Here we go again! And again! For the 22^nd time ColCoa – City of Lights to City of Angels – French Film Festival, the biggest ever showcase of French Cinema outside of France, will open at the Directors Guild of America’s headquarters in Los Angeles on Monday, April 23, 2018 with the North American premiere of Promise at Dawn by director Eric Barbier (The Last Diamond, ColCoa 2014). The picture is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by two-time Goncourt prize winner Romain Gary. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays the exuberant mother of the protagonist,  played by Cezar prize winner Pierre Niney.   

The festival will feature a record 86 films, television and digital series and, for just the second time in its history, virtual reality programs, and will run until April 30, 2018. Many of the programmed films will have their World, North American or US premieres during the Festival, 75 of which will be in competition for different ColCoa awards. 37 new features and documentaries will compete for ColCoa Cinema Awards beginning on Opening Night on April 23 and ending on April 30 with the North American premiere of Cedric Kahn’s new drama The Prayer which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, with newcomer actor Anthony Bajon winning the Best Actor Award.

The founder of ColCoa, Executive Producer and Artistic Director of the Festival François Truffart says: “Through its different competitions we are proud to dedicate this year’s programming of ColCoa to women, both in their role in the making of the films and series, and their central roles in the majority of stories selected this year. Concretely, we will also introduce a new series called Women Make History. We will dedicate a day to first films made by female writers and directors; our Focus on a Filmmaker day will be offered to writer, director, actor Melanie Laurent; and one of our panels will address the role of women in the French film industry”.

Opening, closing films:Promise at Dawn (top), The Prayer.

courtesy Colcoa

During the festival, the popular ColCoa High School screening program will attract more than 3000 Southern California students and teachers who will attend free screenings and panels with filmmakers. The students will also participate in a student film critic contest. Year after year ColCoa is constantly growing new generations of French film (and foreign films in general) lovers – a task made easier because young people are used to reading text on a screen. The program is celebrating its 11^th year. In addition, master classes will take place at several film schools across the city with the support of the Cultural Services of the French embassy in the United States.

As usual, many famous and upcoming French directors and actors will attend the Festival and participate in discussions and other events: among them, besides Melanie Laurent, actors Camelia Jordana (Le Brio), Vanessa Paradis (Dog), Melville Poupaud (Lady in the Portrait), Anthony Bajon (The Prayer) and veteran director Francis Veber for the celebration of the 20^th anniversary of his classic The Dinner Game. 

Some of the feature films of the ColCoa program during the Festival will have their official screenings for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association members which qualify the films for Golden Globe consideration for the Best Foreign Language Film Award.