Now in its 13th year, Focus on French Cinema (FFC), the annual Francophone film festival for new, cutting-edge cinema from France and across the French-speaking world, returns to Connecticut and Manhattan for a week-long festival from March 27–April 2. Claude Lelouch will be this year’s honorary guest.

FFC has announced an exciting lineup of over 20 films, including multiple César nominations and an award-winning selection of short films, as well as a Tribute to Québec.

The 13th edition of Focus on French Cinema offers a diverse slate of newly-released feature-length and short films in multiple genres, including drama, comedy, romance, documentary, animation, and family films.

North American and U.S. Premieres include : Lucien Jean-Baptiste’s hit comedy, He Even Has Your Eyes (Il a déjà tes yeux), starring Aïssa Maïga–who will attend the festival–in the heartwarming, laugh-out-loud story of a Parisian couple of Caribbean and West African origin whose lives are enchanted after the adoption of their son Benjamin, who is beautiful, blue-eyed, and...white. The film explores how race and ethnicity define and challenge a family, in a context of unconditional love.

The thought-provoking French drama Heaven Will Wait (Le Ciel attendra), directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar (attending the festival), takes a realistic look at the lives of young women led down the inexorable path of jihadist radicalization. Baby Bumps (Telle mère, telle fille), directed by Noémie Saglio, stars Camille Cottin and Juliette Binoche in the story of a mother-daughter bond taken to a new level.

The new 50th-anniversary restoration of Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme), stars Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant in a timeless, beautiful, and breath-taking love story. The documentary Swagger follows the “swag” of eleven teenagers growing up in one of the most underprivileged housing projects in France, giving life to the words and dreams of ambitious, promising, joyful, and resilient young people. A Pact Among Angels (Le Pacte des anges), directed by Richard Angers, is the story of three lost souls meeting in the wrong place at the wrong time...

You will also get to experience Bad Seeds (Les Mauvaises herbes), the smash-hit comedy from Québec directed by Louis Bélanger, about a secret harvest in a rural Québecois community. 1:54, the FFC 2017 United Nations Screening will be presented on the Closing Night of Le Mois de la Francophonie. The film will be introduced by Oscar-nominated director Yan England, who will join a team of experts to discuss the universally-relevant topic of bullying. The Odyssey (L’Odyssée), the sumptuous Jérôme Salle biopic on the life of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, is a cross-generational family drama that evokes memories of adventure, invention, drama, and legend aboard the Calypso. Bertrand Tavernier’s Journey through French Cinema (Voyage à travers le cinéma français), inspired by Martin Scorcese’s Personal Journey Through American Movies, explores the history and richness of Gallic cinema. It will be presented by FFC-invited expert, Larry Kardish, former Senior Curator in the Department of Film at MOMA. Latest News from the Cosmos (Dernières nouvelles du cosmos), directed by Julie Bertuccelli, is the amazing story of Hélène “Babouillec” Nicolas, a severely autistic 30-year-old French woman whose mother discovers a way to teach her daughter to communicate, enabling the young woman to become a telepathic and iconoclastic writer. The medical drama Heal the Living (Réparer les vivants), directed by Katell Quillévéré and starring Tahar Rahim, Bouli Lanners, and Emmanuelle Seigner, explores the concept of migration of “one heart to another,” dramatizing the age-old question: where does life begin? Nelly, directed by Anne Émond, is a biopic on the unconventional life of novelist Nelly Arcan, played by Mylène Mackay (both director and actress will attend). Foreign Body (Corps étranger), an uncanny drama directed by Raja Amari and produced by FFC-partner Dominique Besnehard’s Mon Voisin Productions. Oscar-nominated My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de courgette), directed by Claude Barras and winner of Best Animated Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, depicts damaged children in delightful moments.

A Tribute to Québec

FFC 2017 will present a selection of six Premiere Québécois feature-length films, as well as shorts. The selection includes It’s Only the End of the World (Juste la fin du monde), directed by Xavier Dolan. 1:54, directed by Yan England; Bad Seeds (Les Mauvaises herbes), directed by Louis Belanger; Kiss Me with Your Love (Embrasse moi commes tu m’aimes), directed by André Forcier; Nelly, directed by Anne Émond; A Pact Among Angels (Le Pacte des anges), directed by Richard Angers; as well as a selection of award-winning short films.

Events during the Festival Week include a special United Nations Screening on March 30th of the Québécois Premiere, 1:54, with the Oscar-nominated director, Yan England, actor Antoine Olivier Pilon, and a panel of UN experts to discuss the internationally-recognized issue of bullying. The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) will welcome Claude Lelouch for two separate screenings, including the newly-restored 50th-anniversary DCP of A Man and A Woman (Un homme et une femme), with a special excerpt of Philippe Azoulay’s forthcoming documentary on the life of the legendary Claude Lelouch, Shoot to Live (Tourner pour vivre). The Lycée Français de New York will feature the screening of the U.S. Premiere of Heaven Will Wait (Le Ciel attendra), director Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s new film on the epidemic of jihadist radicalization, featuring a Q&A with the director. Two Round Table discussions in Greenwich, CT, as well as multiple Q&A’s with talent and the Tribute to Québec will highlight the Festival Weekend.