Hollywood heavyweights reject French cinema masterpieces

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SINGAPORE – An aspiring French filmmaker sits down with Hollywood’s top producers of big budget blockbusters to pitch his seemingly eccentric movie ideas. It doesn’t go well. Unbeknownst to them, the scripts he describes have already been created and released to commercial success and critical acclaim, even winning The Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival.

This is the crux of new short films released today by Alliance Française de Singapour, part of the leading global network promoting French language and culture, in support of their efforts to promote French cinema to audiences in Singapore and around the world and grow its popularity.

“We are very excited by this campaign as we feel it conveys French cinema’s depth of scriptwriting in a fresh and humorous way. The intention is not to be, obviously, in competition with Hollywood but to broaden audience’s horizons. We’re eager to see how this film will help to promote French cinema in Singapore and abroad and attract larger, more diverse audiences,” said Anne-Garance Primel, Executive Director, Alliance Française de Singapour.

Promoting French culture

Alliance Française de Singapour will use the assets from this campaign to promote French films and cultural activities in Singapore such as Ciné-Club which hosts weekly screenings of French cinema every Tuesday, Ciné-Plus which presents special screenings of French films and Ciné-Kids that promotes French movies for children. For more details please visit http://alliancefrancaise.org.sg/cultural-events/. The global Alliance Française network may also use the films to promote additional activities through its 812 establishments in 135 countries.

Cinema is at the core of Alliance Française de Singapour’s cultural programming and in addition to the programs mentioned above Alliance Française de Singapour organises three major film festivals per year: Francophonie Festival in March, French Animation Film Festival in May and French Film Festival in November. In 2016 Alliance Française de Singapour hosted 212 screenings and welcomed more than 12,000 moviegoers in their theatre.