Our annual festival of new work by rising voices from around the Francophone world returns to the AFS Cinema on Sunday, November 17–Wednesday, November 20 with special guests in attendance. A partnership between AFS, the Premiers Plans Festival of Angers, France (Austin’s French sister city), Unifrance (including its Young French Cinema program), and Cultural Services of the French Embassy.
Series passes are available for New French Cinema Week at a 20% off discount from the list price of individual tickets. Passes include admission into all six screenings and the opening-night reception. Purchase your pass here.
The New French Cinema Week opening reception will take place in AFS Cinema lobby on November 17 from 4 to 5:30 PM, and will include with complimentary light bites. The reception is open to those attending the opening night films, AMA GLORIA and THROUGH THE NIGHT, and AFS members.
AMA GLORIA
Sunday, November 17, 2 PM
A quiet cinematic revelation about a six-year-old Parisian girl and her Cape Verdean nanny who must return to her home country to care for her own children. Young Louise Mauroy-Panzani’s astounding performance in this film earned her a Lumiére nomination. A selection of the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Critics’ Week.
This film is part of Young French Cinema, a program of Unifrance and Villa Albertine.
THROUGH THE NIGHT
Sunday, November 17, 5:30 PM
An overnight 911 operator answers a mysterious call, setting the stage for writer/director Delphine Girard’s modern take on the RASHOMON story. THROUGH THE NIGHT sanguinely explores the reality of the aftermath of a violent crime, for the survivors and perpetrators. Winner of an audience award at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.
LITTLE GIRL BLUE
Monday, November 18, 7:30 PM
In her inventive hybrid documentary, filmmaker Mona Achache takes on an inherited project: for three generations, the women in her family, all writers, have told their mothers’ stories. Mona’s mother, Carol, has passed away, leaving a trove of letters that offer clues into her unusual upbringing at the center of Paris’ mid-century literary scene. Partnering with Marion Cotillard, Achache artfully weaves a tapestry of family and cultural histories in a film that is ultimately about the survival of female artists, against the odds.
This film is part of Young French Cinema, a program of Unifrance and Villa Albertine.
LA PAMPA
Tuesday, November 19, 8 PM
Willy and Jojo are childhood friends who never leave each other’s side. Training at the motocross track is their way to beat boredom. One evening, Willy discovers Jojo’s secret.
DAHOMEY
Wednesday, November 20, 6 PM
Mati Diop (ATLANTICS) follows the return of 26 sacred artifacts plundered by the French in the African kingdom of Dahomey from a museum in Paris to their home in modern-day Benin. Diop imagines the historical, spiritual, cultural, and emotional significance of the return from multiple perspectives, including from the objects themselves.
THE RAPTURE
Wednesday, November 20, 8 PM
Acting phenom (and sometimes director) Hafsia Herzi reliably collaborates with some of the most promising new voices in Francophone cinema, making her a regular in our New French Cinema lineups both in front of and behind the camera. She is at the center of Iris Kaltenbäck’s intense, captivating drama about a midwife whose loneliness causes her to lose control. In addition to Herzi’s next-level performance, Kaltenbäck’s tightly wound tale and skilled direction made this film a breakout favorite of last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week.
This film is part of Young French Cinema, a program of Unifrance and Villa Albertine.
Thanks to our series partners
