Weekend French Film Festival
Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th April 2026
A weekend of French films directed exclusively by women
Introduced by Dr Fiona Handyside, Professor of Film Studies at Exeter University
France has a dynamic and exciting tradition of female directors working across the art-house and the popular. Their films offer a great range of period, theme and genre, reflected in our choices for our weekend Film Festival. Indeed, there are more female directors working in France than in any other film industry in the world. As a rough rule of thumb one third of French films are directed by a woman, compared to around only 10-15 percent of Hollywood films. In 2008 all five films nominated for the Best First Film César were directed or co-directed by a woman. We hope you will enjoy our selection of great films, that just happen to be directed, and in many cases also written, exclusively by women.
Saturday 1th April 2026 |
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| 10.30am | Introduction by Professor Fiona Handyside | ||
| 11.30am | Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
Cleo from 5 to 7 |
Agnés Varda | 1hr 45mins |
| 3pm | Parlez Moi de la Pluie (2008)
Let’s Talk About The Rain |
Agnés Jaoui | 1h 50mins |
| 7pm | Gazon Maudit (1995)
French Twist |
Josiane Balasko | 1h 44mins |
| Sunday 12th April 2026 | |||
| Time | Title | Directed By | Run time |
| 11am | Antoinette dans le Cévennes (2022)
My Donkey, My Lover & I |
Carole Vignal | 1h 36mins |
| 3pm | Diabolo Menthe (1977)
Peppermint Soda |
Diane Kurys | 1h 37mins |
| 7pm | L’Avenir (2014)
Things To Come |
Maria Hansen-Løve | 1h 53mins |
Films are shown in Studio One at The Malvern Theatres and all films have English subtitles.