Armstrong French Club to Host 9th Annual Francophone Film Festival February 16th-18th
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
Wednesday, February 15th, 2017
Armstrong State University’s French Club will host the 9th Annual Francophone Film Festival Feb. 16-18 at the Ogeechee Theatre in the Student Union, located at 11935 Abercorn St.
The Francophone Film Festival will screen five French-language movies with subtitles covering a wide range of themes and issues. All screenings are free and open to the public.
2017 Francophone Film Festival Schedule
Thursday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m.
La Grande Vadrouille (The Great Stroll)
Film director Gérard Oury is the uncontested king of French popular comedy and, with 17 million tickets sold in its opening weekend in 1996 (a record that was only broken by ‘Titanic’ in 1998), ‘La Grande Vadrouille,’ is considered one of his greatest and most enduring works. In this World War II farce, amiable Frenchman and unwitting Germans aid a British bomber crew that bailed out over Nazi-occupied Paris.
Friday, Feb. 17, 6 p.m.
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday)
The 1953 classic follows the misadventures of a lovable, gauche Frenchman, Monsieur Hulot, who travels to a beachside hotel where he accidentally causes havoc. The late film critic Roger Ebert gave it a four-starred thumbs-up, noting that ‘there are some real laughs in it, but “Mr. Hulot's Holiday” gives us something rarer, an amused affection for human nature--so odd, so valuable, so particular.”
Friday, Feb. 17, 8:30 p.m.
Bon Cop, Bad Cop
Noted for its clever blend of English and French dialogue, the 2006 Canadian dark comedy-thriller ‘Bon Cop, Bad Cop,’ is about an Ontarian and a Québecois police officer who reluctantly join forces.
Saturday, Feb. 18, 6 p.m.
Daratt (Dry Season)
Set in the wake of the long Chadian civil war, a teenage boy becomes emotionally conflicted when he is taken under the wing of the man who killed his father, and who he was sent to kill. The New York Times calls the 2007 film “bedeviling, surprising.”
Saturday, Feb. 18, 8:30 p.m.
Le Bonheur D’Elza (Elza’s Happiness)
The critically acclaimed 2011 drama ‘Elza’ is based on the director’s true story of searching for her biological father. Despite her mother’s objections, Elza leaves Paris for the Guadeloupe, to come to terms with her own identity.