The American French Film Festival 2022 on fire!
Oct
4
2022
It stumbled, but prevailed, through COVID. It’s been on line, it had a date change (it used to happen in April). Then it got a name change that no one overly loves. But nothing will put us off. We’re going to join the 26th annual joyous gathering of French-movie-loving film geeks in the generous lobby ...
Bienvenue, COLCOA 2019!
Sep
20
2019
Les Miserables (2019) director Ladj Ly Our yearly reminder that life is worth living — because the French are still making movies — arrives Monday, Sept 23, 2019. That’s when the 22nd annual COLCOA French Film Festival pops the cork not on Prosecco, not on Cava nor sparkling wine, but real Champagne. It happens at ...
La vache! French moooo-vies with cows @ COLCOA
Fans of French movies are familiar with seeing scenes from the nation’s rural paysage, the countryside to which Parisians repair for weekends and summer holidays. The usual trope is the stone country-home where, seated ’round big outdoor tables, city dwellers slurp soupe, quaff wine, and discuss in non sequitors the meaning of it all. There they ...
Brush up your franglais! It’s time for COLCOA.
Apr
20
2018
Not Coca-Cola©, but COLCOA, the annual French film festival in Hollywood that joins the City of Lights and the City of Angels at the cinematic-hip. 2018 COLCOA French Film Festival launches next Monday evening at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, and features 86 films, television series, digital series and VR programs. An exclusive ...
Humor, love of life power Claude Lelouch’s ‘Chacun Sa Vie’
Apr
30
2017
I just loved the opening-night feature film of COLCOA, the French film festival in Los Angeles. Everyone’s Life, blessed by a French title, Chacun sa vie had its north American premiere with its master-director, Claude Lelouch, in the house. It’s a great title — and so apt isn’t it? Because in the end (asserts Lelouch, the ...
Worldly actress Jacqueline Bisset honored at COLCOA
Apr
30
2017
A gorgeous crystal vase and heartfelt congratulations to the British-born actress Jacqueline Bisset, bilingual, bicultural, and in every way a screen stunner. Bisset was honored with the 2017 Prix Alliance Française presented by Christophe Lemoine Consul General of France in Los Angeles on April 27, 2017. The ceremony took place at the annual COLCOA French film ...
Film maestro Claude Lelouch’s visual symphony, “Un + Une”
Director Claude Lelouch (far right) with his A-list cast of “Un + Une” — Jean Dujardin, Christophe Lambert, Elsa Zylberstein. The director of some fifty films brought his latest to COLCOA French film festival’s big screen last night. The film explores Lelouch’s central theme and his career concern: to plummet the love that exists between ...
French music hall revisited with “Monsieur Chocolat” @ COLCOA
“Monsieur Chocolat,” a biopic set in the fin-de-siècle world of French circus and music hall opened the 20th anniversary edition of COLCOA French Film Festival in Los Angeles last night, bringing exotica and rich visual zing to the big screen of the Director’s Guild of America. The film’s talented director Roschy Zem and its star, ...
French swashbuckling powers “On Guard” @ COLCOA Classics
Apr
18
2016
The yummy goodies that add piquancy to the jam-packed opening-night reception of COLCOA, Los Angeles’s premier French film festival celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016, carry forth to a rich movie-menu of new releases. There’s even an ‘evergreen’ mini-festival, COLCOA Classics which provides a second look at great movies reprised on the big screen. Romance ...
Delon and Gabin crime story a highlight of COLCOA Classics
Brenda Blethyn’s performance as a devoted parole officer was the best thing about Two Men in Town, but it wasn’t enough to bring the drama fully to life. An adaptation of a 1973 French film that transplanted the action from Montpellier to the U.S.-Mexican border, the recent release also starred Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel. ...