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French Film Festival Seeks to ‘Put a Face on French’

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French is not just for French speakers, or so Jeanne Hageman hopes to show by example.

The first French Film Festival, presented by the modern languages department, will show six French language films over the next month in Minard 230. The screenings are free and open to the public and funded by a $2,200 grant from the Tournées Film Festival, a program of FACE Foundation in partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

After an unsuccessful attempt to gain a grant in 2013, Hageman tried again this year and succeeded.

The grant came with a few requirements: Six French language films, including one classic, must be shown over one month.

Despite the language barrier for non-French speakers, Hageman is determined to draw in a “broad, general audience,” she said.

“We’ve tried to advertise it as French films with subtitles,” she said, adding, “What we’re really trying to show (audiences) is that that French film industry is modern and very broad and open.”

Selected films include the classic “The King and the Mockingbird” that Hageman said is “told in a very modern way so it raises a lot of modern questions.”

A documentary, “Because I Was a Painter,” showcases the art of concentration camp inmates.

“You think how could you do art in a concentration camp and how could you find beauty in a concentration camp?” Hageman said. “There were cookbooks written; there were novels written in these camps. There was a whole life in these camps. This was not something I was aware of until we looked into the films.”

Five of the festival’s films range from 2010 to 2014 — in other words, fairly recent releases.

The festival’s grant can continue for five years with applications each year, though after five years, the department would have to wait three years to reapply.

“It’s something we’re trying,” Hageman said. “Hopefully by the end of five years, we can keep it up in other ways.”

The film will screen in Minard 230, an “intermediate” size space for a theater, Hageman said, adding that maybe someday the Century Theater can host the event without attendees feeling “lost.”

The first French Film Festival has been a dream of modern languages professor for years, Hageman said, something to “put a face on French in what we do here and hopefully interest some people in continuing in the language.”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Feb. 9 and every Thursday through March 3
WHERE: Minard 230
PRICE: Free and open to the public
MORE INFO: Seating limited to 172

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