Now is your chance to take part in the first online French Film Festival
Have you ever wanted to take part in a film festival without leaving the house? Well Volta.ie are offering you a chance to do just that. For a whole month, French Film lovers in Ireland will be able to access online 10 feature films and 10 short films on Volta.ie; My French Film Festival – the first online French film festival in the world – is up and running until February 17th.
Like many film festivals, My French Film Festival is screening films in competition; the Film Maker’s Jury, Presided over by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, cosists of Anurag Kashyap, Frédéric Fonteyne, Lynne Ramsay and Marco Bellocchio. As well as this, prizes will be awarded by the International Press Jury – consisting of 11 international journalists – the Social Networks Jury, made up of influential Twitter and Facebook users, and the public, who can vote online.
There are 10 feature length and 10 short films screening at My French Film Festival, and we have picked out some must see titles…
IN A RUSH
Screened at Critics Week in Cannes in 2012, and directed by and starring Louis Do de Lencquesaing, IN A RUSH is the story of Paul, an accomplished author whose thoughts turn to suicide. That is, until he meets the charming and irresistible Ava. The trouble is that Ava is already happily married with a child but this does not stop Paul from pursuing his conquest.
THE LOBSTER’S CRY
This short film by Nicolas Guiot looks at the struggle a Russian soldier goes through in order to adjust to life after war. Told through the eyes of the little girl who has desperately and impatiently waited for her brother to come home, THE LOBSTER’S CRY examines whether we can be irrevocably changed from one – admittedly horrifying – experience.
LITTLE LION
Mitri is fifteen and lives in a Senegalese village. Like all boys his age, he plays football and dreams of Barça and of Chelsea. When a recruiting agent picks him up out, Mitri believes his chance has come. But to get seen by the great European football clubs, one has to pay.
Mitri’s family chips in and puts itself into debt to help him. Once in Paris, everything collapses: Mitri finds himself abandoned, penniless, and unable to imagine dealing with the shame should he return to his village; but Mirti’s dream isn’t quite ready to give up on him, even as he falls into despair.
MADDENED BY HIS ABSENCE
Having left France to live in the USA to escape a painful past he shared with Mado, his former wife, Jacques returns home after his father dies. Upon his return, Jacques and Mado meet again; he asks to meet her son Paul; Mado hesitates, then accepts but hides it from her husband. Soon, Paul and Jacques get close and they start to see each other secretly.
A LA FRANCAISE
Another short film to watch out for, this beautifully animated short takes place during an afternoon in Versailles, during the reign of Louis XIV. This film, directed by William Lorton, is a student animation that has gone on to win numerous awards – including the Short Film Audience Award at Colcoa Festival in LA- as well as praise from DreamWorks Animation.
Rental of a feature costs €1.99, and rental of a short is just 99c. Viewrs can also buy a Features pack for €11.99, which gives one access to all of the features, a shorts pack for €5.99 for one access to the shorts or a Full Access pack for €15.99, which gives access to the entire available programming of the festival.
For more, check out Volta.ie
Words: Brogen Hayes