Festivals - Colcoa 2018 : A great festival for all

Par Mulder, 09 avril 2018

COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL was founded in 1997 by The Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, and France’s Society of Authors Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM). COLCOA is also supported by l’Association des Auteurs-Réalisateurs-Producteurs (ARP), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles (French Consulate), the CNC, TVFI, and UNIFRANCE.

COLCOA is the acronym of “City of Light, City of Angels,” the original name of an event celebrating relationships between filmmakers from two capital cities of cinema. Since 2015, the festival’s name has officially become COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL.

The festival takes place in April in the prestigious theaters of the Directors Guild of America on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood (3 theaters [600, 160, and 37 seats], a 210 capacity lounge and a 1,500 capacity lobby). COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL is committed to promoting new French films and series in the U.S. and to showcasing in Hollywood the vitality and the diversity of French cinema, television, shorts, digital series, and virtual reality (VR) programs.

The festival has continually evolved to become a showcase of 80 films, with a capacity of more than 27,000 in 2017, an average of 3,000 attendees per day, and an occupancy rate of 91.3%. COLCOA is ranked among the top 5 Film Festivals in Los Angeles, the most comprehensive annual French cultural event in the U.S., and the largest festival dedicated to French cinema and television in the world.

Since 2004, the selection is entirely made of premieres. Several high-profile features presented at COLCOA are World Premieres, International Premieres, North American or U.S. Premieres. The showcase is also known for presenting films several months before their commercial release in the U.S., raising the event’s profile among U.S. distributors who use the event as a platform to launch and promote their film in Hollywood. Its exclusive program has made COLCOA an anticipated date on the industry calendar. Scheduled a few weeks after the Academy Awards® and before the Cannes Film Festival, COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL has become a prestigious event in Los Angeles.

The COLCOA audience is mainly made of film industry professionals (74%), including Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members: directors, writers, distributors, producers, agents, exhibitors, critics and journalists. COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL has developed partnerships with organizations like IFTA, The Cannes Film Festival, the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, Women in Film, The American Cinematheque, SAG, and since 2008, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

In 2008, the festival launched an educational program promoting foreign films among young American audiences in partnership with E.L.M.A (European Languages & Movies in America). More than 100 high schools from various districts of Los Angeles County and beyond (Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Santa Barbara) have participated in the program. In 2018, the festival will welcome its 23,000th student. Since 2015, the COLCOA SHORT FILM selection is broadcasted after the festival on the Cinema on Demand service of TV5 Monde in the United States.

COLCOA regularly welcomes representatives from many distinguished news outlets. Recent festivals attracted media elite and yielded enthusiastic coverage in the New York Times, Variety, TF1, France 2, Public Radio, The Hollywood Reporter, Huffingtonpost.com, Indiewire.com, Dailymail.com, LA Weekly, l’Express, le Parisien, AFP, ScreenDaily. In addition to partnerships with Variety, LA Times, LA Weekly, KPCC-89.3 FM, DailyMotion, TV5 Monde/Spectrum, France Télévisions, and Indiewire. The festival has continuously developed relationships with journalists and critics. Thanks to our accreditation program, which includes press screenings and press sessions with filmmakers and actors, journalists have priority access to screenings and various social events throughout the week. In 2017, 70 journalists, professional bloggers, and critics were accredited. A press book of the festival is available on www.colcoa.org.

More information:
- theatres (600, 150 & 50 seats) at the Directors Guild of America with state-of-the-art digital projection systems. A 210 capacity lounge and a 1,500 capacity lobby.
- 20 cocktails & receptions on site.
- 5 programs (Cinema, Television, Shorts, Web Series and Virtual Reality) of 82 films and series selected, including 45 World, International, North American, and U.S. Premieres
- 120 screenings and panels.
- 27,200 seat capacity.
- 237,000 admissions since the first COLCOA, including 25,000 attendees in 2017.
- 3,000 attendees per day.
- 3,000 high school students.
- 850 attendees for Opening Night.
- 74% of the audience works in the U.S. film industry.
- Over 600,000 visitors and 8.2 million hits on www.colcoa.org between July 2016 and June 2017
- 1,400,000 references on Google in July 2017.
- 26,000 fans on COLCOA’s Social Media in August 2017.
- Daily posts viewed 1,300,000 times between July 2016 and June 2017.

(Source: press release)