The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year and television personality and certified francofile Julia Zemiro has appointed as its innaugural patron. Zemiro jokes that the festival doesn’t really need a patron because it’s been so successful.

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“The festival has been so incredibly successful on its own. It’s amazing how many people turn up to watch French Fims, its huge!” Zemiro said. “It’s the biggest foreign language film festival in Australia and people love French films.”

While the French film industry is incredibly successful Zemiro notes that you have to put its success in content.

“You’ve got to remember that they make over a hundred films a year in France, here is Australia we make maybe ten films a year, and it’s impossible for all ten of those films to be amazing… What I love about French films is they make films about everyday things. They’re about relationships and people,” Zemiro said. “We still like to see everyday stories told about us, not fantasies.”

Zemiro notes that this year’s festival is a great time for people who are not familiar with French film to leap in with a retrospective of the great filmmaker Francois Truffaunt included in the program.

Alongside her involvement in the film festival the start of 2014 is proving to be a busy time for Zemiro, she’s heading to Perth for the live version of ‘Rockwiz’ and then heading off for her annual trip to Eurovision for SBSTV. Zimero said one of the most interesting things about this year’s Eurovision is the purpose build stadium.

“It’s not a stadium; it’s not a sports arena. It’s some huge warehouse concrete building where they used to build boats that they’ve converted. It’s going to be stylish and architecturally interesting, which is what you expect from the Danes,” Zemiro said. “Some people think it might be too classy for Eurovision!”

The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival will be in Perth from March 18 to April 6 playing at Luna Palace Cinemas. For all the details head to
www.affrenchfilmfestival.org

Graeme Watson