The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) announced the film lineup and schedule for the 25th annual New Orleans French Film Festival that will be held at the historic Prytania Theatre from March 11-17. Part of the lineup will also stream on the festival’s Virtual Cinema. 

The festival brings together 15 narrative and three documentary features alongside four short films, all French-language with English subtitles, from Belgium, Canada, Chad, France, French Guiana, Peru, Poland, Switzerland, and the U.S.

“The New Orleans French Film Festival is turning 25 this year, and we are thrilled to showcase one of the most diverse programs in its history,” said Clint Bowie, artistic director of the New Orleans Film Society. “The films showcase a great breadth of francophone experiences worldwide, and we’re proud to bring these offerings to New Orleans audiences.” 

Director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s Anaïs in Love, which premiered at 2021 Cannes Critics’ Week, will open the 25th French Film Festival on March 11. Screen Daily wrote, “Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s elegant debut feature is pitched between the worlds of Eric Rohmer and Greta Gerwig or Agnes Jaoui. A polished, slightly old-fashioned exploration of romance, desire and the longings of an inconstant heart.” 

The festival will end on March 17 with Gagarin, a coming-of-age drama following 16-year-old Yuri, who lives in a project on the outskirts of Paris and joins the resistance to save his home. The debut feature from the director duo Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, Gagarin premiered at the Official Selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. 

In celebration of its silver anniversary, the festival will pay homage to the legendary Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941-1996) and his Francophone magnum opus: Trois Couleurs (Three Colors Trilogy). Color-schemed in the manner of the French flag Three Colours: Blue (1993), Three Colours: White (1994), and Three Colours: Red (1994) are structured around the classic themes of the French Republic: liberté, égalité and fraternité. This series of three conceptually interlocking films was by far Kieślowski’s biggest international hit, featuring luminous stars of each: Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, and Irène Jacob. The Three Colors Trilogy will only be available to watch in person at The Prytania Theater. 

Charlotte Gainsbourg, one of the most famous French actors and pop stars, goes behind the camera for the first time in her career to tell the story of her legendary mother, the singer and actress Jane Birkin. Consisting of several intimate conversations between parent and child, as well as footage of Birkin performing on stage, the result is a spare, loving window into the emotional lives of two women as they talk about subject matter that ranges from the delightful to the difficult: aging, dying, insomnia, celebrity, and their differing memories of their shared past, which includes Charlotte’s father and Jane’s husband, Serge Gainsbourg. 

Louisiana is represented in the festival by director Skylar Stroup’s short film Film Quest that follows Franky, who enlists his crew of friends to compete for a film festival prize of $100,000 to help his sick father. The catch is, they have five days to complete this monumental project. The film is shot in French and supported by TV5Monde and #CreateLouisiana’s French-language film grant.

All attendees will be required to show a vaccination card or negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of the event date. Additionally, face masks/covers will be required for all members of the public, staff and volunteers regardless of vaccination status.

For a complete film schedule and additional information, visit here.