The 11th French Film Festival in Israel was held from March 22 through April 6, 2014, in theaters across the country. A short recap of an event packed with new discoveries.
Jointly hosted by the French Embassy and Eden Cinema, with support from Unifrance, this year's festival showcased some fifteen French films over a period of ten days. Screenings were held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as in Haifa, Sderot, Holon, and Herzliya, in the presence of French artists who traveled to the event to present their films. This year's festival also featured two documentaries on the subject of education, relating to language learning and the role of schools: On the Way to School by Pascal Plisson and School Of Babel by Julie Bertuccelli.
This festival offers a promotional boost to films that have been acquired by Israeli distributors and are due for upcoming release. All of the films were screened in the presence of their directors in the Cinematheques of Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. Cinematheques in Israel are commercial arthouse theaters, which, like many other independent theaters around the world, program mainly independent European and American films.
The festival also works closely with Israeli distributors, who endeavor each year to highlight the richness and diversity of current French film production: Orlando Films, Lev Cinemas (ex Shani Films), Forum Film Ltd., Nachshon Films, New Cinema Ltd., and Five Stars Distribution.
The French Film Festival in Israel is organized in partnership with TV5 Monde, with a special one-day event held by TV5 Monde on March 25. For this event, the world's leading French-language television network decided to throw the spotlight on the teaching of the French language in Israel and French-language cinema, with private screenings of The Gilded Cage by Ruben Alves and ニューヨークの巴里夫(パリジャン) by Cédric Klapisch held at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
The following partners also lent their support to this 11th French Film Festival in Israel: Ha’Tav Ha’Shmini, Seyman, L’Occitane, Peugeot Citroën, and Air France.
