Overview
Australia's film festival calendar is about to kick into gear for 2022, with fests dedicated to documentaries, European cinema, queer flicks and Japanese movies all among the events that've already announced their upcoming lineups. Another ace excuse to stare at the big screen in a darkened room that Aussie movie lovers can look forward to in the very near future: the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, which is returning across March and April for its 33rd year.
It's still a tad too early for AFFFF to reveal its full program, but it has confirmed a few details to get you in the French film-watching mood. First up, there's the fest's dates, with the event making its usual capital city stops. So, cinephiles in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart — and in Byron Bay and Parramatta, too — you can now start blocking out time in your diaries.
Also unveiled early: AFFFF's first ten films from its 2022 lineup, including opening night's 19th-century Paris-set Lost Illusions. Starring an impressive cast that includes Benjamin Voisin (Summer of 85), Cécile de France (The French Dispatch), Vincent Lacoste (Sorry Angel) and Xavier Dolan (Matthias & Maxime) — the latter acting rather than directing — it follows a lower-class poet who falls in love with the baroness Louise de Bargeton.
Other highlights span two movies that premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, with rom-com Love Songs for Tough Guys featuring Vanessa Paradis (Knife+Heart), set in Dunkirk and taking its cues from Cyrano de Bergerac, and La Traviata, My Brothers and I focusing on a 14-year-old who wants to become the new Luciano Pavarotti. There's also The Young Lovers, also led by the aforementioned Cécile de France; Waiting for Bojangles, a page-to-screen adaptation starring Virginie Efira (Bye Bye Morons) and Romain Duris (Eiffel); The Kitchen Brigade, which is set in the world of French gastronomy; Hear Me Out, a rom-com directed by and starring Pascal Elbé (The Swallows of Kabul); and the 60s-set Happening.
Or, you can look forward to documentary The Velvet Queen, where photographer Vincent Munier and writer Sylvain Tesson head to the Tibetan highlands on a quest to find the snow leopard — or, from the retro program showcasing the work of actor and filmmaker Alain Delon, Purple Noon, which adapts Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
The full festival lineup will be revealed on Thursday, February 3 — and you can check out the festival trailer below in the interim:
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2022 DATES:
- March 1–April 6, with encore screenings from April 7–10: Palace Central, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema and Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, Sydney
- March 2–April 6, with encore screenings from April 7–10: Palace Electric, Canberra
- March 3–April 6, with encore screenings from April 7–10: Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Como. Palace Westgarth, Pentridge Cinema, The Kino and The Astor Theatre , Melbourne
- March 9–20: State Cinema, Hobart
- March 9–April 6, with encore screenings from April 7–10: Camelot Outdoor Cinema, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX, Palace Raine Square and Windsor Cinema, Perth
- March 16–April 13, with encore screenings from April 14–18: Palace Barracks and Palace James Street, Brisbane
- March 24–April 24, with encore screenings from April 25–26: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas, Adelaide, plus Victa Cinemas, Victor Harbor
- March 30–April 14, with encore screenings from April 15–16: Palace Byron Bay, Byron Bay
- April 7–10: Parramatta Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
The Alliance Française French Film Festival tours Australia from Tuesday, March 1–Tuesday, April 26. For more information, visit the AFFFF website.