With the closure of the majority of cinemas up and down the country the French Film Festival UK offers an alternative with the launch of its first online festival, fff @ home. In common with many international festivals the Festival has organised a week of online screenings in collaboration with Festival Scope. Tickets go on sale on 13 November and the virtual event runs from Friday 27 November to Friday 4 December.
Programmers have curated a selection of seven feature films and a selection of shorts for audiences to enjoy and appreciate in the surroundings of their own home. The films featured are all exclusive to fff @ home and will be available to watch for 24 hours. Several packages will be available, including a 10% discount for young people aged 16-25.
The online Festival opens with César-winner Martin Provost’s latest feature, How to Be a Good Wife. Starring Juliette Binoche, who has appeared in many Festival films in the past, it’s a colourful comedy set in 60s France in the days of Women’s Liberation and the sexual revolution.
Fans of short films are also catered for as our ever-popular Short Cuts programme goes online for the first time. It features award-winning contributions from major names to watch, and several of the screenings will also be shown with pre-recorded introductions and interviews with the directors. Of particular note is Foued Mansour’s Ahmed’s Song, which was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2020 Césars, the French Oscars.
Closing this year’s inaugural online festival is the powerful The Dazzled by actress-turned director Sarah Suco. Her debut feature is a mesmerising slow burn set in an insular Catholic community. What makes this more powerful is that Suco, who co-wrote the script with Nicolas Silhol (Corporate), grew up in just such a community.
Richard Mowe, director and co-founder of the Festival, said: “With many cinema screenings disrupted in some parts of the country we feel sure that audiences will relish the chance to see some amazing titles at home as part of the Festival’s virtual offer.”
Funders and sponsors – among them Screen Scotland, Creative Scotland, Institut français, Alliance Française, as well as Total, TV5MONDEplus, Unifrance, agnès b, and Côte at Home – have committed their support to this year’s edition despite difficult circumstances.
Tickets can be booked from 13 November and an Early Bird discount of 10% is available from 13 to 21 November.
