The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) is returning after last year’s Hollywood strikes hiatus and has unveiled its opening and closing films.
The 28th edition, running October 29 to November 3 in the Director’s Guild of America Theatre Complex, will open with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez and close with The Count of Monte Cristo.
Both films are on the shortlist to be France’s submission for the Best International Feature Film, and could be in the running in other categories.
Jacques Audiard’s genre defying musical drama Emilia Pérez, about love and redemption, will be celebrated at The American French Film Festival with a gala, red-carpet Opening Night screening on October 29, presented in association with Netflix.
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Written and directed by Jacques Audiard, the film world premiered at Cannes, where it earned the four actresses – Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz – a collective “Best Actress” award, and also clinched the jury prize.
The film will be rerun on October 30 at the festival.
Period drama The Count of Monte Cristo, France’s most-expensive film of 2024, will be the Closing Night film on November 3.
Written and directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the film had its world premiere as part of the Official Selection of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Both films will compete for the 2024 TAFFF Awards, which will be awarded during a ceremony held in Paris on November 8.
“We are beyond excited to have Emilia Pérez as our curtain-raiser and The Count of Monte Cristo wrap up the festival this year – two films that feature music in spectacular ways,” said Cécile Rap-Veber, President of The Franco-American Cultural Fund and CEO of SACEM. “
“The American French Film Festival has become the place to shine for French films and series at the beginning of Awards season in Los Angeles. There is so much excitement and awards chatter around these two films,” she said. “We are thrilled to have this mutual support between us and distributors Netflix and Samuel Goldwyn Films, as well as the filmmakers, stars, writers, and composers to celebrate with all of them the cooperation between the American and French film communities and to bring the very best of French filmmaking to Hollywood.”
The American French Film Festival was created and is produced by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaboration between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM) and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW).
The American French Film Festival is also supported by Unifrance, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France’s Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (l’ARP), as well as official sponsors Air Tahiti Nui, ELMA, L’Oréal, Champagne Louis Roederer, and Variety. The American French Film Festival Education Program is supported by ELMA.
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