Entertainment
26 April, 2025
Slice of Cannes
A TOUCH of French flair returns to Cairns when the 14th French Film Festival showing eight cinematic gems and stories of love, drama and laughter to the Event Cinemas screen this May.
Once again, the Alliance Française de Cairns is bringing the best of French cinema to Cairns with a catalogue of eight carefully curated films including a historical drama in ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, a dark comedy in ‘How to Make a Killing’ and a family-friendly documentary in ‘Bolero’ from May 9-11.
All the movies will be screened at the Event Cinemas Cairns Central for the weekend only with the opening night on May 9 including hors d’oeuvres and a free drink, raffles for prizes up to $1000 and the screening of the popular The Count of Monte Cristo, plus a special screening of Bolero earlier at 12.30pm for the school kids.
“I think this year’s selection is even better than last year’s,” said Allianće Française de Cairns treasurer William Van Vankel.
“This year we went through 32 films and we picked eight but we had to choose wisely because we wanted drama, comedy, a PG film.
“For the PG movie this year we decided to go with Bolero about the ice skaters Torvill and Dean – they’ve won world championships – and they only danced to boleros and, although it’s a documentary, we think lots of kids, especially kids who do dance, will be able to relate.”
“For the opening night we will have the collaboration of our mains sponsors Preston Fresh Seafood. They’ll prepare some food, we’ll have some drinks and then we’ll present The Count of Monte Cristo which has been a box office success in France, and it will be a great way to start the weekend,” said the association’s secretary Natacha Amora.
Ms Amora said this was an opportunity for cinephiles to explore great cinema outside of Hollywood.
“French cinema speaks for itself,” she said.
“Most of these movies will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival which is one of the main film festivals in the world, so there are a lot of good reasons to come to the festival.”
To buy tickets or a festival pass, visit https://bit.ly/3YHBkjU
