Alliance Française Classic Film Festival 2017

Overview

What's better than one annual showcase of French movies? Two, of course. Not content with giving Aussie audiences the best in Gallic cinema once a year for nearly three decades — and building the biggest festival of French films outside of France, too — the folks behind the Alliance Française French Film Festival began doubling their efforts. After launching the Alliance Française Classic Film Festival in 2015, it's back for another retro cinema showcase.

In fantastic news for anyone who likes diving into the great flicks of times gone by, the fest will once again shine a light on a heap of old favourites. It's the third time the fest has done so, heading Melbourne's Astor Theatre from October 12 to 15 (and Sydney, Canberra and Perth from August through to October too) with a six-film tribute to French star Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Alongside everyone from Emmanuelle Riva to Anna Karina to Gerard Depardieu — and under the direction of filmmakers such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais — Belmondo will blaze up the big screen in globe-trotting treasure hunts (That Man From Rio), crime thrillers (Stavisky and Doulos: the Finger Man), romantic dramas (Pierrot le Fou) and more. Many screen in gloriously restored versions, including war drama Weekend at Dunkirk (no, not the Christopher Nolan one).