For a month, (young) French cinema should be at the center of international (film) attention – exactly that The MyFrenchFilmFestival has set itself the task! The annual online festival offers some of the most popular discoveries in current French cinema for streaming:
The feature films cost 1.99 euros each (and only 7.99 euros if you buy them all together as a package). However, the short films can be viewed completely free of charge anywhere in the world, including in Germany. Would you like to browse through the program a bit? In the following link you will find all information about this year’s festival edition, which FILMSTARTS will support again in 2024 as an official media partner:
The core of the festival are the two official competitions (one each for short films and feature films), in which leading juries award a main prize worth up to 15,000 euros. But it’s not just actors, directors and producers who choose the best films here; you can also vote for yourself by participating in the election of this year’s Audience Award winner.
Watching the films is made even easier this year at the MyFrenchFilmFestival – Thanks to multi-platform partnerships, you can now watch the films on more streaming platforms than ever before – including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Filmingo, Sooner and Mubi.
THE FULL FILMS IN COMPETITION
In “The green perfume” an actor dies of poisoning – in the middle of a theater performance at the world-famous Comédie-Française. In the seconds before death, the murdered man can still whisper the words ‘green perfume’ into the ear of his colleague Martin Rémi (Vincent Lacoste). The next day, however, it is Martin himself who becomes the target of the investigation – apparently a secret organization is doing everything it can to blame him. He now has to prove his innocence himself, with comic artist Claire Mayer (Sandrine Kiberlain) supporting him. The search for the real perpetrators takes the duo throughout Europe…
The new film by Nicolas Pariser, who made his name with the charming political comedy ‘Alice And The Mayor’, is mainly about a murder case in the theater and a spy hunt across the continent. But at the same time, the director also warns about the revival of fascism in Europe with his ironic crime thriller.
Antoine (Raphaël Quenard) and Dog (Anthony Bajon) have always been best friends – and hang out together “Straatmutt” That’s why we’ve almost always been together since childhood. But when Dog falls in love with Elsa (Galatéa Bellugi), everything suddenly changes and their friendship is put to the test this summer. The mega-jealous Antoine in particular has difficulty with the new situation…
Two friends – one suddenly in love, the other suddenly lonely. From this constellation, director Jean-Baptiste Durand develops a reflection on friendship, being alone, falling in love and masculinity in his feature debut, which is mainly driven by the two central performances of the protagonists.
15-year-old Nancy (Céleste Brunnquell) has no desire to be with her family. But then she sees her chance as hers “The Second Key” for the family vacation home of her wealthy friend Jade (Lily Aubry). The beginning of an adventurous summer – which, however, turns out completely differently than planned when Jade’s older brother Stéphane (Quentin Dolmaire) suddenly shows up in the actually vacant villa…
Feature debutants Jeanne Aslan and Paul Saintillan have essentially thrown summer itself onto the screen with ‘The Second Key’ – a cinematic adventure that is as poetic as it is freedom-loving and also damn funny, the likes of which can only be seen on a major French holiday (or … at the MyFrenchFilmFestival).
In the extraordinary documentation “Polaris” We accompany the professional sailor Hayat, who crosses the North Pole all alone on her ship – perhaps because she wants to escape her family’s history in France. But her special view on things changes when her younger sister gives birth to a little girl at home…
The main character provides spectacular and poetic images of her Arctic sailing trip – but ‘Polaris’ is still anything but a pure sports or travel documentary. Instead, it delves deeply into the relationship between the two very different sisters, who could hardly be further apart, both literally and figuratively.
A young Frenchman searches for the origins of his family and comes across… “Dogs and Italians banned” So to his grandfather’s story: At the beginning of the 20th century, he left his native village of Ughettera in northern Italy to build a new life for himself and his family after the difficult crossing of the Alps in France…
Alain Ughetto and his team created incredibly detailed puppets and sets for the film, but didn’t use them for a fast-paced family comedy, but rather an empathetic journey into their own past.
Of the nine films in the international competition, four have already been officially released or announced as theatrical releases or as VoD offerings in Germany – namely the seductive disco film “The Animal in the Jungle”, the striptease drama “Befreite Lust”, the coming-of- age comedy ‘Super Bourrés’ and the queer reformed drama ‘Le Paradis’. These films are therefore not part of the festival offering for Germany, but can of course still be viewed via the usual streaming platforms (or in the case of “Le Paradis” in the cinema from February 29, 2024).