A FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL STORY
THE AMERICAN FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL (formally COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL) is committed to promoting the best new French films and series in the U.S. and to showcasing in Hollywood the vitality and the diversity of French cinema, television, and shorts. COLCOA is ranked among the top 3 Film Festivals in Los Angeles, the most comprehensive annual French cultural event in the U.S., and the largest festival dedicated to French cinema and television in the world. The festival opens the film awards season with Opening Night on October 10, 2022 and runs through October 16th at the newly renovated Directors Guild of America on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood (3 theaters – 600, 160, and 50 seats – screening unique films simultaneously as well as a 210 capacity lounge and a 1,500 capacity lobby).
The selection is mainly made of premieres. Several high-profile features presented are World Premieres, International Premieres, North American or U.S. Premieres. The showcase is also known for presenting films before their French release and several months before their commercial distribution in the U.S., raising the event’s profile among U.S. distributors who use the event as a platform to launch and promote their film in Hollywood. Since 2021, a few films and series already released during the year can be part of the selection and compete for the Awards. The audience of the festival is made up of cinephiles, industry professionals, and lovers of French culture. It covers a diverse mix of the people living in Los Angeles.
THE AMERICAN FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL has developed partnerships with organizations like IFTA, the Cannes Film Festival, the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, Women in Film, The American Cinematheque, SAG, and since 2008, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
THE AMERICAN FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL was founded in 1997 by The Franco-American Cultural Fund. COLCOA is also supported by l’Association des Auteurs-Réalisateurs-Producteurs (ARP), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles (French Consulate), TVFI, and UNIFRANCE.
Over the last decade, the festival has advanced an educational program for high school and college students throughout Los Angeles County that promotes French films in interactive ways in partnership with ELMA (European Languages & Movies in America). Each year, a young jury of High School and College students give an American Student Award at the festival. In 2022, the festival will welcome its 32,000th student.
The festival regularly welcomes representatives from many distinguished news outlets. Recent festivals attracted media elite and yielded enthusiastic coverage in the New York Times, Variety, TF1, France 2, Public Radio, The Hollywood Reporter, Huffingtonpost.com, Indiewire.com, Dailymail.com, LA Weekly, l’Express, le Parisien, AFP, ScreenDaily. In addition to partnerships with Variety, LA Times, LA Weekly, KPCC-89.3 FM, TV5 Monde/Spectrum, France Télévisions, and Indiewire. The festival has continuously developed relationships with journalists and critics: 60 journalists, professional bloggers, and critics are accredited every year. A press book of the festival is available on www.theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org.