During a press conference held yesterday, Taylor Hackford, director, Board member of the Franco-American Cultural Fund and COLCOA Program Committee member, announced the opening film of the 25th Annual COLOCA French Film and Series Festival will be the North American Premiere of writer/director/author Emmanuel Carrère’s BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, starring Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche.
The film will screen on November 1, kicking off the Festival as a live week-long event taking place at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles.
“Twenty-five years is an achievement for a Festival. This longevity can easily be explained by its non-stop growing popularity, and to the constant support from the FACF, which created COLCOA in 1997,” stated Taylor Hackford. “But the main reason is that the Festival has always been a unique place for French and American writers/directors to meet, debate and exchange ideas, which is the raison d’être of the Fund. This is also why this anniversary is naturally dedicated to someone who symbolized the friendship between our two communities: Bertrand Tavernier, who passed away last February.”
The Festival is back in-person to celebrate a silver anniversary with strict COVID rules in place, including proof of vaccination and mandatory wearing of masks. Dates continue to offer a unique platform to promote French Films and series in Hollywood at the beginning of Awards Season.
“Contrary to what could have been expected after all these months of lockdown, this very eclectic and high-profile program reflects the amazing number of films actually produced in France during the last two years, with a majority of films from Cannes, Venice or Berlin shown for the first time in the U.S. and half of them presented before their release in France,” said Francois Truffart, Executive Producer and Artistic Director, COLCOA
“In a world that had to shelter in place for a year due to the pandemic, French stories went global (Lupin, Call My Agent) while individuals were isolated at home. The need to connect in-person has been strong and COLCOA will come back as the cross-cultural bridge it has always been between French and American audiences and professionals. For the 14th straight year, we will host our annual COLCOA High School Screenings program and welcome 3,000 high school students from across Southern California. We are seeing enthusiasm from a wide swath of students from all backgrounds and it is rewarding to build the next generation of French cinema audiences,” said Anouchka van Riel, Deputy Director, COLCOA.
This year’s program will include 55 films and series, as well as 19 shorts, most of which are International, North American, U.S. and Los Angeles premiere presentations. Thirty of these films will be up for COLCOA Cinema Awards, including the following selections:
COLCOA 2021 FILM SELECTION:
OPENING FILM, November 1: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. Based on French investigative journalist Florence Aubenas’ best-selling non-fiction book, The Night Cleaner, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS recounts the adventures of Marianne Winckler (Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche), a celebrated author who goes undercover as a cleaning lady to write a book on job insecurity in the gig economy. This very touching film, whose authenticity is underscored by an amazing performance from non-professional actors, opened the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes this year and just nabbed the Audience Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. It will be released in France and in the U.S. in 2022 by Cohen Media Group.
CLOSING FILMS, Sunday, November 7: LOST ILLUSIONS, which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival(presented with Music Box Films), is writer/director’s Xavier Giannoli’s Balzac adaptation,and ONODA, 10,000 NIGHTS IN THE JUNGLE, written and directed by Arthur Harari and the opening film of Un Certain Regard Competition in Cannes 2021.
REELated: COLCOA French Film Fest pushed to 2021
The three films will be presented for the first time in North America.
Full Feature film lineup also includes:
• A TALE OF LOVE AND DESIRE (West Coast Premiere) – Drama, romance by Leyla Bouzid
• ANOTHER WORLD (North American Premiere) – Drama by Stéphane Brize
• AUTHENTIK (North American Premiere) – Audrey Estrougo’s biopic about the birth of
famous rap group Suprême NTM
• BLACK BOX,(North American Premiere) – Yann Gozlan’s film noir starring Pierre Niney
• BYE BYE MORONS (Los Angeles Premiere) – Albert Dupontel’s multi-Cesar Award-
winning comedy including Best film.
` • EIFFEL (North American Premiere) – Martin Bourboulon’s epic romance drama about the
famous French engineer and the reason why he created the world famous tower.
