MyFrenchFestival reaches out to world

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

My French Festival shows 10 feature films and 10 short films, and viewers can vote for their favorite film in the competition, as in previous years.

The third MyFrenchFilmFestival presents a virtual film festival that allows viewers around the world to experience French cinema via web platforms from the comfort of their own homes. The festival starts today and continues until Feb. 17.

The festival will show 10 feature films and 10 short films, and viewers can vote for their favorite film in the competition, as in previous years. In addition to these films, the festival will also showcase two Canadian films (a short film and a feature) and a French cinema classic, “Crooks in Clover.”

MyFrenchFilmFestival has expanded this year to include a fourth award: the Jury Prize. Led by Michel Hazanavicius, the jury is composed of directors from the four corners of the globe and will honor one of the feature films in the competition. The famed American journalist and blogger Nikki Finke from the website Deadline.com will also be a part of the jury for the Social Networks Prize.

Available in 12 languages, the films presented at the festival will be accessible free of charge on the MyFrenchfilmFestival.com platform in Poland, China, Russia, Turkey and Latin America.

iTunes has joined forces with MyFrenchFilmFestival for this third event, offering the selection of feature films in seven languages in a host of countries around the world. Numerous web platforms are presenting the festival: Dailymotion (worldwide), Curzon on Demand (U.K.), Eurocinema (U.S.), Filmin (Spain), Flimmit (Austria), GoodMovies (Germany), Illico (Quebec), LeKino (Switzerland), Numericable (France), UniversCiné (France and Belgium), Volta (Ireland), Vudu (U.S.), and Yomvi de Canal+ (Spain).

The official selection

This year, the official selection includes 10 feature films and 10 short films in the competition but also three feature films out of competition. Some of the titles include “Une bouteille a la mer” (A Bottle in the Gaza Sea) directed by Thierry Binisti, “Donoma” by Djinn Carrenard, “De bon matin” (Early One Morning) by Jean-Marc Moutout, “Tous au Larzac” (Leader-Sheep) by Christian Rouaud, “Louise Wimmer“ by Cyril Mennegun, “Sport de filles” (Of Women and Horses) by Patricia Mazuy, “Parlez-moi de vous” (On Air) by Pierre Pinaud, “Radiostars” by Romain Levy, “La Désintégration” (The Disintegration) by Philippe Faucon and “La Pirogue” (The Pirogue) by Moussa Toure.MyFrenchFilmFestival.com is an innovative concept with the goal of letting audiences discover French cinema and share films with Internet users all over the world. For its third edition, the festival returns with new foreign languages, new partner platforms and an avant-première for its launch in London.

As an avant-première this year, audiences watched the shorts free-of-charge Dec. 21 within the framework of the Shortest Day, the short-film celebration organized by the CNC, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture (selected within the framework of the 2012 call for innovative cultural digital-service projects).

The website and films (via pay video-on-demand) are accessible in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. The Chinese version can be accessed on the festival’s partner platforms, Youku and Tudou.

Seven prizes will be awarded at the end of the festival (four for the features, three for the shorts): the Jury Prize, the Audience Award, the Numericable Social Networks Prize and the International Press Prize. The winning films will be shown aboard all Air France flights.