NEW DELHI: Fans of French cinema can now see the best films sitting in their homes, on their personal computer.
For the first time, a French film festival is going to enable everyone, whatever his country, to have access to the selected films and vote for their favourites. The goal of MyFrenchFilmFestival.com is to reveal young French creation and share this with Internet users all over the world.
Between 14 and 29 January 2011, all film lovers will have access to ten feature films and ten recent shorts in competition. Internet users are invited to vote and leave their comments on the website. The selection equally includes a heritage film out of competition, French Cancan by Jean Renoir.
The festival, organised by Unifrance in partnership with AlloCiné, is accessible in 10 languages: the website and films (available for a fee by video-on-demand - 1.99€ per feature film, 0.99€ per short as well as advantageous packs (except in France - 3.99€ per feature film); thanks to UniFrance and a private partner (Varilux Essilor) the festival is free in both Russia and Latin America.) are offered in Arabic, English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Six prizes will be awarded at the end of the festival (three for feature films, three for shorts): the Internet Users Prize, Foreign Bloggers Prize and International Press Prize.
Internet users can view free of charge on myfrenchfilmfestival.com the films‘ trailers, the lists of their casts, crews and technical specifications, as well as exclusive interviews with the directors and actors of the selected films. Several well-known foreign filmmakers (Wim Wenders, the Dardenne brothers…) have equally agreed to demonstrate their love for French cinema with fresh new interviews.
Internet users can henceforth play "French Film Epidemic" to become the top ambassador of French cinema abroad via the Facebook page of My French Film Festival.com (free screenings and a trip to Paris are to be won), and can equally bet on the winning film selected the public via the Facebook page of Air France (free screenings and a trip to New York are among the prizes).
Three posters, treating the French with humour and a trailer echoing this theme (available on the website myfrenchfilmfestival.com), will contribute to promoting this innovative event in a wide range of languages.
UniFrance has been joined in this effort by the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and French embassies, as well as Renault, Varilux, Air France, Dailymotion, Euronews, Eurochannel, RFI, Variety, Télérama and LePetitjournal.com.
