Films & Literature – The American French Film Festival in Los Angeles https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org The American French Film Festival in Los Angeles Fri, 20 Feb 2026 23:24:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 ALL OF A SUDDEN ../../../all-of-a-sudden/ Fri, 20 Feb 2026 23:24:35 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=26387

COMING  TO THEATERS IN 2026 BEFORE A DIGITAL RELEASE.

ALL OF A SUDDEN

| 2026 – 100′ – A France/Japan co-production, Drama, Films & Literature, Co-Produced by France.
Written by: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Léa Le Dimna.
Based on the book by: Makiko Miyano & Maho Isano.
Directed by: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi.
Starring: Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto.
In French and in Japanese with English subtitles.
A NEON release. |

The director of a nursing home in the Parisian suburbs attempts to introduce a humane care technique known as Humanitude, in spite of resistance. Her life is changed when she meets a terminally ill Japanese playwright named Mari Morisaki. From the director of the Academy Award Winning film Drive my Car. 

 

 

 

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LA FEMME PUBLIQUE ../../../la-femme-publique/ Sun, 11 Jan 2026 15:04:46 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=25739

COMING SOON TO THEATERS, BEFORE A DIGITAL RELEASE.

LA FEMME PUBLIQUE

| 1984 (Re-release in 2026) – 113′ – Drama, Classic, Erotic, Films & Literature.
Written by: Dominique Garnier, Andrzej Zulawski.
Based on the Book by: Dominique Garnier.
Directed by: Andrzej Zulawski.
Starring: Valérie Kaprisky, Francis Huster, Lambert Wilson, Patrick Bauchau, Giselle Pascal, Roger dumas, Jean-Paul Farré, Lucas Belvaux, Marianne Basler.
3 César Awards nominations (Best Actress (Valérie Kaprisky), Best Supporting Actor (Lambert Wilson), Best Adapted Screenplay).
In French with English subtitles. I
A Film Movement Classics release. |

Ethel, who makes a living posing nude, dreams of becoming an actress. Although her acting leaves much to be desired, she is noticed during an audition by the German director Lucas Kesling. He is preparing a highly personal adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Possessed and offers her a role, soon making her his mistress…. She loses her grip on reality and descends into a hallucinatory world where art and life intertwine in a dizzying way. Presented in a new 4K restoration (40th Anniversary).

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TESS ../../../tess/ Fri, 19 Dec 2025 23:53:28 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=25637

TESS

| 1980 (Digital restoration 2012) – 185′ –  Classic,  PERIOD & HISTORY, DRAMA, ROMANCE, FILMS & LITERATURE
Written by: Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, Roman Polanski.
Based on the Book by: Thomas hardy.
Directed by: Roman Polanski.
Starring: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin, Rosemary Martin, Carolyn Pickles, Suzanna Hamilton, Caroline Embling
Official Selections: Cannes International Film Festival 1979 and 2012. Toronto International Film Festival 2012. 5 Academy Awards Nominations 1981 including Best Director. Winner Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costumes). 3 César Awards Winner 1980 (Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Director).
In English.
A The Criterion Collection release. |

In the Victorian period, a rural clergyman tells John Durbeyfield, a simple farmer, that he is descended from the illustrious d’Urberville family — now extinct. Or maybe not. Durbeyfield sends his daughter Tess to check on a family named d’Uberville living in a manor house less than a day’s carriage ride away. Alec d’Urberville is delighted to meet his beautiful “cousin” and seduces her with strawberries and roses. Actually, Alec has gotten his illustrious name and coat of arms by purchasing them. Tess also takes up the game of illusion when she finds, loses and finds again her true love Angel Claire.

WATCH NOW

 

 

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DRACULA ../../../dracula/ Sun, 09 Nov 2025 01:23:19 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=25226

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS. COMING SOON TO DIGITAL.

