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Founded in 1993, the French Film Festival located in Richmond, Virginia is an American-led initiative to: (1) promote French language cinema and culture in the United States and (2) create a tradition of Franco-American corporate and cultural partnerships.

Richmond, the capital of the state of Virginia, has a population of just over one million inhabitants. A political center and administrative city, Richmond is home to one of the 13 U.S. Federal Reserve Banks, in addition to numerous multinational corporations such as Philip Morris USA, Alcoa and DuPont. The city boasts several universities, the largest being Virginia Commonwealth University, with a student body now exceeding 32,000 students and the University of Richmond. Only 110 miles from Washington, D.C., and less than an hour away by plane from New York, Richmond is at the crossroads of the East Coast.

Creation
Created in 1993 by Drs. Peter and Françoise Kirkpatrick, professors of French literature and culture at VCU and UR respectively, to gauge the true interest in the latest French film productions largely unknown to audiences in an average-sized American city, the first festival proved the existence of a demand that the American distribution companies were failing to satisfy. Until then, the public in the best case only had access to French classics.

First concept
In 1994, the festival organizers adopted a new mission. Future festivals would strive to expose the community to the multitude of French language works overlooked and not released by American distributors. The festival would bring a range of films that remain unavailable to American audiences. The selected films included those that did not yet have American distribution. Audience enthusiasm and appreciation continued to mount.

Each film was accompanied by a teleconference with its director, producer or a starring actor, enabling audience members to ask questions to professionals in the French cinematic industry.

The Byrd Theater
The vivid reactions of a growing attendance encouraged organizers to move the festival to a larger location — from a VCU cinema to the magnificent Byrd Theatre. Built during the golden age of movies, the Byrd has a seating capacity of 1,400 and still retains its historical atmosphere. It is centrally located and is the focal point of a thriving artistic and commercial neighborhood. The expansion and success of the festival drew local sponsors and resulted in the creation of an official reception.

The guests
Since the fourth festival in 1996, the festival has invited directors and actors to Richmond, in lieu of teleconferences, to present their films and conduct question-and-answer sessions after each showing. The festival has welcomed a complete delegation of more than 160 actors, directors, producers, film scholars and critics to date.

The festival and academics
Since 1993, local universities, notably VCU and the University of Richmond, have been giving full-credit academic courses in French Cinema in direct response to the festival’s presence. Other regional universities that offer courses in cinema, such as the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and William and Mary in Williamsburg, have been using the festival as an integral part of their programs to illustrate the French influence on global cinema today. In addition, VCU has offered internships for students interested in obtaining experience in organization of cultural events, as well as translation, film subtitling, and photography and film.

In a partnership with Fémis, film school in Paris, the festival offers VCU and UR film production students the opportunity to shoot 35mm shorts and the festival is the U.S. repository of English versions of Fémis master theses and short films.

Broadening of the festival
In 2000, with the French Film Festival well established and widely respected, the festival organizers began to explore other avenues in which to promote French cinema continuously throughout the year.

• Products

The French Film Festival started marketing products linked to the program’s films: the film’s script and novels or short stories on which films were based, as well as festival t-shirts and accessories.

• The PBS French Film Series: Venturing into television …

Partnered with Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, the French Film Festival began a trial French Film series, broadcast on WCVE Richmond PBS and WHTJ Charlottesville PBS in 2001. The trial was an amazing success, especially in the academic sphere where the films could be used as a teaching material, and thus the monthly series continued. Consequently, the French Film Festival has acquired the status of buyer and distributor of French films.

The honors of the founders
In recent years the International Festival of Film in Cannes, as well as many other noteworthy festivals have accredited the French Film Festival. Drs. Peter and Françoise Kirkpatrick were officially honored at the 12th Festival in 2004 by the President of VCU, Dr. Eugene Trani, and by the French ambassador in the United States, Jean-David Levitte.

They were decorated as “Chevaliers de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,” France’s highest arts honor in the French Legion of Honor. They have thereby joined the eminent artists and writers that throughout history have been thanked by the French president for making significant contributions to advancing the arts in France and the world.

Total participation in 2008 was more than 21,000 entries for the 25 films. Around 800 people attended the reception and 125 guests were seated at the Gala Dinner. The festival welcomes a delegation of 30-35 French directors, actors and producers each year.

These achievements are a direct result of the growing success and popularity of the French Film Festival. But the festival itself has become a model for student and cultural organizations throughout the country seeking to emulate the event.

Since 2003, the French Film Festival has been recognized by the French government as the largest French film festival in the U.S.

The French Film Festival has always been one of the premier cultural events in the community. With each passing year it has become increasingly recognized and anticipated by the city of Richmond, the state of Virginia, eastern states such as Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware and Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., as well as more distant states, such as Texas, Oregon and Washington state. Some participants even come from abroad to meet the prominent persons that are so difficult to meet in France.

The program
The program of the French Film Festival is demanding and aims at being representative of the diversity of French films. The films that are selected are recent releases and usually American premieres — sometimes world premieres. The program mainly includes feature films and short films that have been awarded a prize. Since the program’s first concern is to interest a varied audience, films are of all kinds. Even the children are gratified with one film for children per festival.

The public
Increasing attendance is guaranteed not only by the selection of quality, recent films and the public dialogues with professionals in the industry — Embassy events are translated simultaneously from French to English or vice versa — but also by the Festival’s peripheral activities, which take place monthly or weekly throughout the year.

(1) First timers — people of all ages who discover the French cinema, sometimes even the foreign cinema at the Festival
(2) Newly initiated, mainly those who have attended previous Festivals
(3) Amateurs who enjoy films of quality and that regret the poor distribution of French films in the U.S.
(4) People who knew French cinema under the New Wave and that discover its modern films

The guests
The French directors and actors that come each year are the key to the festival’s success. Even in France, there’s not another venue where the public can meet the stars like here in Richmond. For the guests, it is an opportunity to observe first-hand the crowd’s reaction to their films and to hear an unadulterated vision of their work. Indeed, as opposed to other festivals that are generally meant for cinéphiles, this one is aimed at the “curiosity of an unspecialized audience” (Claude Miller, director). Many comment that the experience is beneficial professionally for them, and they are delighted to discover the enthusiasm, interest, and the artistic and cultural affinities of their newfound American following. Several feature- and short film project collaborations in France are initiated at the festival between members of the delegation.

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