The 30th edition of the American French Film Festival (TAFFF) opens today (November 3) in Los Angeles, as a launchpad for French films into the US market.
A wide-ranging programme includes 19 Cannes titles such as Minotaur and Palme d’Or winner Fjord, alongside North American or US premieres, films still seeking distribution, documentaries, animation and television series.
“We are at the crossroads of the business,” says TAFFF executive producer and artistic director François Truffart.
Organised by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a partnership between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Motion Picture Association (MPA), SACEM and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), TAFFF takes place at the DGA Theater Complex. Around 75% of attendees are industry professionals, with SAG-AFTRA members invited for the first time this year.
The programme is no longer limited to French nationality and language. Truffart points to France’s expanding role in international co-productions, such as Minotaur, as well as animated titles screening at TAFFF, including Phuong Mai Nguyen’s In Waves, which is opening the festival, Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy and Dimitri Planchon and Jean-Paul Guigue’s Blaise.
Hollywood showcase
TAFFF’s Los Angeles location has become increasingly valuable as distributors grapple with shrinking theatrical marketing budgets.
Distributors use the festival to promote acquisitions, while sales agents showcase titles seeking US buyers. Samuel Goldwyn Films is bringing Antonin Baudry’s two-part De Gaulle; Mubi has Minotaur and Coward, while Netflix’s In Waves screens ahead of an awards-qualifying December theatrical run.
“French cinema has always been a niche theatrical market here,” says Truffart. “We are an oasis in the desert. There really isn’t another place to promote French films in Los Angeles in this way.”
The festival’s proximity to the American Film Market, running November 10-15, is “a great coincidence”, says Truffart, offering buyers another opportunity to catch films.
Industry networking will extend beyond screenings. A French delegation will visit Universal Pictures for a Focus Features presentation and meetings with chairman Peter Kujawski and president of production and acquisitions Kiska Higgs. A separate DGA panel will explore horror as a route into filmmaking, from financing to career development.
Further discussions, organised with the CNC, will tackle AI’s impact on creativity and strategies for reaching younger US audiences with French films, while a WGA-led panel will bring together French screenwriters to explore how characters resist institutional pressures and the differences between French and US approaches to storytelling.
“People acknowledge that the festival has become a springboard for the Oscars,” says TAFFF’s deputy director Anouchka van Riel. Five titles are their countries’ submissions for the 2027 international featureOscar: Minotaur (France), Coward (Belgium), Fjord (Romania), All Of A Sudden (Japan) and Strawberries (Morocco).
For the first time, TAFFF’s nine awards, spanning film, series, shorts and documentary, will be announced in Los Angeles at the November 8 closing ceremony rather than subsequently in Paris.
Building audiences
One of TAFFF’s major goals is to build the next generation of French cinema audiences. The festival will host 3,000 students from 60 Los Angeles schools for free screenings and Q&As, with In Waves central to its educational programme. University outreach and social media are also helping broaden its reach.
“We want French cinema to be considered something new and interesting, bringing a point of view on hot topics that are universal and can attract younger generations,” says Truffart.
French television is another growth area. TAFFF began programming series around 15 years ago, and Truffart says audience interest now approaches that for films.
For Émilie Anthonis, president and managing director of MPA EMEA, the festival underscores the enduring ties between the French and US film industries.
“TAFFF is a wonderful testament to the power of collaboration across our creative industries,” she says. “At its heart, the festival celebrates something that has always united France and the United States: a profound love of cinema, a shared passion for storytelling and a belief in the extraordinary power of film to connect people and cultures across borders.”
For van Riel, it is the face-to-face encounters that remain the festival’s greatest asset.
“You can stream a film anywhere,” she says. “What is absolutely unique to a festival is the exchange.”
TAFFF is taking place from November 3-6 in Los Angeles.
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