The screenings, Q&As, masterclasses, and other events on this website are organized by the Princeton Film Festival (PFF), a recognized organization of Princeton University’s Graduate School. It was created in September 2023 with the aim of both celebrating the most compelling cinematic works related to French-speaking countries around the world and offering a space for productive conversations.

The second edition of the Princeton French Film Festival that will take place between April 12 and 26, 2024. Organized in collaboration with Albertine Cinémathèque Face Foundation, this festival includes 11 movies by emerging and award-winning filmmakers, 4 Q&A sessions, 2 masterclasses, and a book discussion.

The films will be screened on Princeton University’s campus, at the Princeton Public Library, and at the Princeton Garden Theater in their original language(s) and with English subtitles. All rooms are wheelchair-friendly.

Free and open to everyone upon registration.

April 12, 2024

The Braid (La Tresse)
7:30 Pm: Opening Night - Book Adaptation Pick At Princeton Public Library
Director: Laetitia Colombani.
A Free Book Discussion On Laetitia Colombani’s Adapted Bestseller The Braid Will Take Place In English

Adapted from her own powerful international best-selling novel read by more than 5 million people, Laetitia Colombani‘s feature is a soul-stirring tale of the intertwined fates of three courageous women, spanning cultures, backgrounds, and borders. Three women, three continents, three destinies… They’ve never met but are bound by a thread that is intimate and quite unique. Cast includes Kim Raver of Grey’s Anatomy.

April 13, 2024

11:00 Am: Animation & Family Friendly Pick at Princeton Public Library
Directors: Amandine Fredon, Benjamin Massoubre.
Somewhere between Paris’ famous neighborhoods Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny lean over a large white sheet of paper and bring to life a mischievous and endearing boy, Le Petit Nicolas. From schoolyard games and fights to summer camp prank and camaraderie, Nicolas lives a merry and enriching childhood. As the adventures of Nicolas and his friends unfold, the boy makes his way into his creators’ workshop and light-heartedly questions them. Sempé and Goscinny will recount the story of their friendship, career, and reveal a childhood filled with hopes and dreams.

7:00 PM: Classic Pick at Betts Auditorium, School Of Architecture
Director: Ousmane Sembene.
In this classic of world cinema, Ousmane Sembène, “the father of African cinema”, follows Diouana (M’Bissine Thérèse Diop), a Senegalese woman who is eager to find a better life abroad. She takes a job as a governess for a French family, but finds her duties reduced to those of a maid after the family moves from Dakar to the south of France. In her new country, Diouana is constantly made aware of her race and mistreated by her employers. Her hope for better times turns to disillusionment.

April 14, 2024

7:00 PM: Comedy Pick at Mc Cosh Hall 10
Director: Nathan Ambrosioni.
French, 81 minutes
In this lovely comedy-drama, Toni (Camille Cottin, Call My Agent) is raising her five children alone. A full-time job. She also sings at bars and had a hit single 20 years ago. Today, as her two eldest prepare to go to college, Toni wonders: what will she do when all of her offspring have left home?

April 16, 2024

7:30 PM: Legal Drama Pick - 21 Awards & 44 Nominations Worldwide At Mc Cosh Hall 1
Director: Alice Diop.
Rama, a literature professor and novelist, travels from Paris to Saint-Omer to observe the trial of Laurence Coly and write about the case. Coly is a student and Senegalese immigrant accused of leaving her 15-month-old daughter on a beach to be swept away by the tide in Berck. Rama, who is four-months pregnant and, like Coly, is in a mixed-race relationship and has a complex relationship with her own Senegalese immigrant mother, feels a personal connection to Coly. She plans to write a modern day retelling of the Greek Medea myth about the case.

April 17, 2024

12:00 to 1:30 PM: Masterclass at East Pyne 010
Led by Richard Brody Film critic for The New Yorker
Topics will include: To what extent does the history of French cinema still feel contemporary and necessary? What aspects of its current-day productions extend that history? Why does the French cinema (whether its realities or its myths) continue to inspire filmmakers and critics internationally? And, for that matter, what is French about the French cinema?

A Princeton alumnus (class of 1980), Richard Brody began writing for The New Yorker in 1999 and has contributed articles about the directors Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Wes Anderson. Since 2005, he has been the movie-listings editor at the magazine; he writes film reviews and a blog about movies. He is the author of the book Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard and is at work on a book about the lasting influence of the French New Wave.

7:00 PM: Lgbt and Princeton Garden Theater Pick at Princeton Garden Theater
Director: Ira Sachs.
As the shooting for his latest production wraps up, director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) celebrates in the company of his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw), the film crew, and their guests. Among the latter, is Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a young woman who invites Tomas to dance. Soon, the two begin a passionate affair, one that would not just put strain on the relationship between Tomas and Martin, but also resonate through the wider circles inhabited by the three main characters. Personal matters interrupt their professional lives, friends and family provide opinions - warranted or not - and the ménage à trois arrangement is put under further pressure as complications arise.

April 20, 2024

11:00 AM: Environment & Family Friendly Pick At Princeton Public Library
Director: Sebastien Gagne.
After his father faces financial struggles, twelve-year-old Max is forced to shut down the pawn shop he operates from his garage and move to a small country town. When Max discovers the world of small-scale farming, the young entrepreneur rallies the help of his cousin Charles, along with local youtuber Alice, to start an egg farming business in Charles’s old decaying barn. The animal-friendly Coco Farm quickly becomes a major hit, but the three partners soon find themselves facing the harsh realities of an industry controlled by mega-sized agribusinesses.

April 21, 2024

7:00 PM: Fantasy Pick - Winner Of 5 Cesar Awards In 2024 At Mc Cosh Hall 10
Director: Thomas Cailley.
In a world hit by a wave of mutations that are gradually transforming some humans into animals, François (Romain Duris) does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, he embarks with Émile (Paul Kircher), their 16-year-old son, on a quest that will change their lives forever.

April 24, 2024

7:30 PM: Music & Dance Pick  at Betts Auditorium, School of Architecture
Director: Mounia Meddour.
Following her multi-award-winning Papicha (2019), director Mounia Meddour comes back with a similarly touching story. Houria (Lyna Khoudri, Gagarine), 25, is a gifted dancer with dreams of joining the Algerian National Ballet. To make ends meet, she works as a cleaning lady during the day and bets in clandestine fights overnight. After winning a final, Houria is assaulted by Ali, who is determined to get his money back. When she wakes up in a hospital, unable to speak and dance. Refusing to abandon her dream, she throws herself, heart and soul, into her physical recovery. At her rehab center, she meets other women damaged by life. Houria resolves to help them transcend their wounded bodies and stand tall - by teaching them how to dance.

April 26, 2024

7:30 PM: Classic Pick - 1988 Cannes Festival’s Palme D’or Nominee at McCosh Hall 10
Director: Claire Denis.
Acclaimed filmmaker Claire Denis drew on her own childhood experiences growing up in colonial French Africa for her multilayered, languorously absorbing feature debut, which explores many of the themes that would recur throughout her work. Returning to the town where she grew up in Cameroon after many years living in France, Aimée (Mireille Perrier) reflects on her relationship with Protée (Isaach De Bankolé) with whom she formed a friendship while not fully grasping the racial divides that governed their worlds.

Date: April 12-26, 2024

Location: Various Venue in Princeton

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