AF de Détroit Film Festival

Alliance Française de Détroit’s second annual Detroit French Film Festival held November 7 and 8 was a success, and we are grateful for the attendance and support! Our audience was full of familiar faces, and many new connections, including a French class from Hillsdale College in Michigan! The festival started last year at the AFD offices, but this year, we expanded to a real cinema space and look forward to growing even more next year.

There were two days of excellent films, engaged attendees, and terrific guest speakers (themed with each film, including fencing!) It truly was a wonderful weekend at the Birmingham 8 theater, where we immersed ourselves in French cinema/culture: intrigue, humor, family relationships, scenery and more on the big screen.

Our sold-out opening night showing was the delightful La Venue de L’Avenir and we were honored to have Cedric Ballarin, French Honorary Consul À Détroit give some opening festival remarks, followed by our own Mo Omari, president of the AFD board of directions. We were also excited to see our name in lights on the marquee of the Birmingham 8!

Saturday’s lineup started with a talk by Grantly Franklin, Consul and Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Service Manager for Canada, which was fitting, as the morning film was Au Revoir le Bonheur, set on the Magdalen Islands near Quebec.

Next, we showed Une Affaire D’Honneur (also sold out), before which there was a special fencing demonstration by University of Michigan Fencing club coach Hans Kaiser, and our team was able to practice some fencing too!

And lastly, Saturday’s closing film was Borgo, a prison thriller set on Corsica, introduced by Luc Milanini, originally from Corsica.

All the films were terrific, and we were thrilled to off such a varied and unique line-up to French friends and Francophiles alike, who raved about the films. We look forward to hosting the festival again next year. The festival doubled in attendance this year in the new venue, and we hope to continue to grow.

À la prochaine! Until next time! 📽️