If you’re up for a cinematic journey to France without the long-haul flight, then be sure to check out the upcoming vOilah! French Film Festival from November 14 to 30, 2024. This year marks its 40th anniversary, featuring a handpicked lineup of 36 films that will whisk Singaporeans off to the heart of French cinema.
Presented by the Embassy of France, with support from Alliance Française de Singapour, Shaw Organisation, and The Projector, this year's festival has a lineup that spans both box office hits and indie gems. Headlining the selection is The Count of Monte Cristo, a fresh, big-budget tale of revenge, featuring Pierre Niney and Anais Demoustier. So far, it boasts a rating score of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes and the title of being one of France's most expensive films ever made – so it’s safe to say it’s worth a watch.
For those in the mood for love, humour, or history, the line-up offers Prodigies, starring Emily in Paris’s actress Camille Razat in a feel-good musical romp, and Saint-Exupéry, a biopic on the beloved Little Prince author, starring Diane Kruger and Vincent Cassel. There's also Beating Hearts, a Cannes favourite starring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos, which promises a good mix of romance and drama.
Film classics are also part of the line-up at The Projector; Think Purple Noon (for all the Alain Delon fans) and Amélie – the charming story of a beloved Parisian waitress loved by many. The Embassy will also be hosting free screenings of Amélie and an added film: The 400 Blows, a gem from 1959 that’s often ranked among the greatest films of all time.
Community screenings are ramping up this year too, with 15 venues around Singapore showing family-friendly films like Epic Tails, featuring a brave mouse and her feline friend journeying through Ancient Greece, and Chicken for Linda!, an animated tale about a mother determined to make her daughter’s favourite meal. This marks the first time the festival has reached so many community spaces, making French cinema more accessible than ever.
For those who want to get behind the scenes, three French stars – Franck Dubosc, Camille Razat, and Mélanie Robert – will be attending screenings and sharing insights. And for the festival’s grand finale, the festival has teamed up with the Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) to screen Spirit World, a French-Singapore collaboration film by local director Eric Khoo, starring none other than Catherine Deneuve – a fitting close to a festival that celebrates cultural connections and timeless storytelling, if we do say so ourselves.
Find out more about vOilah! French Film Festival here.
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