"Cinema was born in France," said Dr. Wade Edwards, associate professor of French at Longwood University and organizer of Longwood's French Film Festival. He went on to discuss the Lumiére brothers, Auguste and Louis, who developed the first form of moving pictures. "The Lumiére Brothers used to show [their movies] in cafés until there was a need to build theaters. And I thought a festival could be engaging to students of French, but also to students of film."
The festival was created in part thanks to the French American Cultural Exchange, part of the Cultural Services Department of the French Embassy, and its program, the Tournées Film Festival, a program that seeks to bring modern French cinemas to American colleges and universities. The Tournées Grant offers money and distributes movies in hopes that the schools will soon be able to fund and sustain their own foreign film festivals. "They send emails to French professors all over the country," said Edwards.
The Tournées Grant will only sponsor a school for up to five years. Once Longwood's Tournées Grant expires after its fifth French Film Festival, Edwards hopes to keep the Festival at the university with help from numerous sponsors. "Our partners have helped fund certain parts of the festival and will allow us to be independent of the Tournées program in the near future," Edwards stated. "Our partners include the General Education Film Series, the Department of English and Modern Languages, and the Office of International Affairs. New this year is generous support from the Parents' Council." Edwards also mentioned past support from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Also included in the selection process is organizer of the General Education Film Series Dr. David Shoenthal, associate professor of math, who selects a film in the Festival to be a part of the Gen. Ed. Film Series. Shoenthal said, "When selecting films, one thing [I want students to take from this] is a broader appreciation of film in general, so if they were intimidated before by subtitles or didn't have any interest, they could see something new … but more generally, [the films should] relate to the goals of general education."
In order to organize the festival, Edwards fills out an application for the Tournées Grant, which is due in October. Once approved, films are then chosen from an approved list of 40 films from Tournées. All of the films are recent, and are selected through consultations with the other Longwood French faculty, Dr. McRae Amoss, professor of French, and Professor Heather Edwards, lecturer of French. "[We keep] an eye toward accessibility for American students [when choosing films]," Edwards said. "I look for a variety of styles — animation, comedy, drama and for something that would draw high school French groups to Longwood for the day."
Edwards has also expanded the audience of the festival not only to Longwood students, but to high school students studying French within Prince Edward County as well. According to Edwards, the festival is "a great way to interact with the high school groups in the region, and to encourage the study of French language and culture … We developed a partnership with Prince Edward's schools from the beginning, and slowly added more groups each year. This year, we have seven schools coming from Henrico, Culpeper, Lynchburg, Appomattox and Pittsylvania County."
Lisa Simon, a French teacher at Prince Edward County High School, has been taking her students to Longwood for the festival since its first year. "[It started] from a little room in the library to the Hull Building, and now [it's in] Jarman because so many people are coming," Simon said. "My hope is that kids will understand foreign film and enjoy doing so … I know that they will not understand everything. However, they are at least hearing the language and beginning to associate context clues and putting all of those aspects together to actually 'learn' from what they are watching … not simply just watching."
Edwards has also noted that overall attendance has been growing each year since the festival in 2008 with an attendance of 252. This year, Edwards expects over 500 attendants.
In addition to an increased attendance, Edwards also hopes to increase student participation in helping organize and run the festival. "Delegating is the hardest part for me. It would be great to get more students active in preparing the festival. This year, several students will help guide the high school students when they arrive, and the students at the Design Lab have been great about creating attractive publicity."
But at the end of the day, this festival is for everyone, studying French or otherwise. "It's nice to see different kind of movie that isn't made in Hollywood," Edwards said.
The French Film Festival will run from Feb. 2 to Feb. 14. All films will be subtitled in English and will begin at 7 p.m. All films are free and open to the public. The schedule is as follows:
Feb. 2 in Hull Auditorium: "Coco avant Chanel" ("Coco Before Chanel"). Drama. A biographical film of iconic French fashion designer, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.
Feb. 6 in Hull Auditorium: "Des Dieux et des hommes" ("Of Gods and Men"). Drama. A film based on true events centering on monks and the arrival of terrorists in their impoverished village.
Feb. 8 in Wygal Auditorium: "L'Illusioniste" ("The Illusionist"). Animation. A magician who can never seem to catch a break finds an unlikely companion in an unlikely place. "L'Illusioniste" will also be shown as part of the General Education Film Series.
Feb. 12 in Hull Auditorium: "Potiche" ("Trophy Wife"). Comedy. Depicts a woman's journey as she escapes her loveless marriage and finds her calling.
Feb. 14 in Hull Auditorium: "Joueuse" ("Queen to Play"). Drama. A woman discovers a fascination with a classic game and undergoes a sequence of life-changing events.