My French Film Festival Expectations

I am looking forward to attending the French Film Festival this weekend.  At first I was not too excited about having to attend the festival for class but as the semester has progressed, I decided that starting next year, I will be taking French at VCU and hopefully taking French classes for the rest of my college career.  I have always wanted to learn another language and French is the only one that really interests me.  Because of this, I asked for my festival pass for my birthday.

This film festival should be a good experience for me because of this and the fact that I am very interested in film, American or foreign.  The first film I plan on seeing is Le Jour des corneilles, an animated film directed by Jean-Christophe Dessaint and starring prominent French actor Jean Reno, whom I have previously seen in American films Godzilla and Leon: the Professional.  After reading an interview conducted with the films screenwriter and director, which explains the symbolism at work in this children's movie, I am interested to actually see the film.

Another film being screened at the festival that I am interested in seeing is Cigarettes et bas nylon.  This film is directed and co-written by Fabrice Cazeneuve and will be presented by Salome Stevenin, one of the movies stars.  Set in World War II, this film concerns camps that were made for French women who married American soldiers.  These camps intended to "Americanize" these women before they moved back to the states with their new husbands.  This sounds like a very interesting piece, presenting a side of the war that I have not yet seen on film or even heard of before.

I plan on attending the festival for the majority of the weekend and these are just two of the films that I would like to see.  Many of the other films also seem like they would interest me and I would also like to see some of the short films as well.  I am glad that this class gave me the opportunity to attend such an event.