Festivals - French Film Festival of Los Angeles 2022 : Jean Jacques Annaud, Notre Dame and the firefighters on the Hollywood red carpet

By Mulder, Los Angeles, DGA Theater, 10 october 2022

Back to the opening night of the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles.

This Monday, October 10, the 26th edition of the French Film Festival of Los Angeles - formerly known as Colcoa - opened. Many actors and directors walked the red carpet of the DGA Theatre (Directors Guild of America theater) on Sunset Boulevard, in Hollywood, to kick off the event.

The star of the evening was obviously Jean Jacques Annaud, who opened the ball with his feature film Notre Dame is burning, in the presence of Jérémie Laheurte. At 32 years old, the actor is representing two films this year, as he is also the lead in Under the crackle of neon, the second film of the duo FGKO (after Voyoucracie) represented that night in LA by Kévin Ossona.

Where Jean Jacques Annaud is, you can often find Ron Perlman, who came to the event, visibly happy to reunite with the director who launched his career with The Name of the Rose. In front of a full house, many personalities took the floor to welcome the audience. Several members of the Franco-American Cultural Fund spoke. Its president, Cécile Rep Vaber, recalled the strength of the cultural friendship between the two countries, while screenwriter Howard A. Rodman paid a sincere and touching tribute to Jean Luc Godard.  

American French Film Festival of Los Angeles : new name, same success

Director Taylor Hackford, also a member of the FCFA and former president of the Directors Guild of America, was in charge of introducing the name change of the festival from COLCOA (City of Lights and City of Angels) to American French Film Festival of Los Angeles.

“It was a wonderful title, a bit long, and needs definition. It was immediately shortened into COLCOA. And all of you who have already been to COLCOA know what it is. But no one else could. After 25 very successful years, we decided as a board, to make a change. Simplicity of message is really important.”

A name that changes but perpetuates the festival's tradition of highlighting the passion for cinema that unites Los Angeles and Paris. And since the opening film this year is Notre Dame is burning, French Consul Julie Duhaut Debos went to mention another link between the two cities: the one among firefighters. She indicated that the robot used in the fire has since been adopted by the Los Angeles Fire Department. This information was then confirmed by the city's deputy fire chief, Wade White, who also gave a speech:

“I remember watching the coverage, back in 2019, of this historic cathedral burning. It broke my heart. Hoping the firefighters would be able to do some good, make headway and be able to stop it. As someone of 36 years of firefighting experience, I could imagine the incredible challenges those firefighters faced. Emotional. Physical. And what goes on your mind as you are going into a building like that, wandering if you can come out or not. In fact I think that firefighters all around the world were kind of holding their breath, watching anxiously to see how this incident would unfold. As it turns out, something happened during that fire which was a catalyst for change with Los Angeles fire department. Our fire chief, at the time, witnessed something you will see in this film, the use of a fire fighting robot. Seeing our parisians counterpart deploy this technology was quite a marvel, it was very inspirational to the LAFD to move forward and see what we could do, as far as to get some technology like that. In October of 2020, the LAFD became the first department in the United States to introduce firefighting robot into his fleet.” 

A precious testimony that gave a particular atmosphere to the screening of the film, which ended with a round of applause from the audience. Afterwhich directors Taylor Hackford and Jean Jacques Annaud returned to the stage to discuss Notre Dame is burning and answer some questions from the audience. As one person mentionned, fire is a sensitive subject for the people of Los Angeles and the surrounding area, who have been victims of fire every summer for several years. French or not, members of the audience were therefore particularly moved, one way or another, by this powerful movie. A feature film that has the particularity of not putting forward any character, but manages to keep the audience on their feet around an event that is now part of history, and of which the cathedral itself, remains the only focal point. 

Numerous films and series are presented throughout the festival which continues, year after year, to maintain and strengthen the Franco-American cinematographic connection with deeply moving moments. Such as the presentation of the comedy Two of a kind to California high school students, in the presence of Bertrand Usclat and Wilfried Meance, happy to answer questions from the young audience. 

The programmation is also punctuated by homage this year to the great Jean Luc Godard (with the screening of The contempt) and Alice Guy Blaché, a true pioneer of cinema. Not to mention a nod to Patrice Leconte and Annie Ernaux, since the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2022 will have projected the film that looks back on her Super 8 years.

Written by Sophie Janinet for Mulderville
Photos : Sophie Janinet