Fergus Grady
Festival Director
Bienvenue, Nau mai, haere mai and welcome to the 2024 French Film Festival Aotearoa.
We’re excited to add Whanganui, Blenheim and Rangiora to our Festival circuit this year and we plan on growing the Festival further into regional New Zealand in the coming years.
We’re thrilled to present the Opening Night Film which is the blockbuster The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan. We’re also pleased to be able to bring you the second instalment of the smash-hit duo, The Three Musketeers: Milady.
We have a record year for Festival de Cannes favourites in the lineup including: Marguerite’s Theorem, The Animal Kingdom, Bonnard, Pierre & Marthe, Abbé Pierre: A Century of Devotion, & Jeanne du Barry.
Our centrepiece films are our opportunity to promote standout films and we’ve included two Festival de Cannes premiere period pieces set in the 1800s that share the incredible actor Benoît Magimel. Rosalie & The Taste of Things are a great pairing that will not disappoint. The other two centrepiece films, The President’s Wife and A Difficult Year, were crowd favourites at the Toronto International Film Festival and we expect equal enthusiasm here when they have their NZ premieres.
However you like your French cinema, whether that may be a ‘comédie’ or you ‘désirer drama’ we have you covered. Enjoy the festival and I hope to raise a glass with you at our opening soirées as we toast a “Grand Cru” year of French cinema.
Laurence Beau
Ambassador of France to New Zealand
Dear French cinema lovers,
The French Film Festival Aotearoa (FFFA) is back in 20 centres across New Zealand for its 18th edition.
It is both a pleasure and a privilege to see French cinema celebrated in New Zealand with such dedication. Last year, saw the highest attendance in its 17-year-history, thanks to all the cinemas who partnered across the country with the Artistic Director Fergus Grady, Simon Werry and all the French Film Festival Aotearoa Team to bring you the best of French cinema.
This year, they are once again offering us a generous and fresh movie line-up; featuring titles such as “Le Règne Animal” (The Animal Kingdom) by Thomas Cailley and “Rosalie”by Stéphanie di Giusto from the 2023 Cannes Festival. Another must-see is “L’Abbé Pierre - Une vie de combats” (Abbé Pierre: A Century of Devotion) by Frédéric Tellier, a film that pays a tribute to Henri Grouès better known as Abbé Pierre. This remarkable man devoted his life to helping others, notably by founding the Emmaüs solidarity association.
I hope you’ll be won over by this year’s extraordinary line-up of French adventure, drama, action and comedy films. Pencil in the dates and see you in theatres!