DRACULA

| 2026 – 129′ –  Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Film & Literature.
Written by: Luc Besson.
Based on the Book By: Bram Stoker
Directed by: Luc Besson.
Starring: Caleb Landry Jones, Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, Matilda De Angelis, Ewens Abid, Guillaume de Toncquedec, Jassem Mougari, Bertrand-Xavier Corbi.
In English.
A Vertical release. |

When a 15th-century prince (Caleb Landry Jones) denounces God after the devastating loss of his wife (Zoë Bleu), he inherits an eternal curse: he becomes Dracula. Condemned to wander the centuries, he defies fate and death itself, guided by a single hope — to be reunited with his lost love. From the Writer/Director of Leon, The Big Blue, Lucy and The Fifth Element.

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THE GREAT ARCH ../../../the-great-arch/ Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:42:28 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=25139

COMING SOON TO THEATERS BEFORE A DIGITAL RELEASE

THE GREAT ARCH 

| 2026 – 104′ –  Drama, Period & History, Films & Literature.
Written byStéphane Demoustier.
Based on the Book by: 
Laurence Cossé
Directed by: Stéphane Demoustier.
Starring: Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Michel Fau, Xavier Dolan, Swann Arlaud, Viilbjørk Malling Agger, Alessandro Bressanello, Pierre-Francois Grunewald.
Official Competition Cannes International Film Festival 2025 (Un Certain Regard selection).
In French with English subtitles
A Cohen Media Group release. |

1982. French President François Mitterrand decides to launch an international architectural competition for the flagship project of his mandate: the Great Arch of La Défense, aligned with the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.
Against all odds, Otto von Spreckelsen, a Danish architect, wins the competition.Overnight, this 53-year-old man, unknown in France, arrives in Paris where he is propelled at the helm of this pharaonic project.While the architect intends to build the Great Arch exactly as he envisioned, his ideas quickly clash with realistic constraints and the vicissitudes of politics.

 

 

 

 

 

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AN OFFICER AND A SPY ../../../an-officer-and-a-spy/ Fri, 26 Sep 2025 22:55:42 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=24624

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS.

AN OFFICER AND A SPY

| 2019 (US release in 2025) – 132′ – Drama, Period & History, Courtroom, Spy, Film & Literature.
Written by: Robert Harris, Roman Polanski.
Directed by: Roman Polanski.
Based on the Book by: Robert Harris.
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel, Emmanuelle Seigner, Melvil Poupaud, Grégory Gadebois, Hervé Pierre, Didier Sandre, Eric Ruf, Mathieu Amalric, Laurent Stocker, Vincent Perez.
Official Competition Venice International Film Festival 2019 (Winner Jury Grand Prize). Winner 3 César 2020 (Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Costume Design).
In French with English subtitles.
A Vitagraph Films release. |

On January 5, 1895, Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish soldier, is degraded for spying for Germany and is sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, who is promoted to run the military counter-intelligence unit that tracked him down. But when Picquart discovers that secrets are still being handed over to the Germans, he is drawn into a dangerous labyrinth of deceit and corruption that threatens not just his honor but his life.

 

 

 

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THE STRANGER ../../../the-stranger/ Fri, 12 Sep 2025 22:25:43 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=24084

OPENING IN THEATERS ON APRIL 3,  BEFORE A DIGITAL RELEASE

THE STRANGER

| 2025 – 120′ – Drama, Films & Literature
Written by: François Ozon, Philippe Piazzo.
Directed by: François Ozon.
Based on the Book by:  Albert Camus.
Starring: Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Denis Lavant, Swann Arlaud, Christophe Malavoy, Nicolas Vaude, Jean-Charles Clichet.
Official Selections Venice International Film Festival 2025, Toronto International Film Festival 2025.
In French with English subtitles.
A Music Box Films release. |

Algiers, 1938. Meursault, a quiet and unassuming employee in his early thirties, attends his mother’s funeral without shedding a tear. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie, a work colleague. He quickly slips back into his usual routine. However, his daily life is soon about to be disrupted by his neighbor, Raymond Sintès, who draws Meursault into his shady dealings ‘ until one blisteringly hot day, a tragic event occurs on a beach… The classic novel by Albert Camus, adapted for the screen by French filmmaker François Ozon.