• FRENCH TECH (North American Premiere) – Comedy by Bruno Podalydès
• GAGARINE (West Coast Premiere) – Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s first feature
• IBRAHIM (West Coast Premiere) – First drama by actor Samir Guesmi
- LOVE SONGS FOR TOUGH GUYS (North American Premiere) – Dark comedy by Samuel Benchetrit
• LOVERS (North American Premiere) – Thriller by veteran writer, director, actor Nicole Garcia
• MAGNETIC BEATS (North American Premiere) – D’Ornano-Valenti Award winner by Vincent
Maël Cardona
• NIGHT RIDE(Special Screening) – A first feature, thriller by Frederic Farucci
- OLGA (North American Premiere and Official Entry from Switzerland to Academy Awards 2022 for Best international Feature) – Drama from Elie Grappe
- ROBUST (West Coast Premiere) – Constance Meyer’s 2021 Critic’s Week opening
• THE BIG HIT (West Coast Premiere) – Dramedy Emmanuel Courcol
• THE NIGHT DOCTOR (U.S. Premiere) – Film Noir by Elie Wajeman
• THE RESTLESS (North American Premiere) – Drama w/d Joachim Lafosse
• THE UNSOPHISTICATED LADY (U.S. Premiere) – Comedy by Anthonin Peretjatko
• THE YOUNG LOVERS(North American Premiere) – Drama, Romance by Carine Tardieu,
starring Fanny Ardant
In addition to Cohen Media Group’s BETWEEN TWO WORLDS and Music Box Films’ LOST ILLUSIONS, COLCOA is working with several U.S. distributors to present films in Hollywood before their U.S. release, including:
• BLOODY ORANGES (West Coast Premiere) – Dark Star Pictures’ horror/comedy by Jean-Christophe Meurisse. screening will be presented as an After 10 show on Saturday night only for audiences 18+.
•FRANCE (West Coast Premiere) – Kino Lorber’sthe new comedy/satireby Bruno Dumont starring James Bond’s actor Lea Seydoux
• MY BEST PART (West Coast Premiere) – Altered Innocence’s first comedy/drama by actor Nicolas Maury ( CALL MY AGENT)
• SIMPLE PASSION (West Coast Premiere) – Strand Releasing’s film by Danielle Arbid
• THE ROSE MAKER – Music Box Films’ feel-good comedy by Pierre Pinaud
• THE SUMMIT OF THE GODS – A special screening of Netflix’s anticipated animated film by
Patrick Imbert
For the first time, two films already released in the US will be part of the competition for the COLCOA Cinema Awards and presented as a free special screening:
• TITANE, by Julia Ducournau, released in the U.S by Neon Films
• THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL, by Melanie Laurent. In association with Amazon Studios, This film will have it theatrical U.S. Premiere at the Festival.
Presented out of competition, the free COLCOA CLASSICS series will pay tribute to writer/director Bertrand Tavernier with rare theatrical screenings of THE JUDGE AND THE ASSASSIN and CAPTAIN CONAN, writer Jean-Claude Carriere and a special screening of award winner THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, and actor Jean-Paul Belmondo with the presentation on the big screen of LE MAGNIFIQUE, followed by a discussion with actor Jacqueline Bisset and writer Francis Veber.
Finally, a digitally restored version of Jacques Rivette’s GANG OF FOUR will have its International Premiere at COLCOA.
Previously announced, The lineup for the rest of the Festival can be found here: Documentary, Television Movies and Series, and Shorts.
COLCOA AWARDS
The COLCOA audience will be invited to vote in the three categories: Cinema, Television and Shorts..
For the 13th year, LAFCA will partner with COLCOA Cinema for the Critics’ Awards.
For the fourth year, a student jury made of high school and college students, will vote for the COLCOA AMERICAN STUDENTS’ AWARD.
A professional jury will vote for the Best Short Film.
The complete recipient list of the 2021 Awards will be announced on Monday, November 8 by the Franco-American Cultural Fund. Awards will be given to recipients in Paris (France) during a special ceremony on November 16.
The COLCOA AWARDS are presented in association with, TV5 Monde USA, and AIR TAHITI NUI.
Other exciting programs offered throughout the festival include: After 10 Series (November 2 – 6); COLCOA Documentaries(November 3-7); World Cinema Produced by France;French NeWave 2.0, exploring a new generation of filmmakers; and the Happy Hour Talks, a series of panels presented in association with Variety (November 2-6) that are free to the general public. Panels will include a tribute to Bertrand Tavernier, a focus on a film composer: Amine Bouhafa for THE SUMMIT OF THE GODS & GAGARINE), a focus on a filmmaker (Nicole Garcia for LOVERS) and a focus on a producer (Philippe Martin for LOVERS, GALLANT INDIES & SIMPLE PASSION).
COLCOA will also continue its popular COLCOA High School Screenings program with the premiere of OWNING IT (Les Héritières), written by Johanna Goldschmidt and Laure-Elisabeth Bourdaud and directed by Nolwenn Lemesle.
All programs are presented with English subtitles or in English. The event takes place from November 1 to November 7, at the Director’s Guild of America, the COLCOA home for 25 years.
