Cinema | Francophone Cinema Series

>> LIRE EN FRANÇAIS << 

[As part of the event for “Mois de la francophonie”]

Let’s celebrate French Language and Francophonie Week together!

To celebrate the French language as it is spoken around the world, the Institut français offers you a selection of 5 French-speaking films from all around the world. Come and discover the diversity and richness of a cinema “all in French”!

Wednesday, March 22

at 2pm

“Kirikou and the Sorceress” by Michel Ocelot (1998) – from 4 years old

FRANCE – 71 minutes – French version with English subtitles

Kirikou, an unusual little boy, must search the wisdom of the forbidden mountain in order to save his village from a spell cast by the evil sorceress Karaba. Watch the trailer!

at 6:30pm

“The White Knights” by Joachim Lafosse (2015) – Not suitable for audiences under 16 years old

FRANCE / BELGIUM – 112 minutes – French version with English subtitles

A NGO is planning to exfiltrate 300 orphans victims of Chadian civil war and bring them to French adoption applicants. Immersed in the brutal reality of a country at war, the NGO members are faced with the limits of humanitarian intervention. Watch the trailer!


Friday, March 24 at 6:30pm

“Aya de Yopougon” by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie (2012) – from 12 years old

FRANCE / IVORY COAST- 84 minutes – French version with English subtitles

The Ivory Coast, at the end of the 1970s, in Youpougon, a working class neighborhood in Abidjan, renamed Yop City, to be “like in an American film.” 19-year-old Aya lives here. This serious young woman prefers to stay home studying instead of going out with her girlfriends. Aya divides her time between school, her family, and her two best friends, Adjoua and Bintou, who only think of hotfooting it to the bush as soon as night falls. Aya classifies these girls, who always find a way to chase after guys, despite their fathers keeping a close watch over them, as the Series H type: Hairdos, Hot fashions, Husband-hunting. Things go awry when Adjoua becomes pregnant. Watch the trailer!


Saturday, March 25

at 10:30am

“April and the Extraordinary World” by Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci (2015) – from 7 years old

FRANCE / BELGIUM – 106 minutes – French version 

It’s 1941 but France is trapped in the nineteenth century, governed by steam and Napoleon V, where scientists vanish mysteriously. Avril (Marion Cotillard), a teenage girl, goes in search of her missing scientist parents. Watch the trailer! 

at 5:30pm

“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” by Jacques Demy (1963) – from 12 years old

FRANCE – 91 minutes – French version 

16-year-old Genevieve and 20-year-old Guy are very much in love. Her kind mother, who runs an umbrella shop, won’t hear of her marrying, particularly as Guy has yet to complete his compulsory military service. Genevieve is heartbroken when he leaves for his army service in colonial Algeria and is upset to have received only one letter from him in two months. Her mother’s solution to this situation is kind diamond-merchant Roland Cassard, who has helped them in the past. Watch the trailer! 

Related post