaux, Ambassador of France to Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer.
Wibaux, who has been at his post for two months, joins Marie-Noelle Brunot, the new director of organisers Alliance Française de la Jamaique, in charting a fresh path for the festival, with the addition of productions from French-speaking nations.
“What Alliance Française de la Jamaique is trying to do this year is to try and have a diversity of movies. We’re partnering with the Belgian Embassy, so we have a Belgian movie to show, we are also going to show a movie from Burkina Faso. The purpose is to show that French-speaking countries are wide, and not only France,” Brunot explained.
The expansion for 2018 sees six films over six days.
“What we’re trying to do as well this year is show that you can have a variety of different types of films. So you’re going to have documentaries, animation, we’re going to have drama, comedy, all type of films that are possible to find in France and French-speaking countries,” Brunot said.
The festival opened to the public yesterday at Campion College in St Andrew and continues this evening at 6:30 pm at the same venue. On Saturday, there are two showings, 3:30 pm and 6:00 pm, at the University of Technology. Next week, the University of the West Indies will host all three days, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Girlhood, Blowin’ in The Reggae Wind, Good Luck Sam, Corporate, The Rabbi’s Cat and Teacher are some of the other titles that will join The Siren of Faso Fani from the West African country of Burkina Faso.
Swagger, a 2016 documentary, is director Olivier Babinet’s funny, honest, and incisive look at life in one of France’s underprivileged neighbourhoods, primarily populated by minorities.