 

 

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WEB OF PASSION (A DOUBLE TOUR) ../../../web-of-passion-a-double-tour/ ../../../web-of-passion-a-double-tour/#respond Wed, 27 Aug 2025 23:56:18 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=23661

WEB OF PASSION (A DOUBLE TOUR)

| 1961  – 101′ – Drama, Crime, Thriller, Classic, Films & Literature.
Written by: Claude Chabrol.
Based on the Book by: Stanley Ellin.
Directed by: Paul Gégauff, Claude Chabrol.
Starring: Madeleine Robinson, Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacques Dacqmine, Jeanne Valerie, Antonella Lualdi, Laslo Szabo, Mario David.
In French with English subtitles.
A Kino Lorber release. |

Chabrol forges onto his signature terrain of the psychological thriller with his third film, a lurid and disturbing melodrama of infidelity, obsession and murder at a vineyard in rural Provence featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bernadette Lafont. This alluring whodunit echoes both Alfred Hitchcock’s most personal and obsessive films and Douglas Sirk’s colorful 50’s melodramas. 

WATCH NOW

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SCHOOL FOR LOVE ../../../school-for-love/ ../../../school-for-love/#respond Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:33:49 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=23592

SCHOOL FOR LOVE

| 1955 – 86′ – Comedy, Drama, Classic, Films & Literature.
Written by: Marc Allégret, Roger Vadim.
Based on the Book by: Vicki Baum.
Directed by: Marc Allégret.
Starring: Brigitte Bardot, Jean Marais, Yves Robert, Isabelle Piat. Régis Fontenay, Roger Vadim, Daniel Emilfork, Guy Bedos.
In French with English subtitles. 16+.
A Icarus Films release. |

Jean Marais plays Eric Walter, a handsome singing teacher who enthralls two of his nubile female students (Brigitte Bardot, Isabelle Pia). Their ardor for the teacher begins innocently enough but soon deepens into something far more serious. Before the situation can be resolved, a near-disaster strikes. Mischa Auer lightens things up a bit as Marais’ dour valet.

WATCH NOW

 

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THE LITTLE SISTER ../../../the-little-sister-2/ Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:07:51 +0000 https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/?p=23461 COMING TO THEATERS in SPRING 2026 BEFORE A DIGITAL RELEASE.

THE LITTLE SISTER

| 2026 – 179′ – Drama, LGBTQ, Films & Literature, Coming of Age, Women Directors.
Written by: Hafsia Herzi.
Based on the Book by: Fatima Daas.
Directed by: Hafsia Herzi.
Starring: Nadia Melliti, Ji-Min Park, Louis Memmi, Mouna Soualem, Melissa Guers, Nemo Schiffman, Rita Benmannana, Vincent Pasdermadjian.
Official Competition Cannes International Film Festival. Winner Best Actress (Nadia Melliti) & the Queer Palm. 8 nominations César Awards 2026 including: Best Film, Best Director, Best Promising Actress (Nadia Melliti), Best Supporting Actress (Ji-Min Park), Best Adapted Screenplay.
In French with English Subtitles.
Official Competition TAFFF 2025 (Los Angeles Premiere).
A Strand Releasing release. |

We meet Fatima, the teenage daughter of a Muslim family in the Paris projects, as she performs her ablutions, then kneels and prays in full hijab garb.  Yet the street-slang-slinging soccer-freak and resident tomboy is far from the Islamic ideal of womanhood, and it won’t be long before her truly “veiled” nature erupts and rises to the surface. Walking off with not one, but two major prizes (Best Actress and the Queer Palm) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Hafsia Herzi’s stunning coming-of-age drama is deftly, quietly told and filled with nuanced performances across the board, as it plunges us into a devastating conflict between sexual desire, spiritual demands and self-acceptance, and the enormous courage it takes to utter the unspeakable.

 

 

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