The French Film Festival - Richmond, VA is an annual film festival held in Richmond, Virginia, focused on recently produced French-language films. It was created in 1993 by Drs. Peter and Françoise Kirkpatrick, professors of French literature, culture and film studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Richmond, respectively. It is billed as the largest festival of French film in the United States. Since then, and as of 2015, it has welcomed a delegation totaling more than 380 directors, producers, actors, film scholars, critics, and French government officials. At the 2004 Festival, the Festival's founders and directors, Drs. Peter and Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick, were decorated as "Chevaliers de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", a high honor in the arts in France, and in 2011, the Médaille Beaumarchais by the French Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques. The festival usually takes place the last weekend of March, during which the city is filled with French speakers and aficionados of French cinema. It is held at the historic Byrd Theatre. At the 2014 Festival, there were approximately 22,000 attendees/tickets sold.
Each year, the festival showcases a selection of features, shorts and masterclasses in various sections:
Feature and Short Selections – The main attraction of the festival
*Feature Films Selection– A selection of around 15 US and world premieres of recently produced French features all presented by their directors, screenwriters or starring actors and screened at the Byrd Theatre.
*Classics – A selection of a few award-winning restored French classics, also introduced by their director, cast or technicians.
*Short Films Selection – A selection of around 15 French short films screened at the Byrd Theatre and introduced by their directors and/or main actors.
Master Classes – Each year, the festival organizes several master-classes with distinguished guests from its French delegation, each centered around one central theme as well as the guests's career. All master classes are free and open to the public and either take place at the University of Richmond or at the Byrd Theatre.
Delegation
A large delegation of French directors, actors and producers of feature and short films come to the Festival each year to present their films and also interact with the audience through question-and-answer sessions after each showing.
