American French Film Festival Showcases Rising and Established Filmmakers in 2025 Lineup
The American French Film Festival (TAFFF), buoyed by its role in last year’s awards success of Emilia Perez, returns in 2025 with a diverse program featuring both Hollywood-backed projects and emerging cinematic voices. Running from Tuesday, October 28th through November 3rd, the festival – the world’s largest dedicated to French cinema and television – underscores a longstanding collaboration between the French and U.S. film industries.
Established in 1996 through the Franco-American Cultural Fund, TAFFF celebrates the partnership between the French association SACEM and key U.S. guild organizations including the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, and the Writers Guild of America West. All screenings and events for the 29th annual installment will be held at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles.
The festival’s 2025 edition boasts 70 film and TV titles, opening with Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life, a mystery feature marking Jodie Foster’s first role entirely in the French language. Foster, a two-time Oscar winner fluent in French, was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the screening.
A centerpiece screening featured Richard Linklater’s New Wave, a narrative film chronicling the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic Breathless. This project represents Linklater’s first film shot entirely in French and earned him the Franco-American Cultural Fund Award at a Thursday screening. The film stars Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, alongside French performers Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo.
“It’s right smack in the center of what our DNA is, which is cultural and creative exchanges between France and the United States,” a TAFFF deputy director shared with The Hollywood Reporter regarding New Wave, adding that an American director collaborating with a French cast and crew offers “an amazing mix for what we are seeking: cultures feeding each other through creativity.”
Beyond these high-profile projects, the festival will showcase Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and France’s submission for the international feature Oscar. Other notable screenings include The Richest Woman in the World, starring Isabelle Huppert, and a documentary focused on Brigitte Bardot, alongside a selection of TV series and short films.
TAFFF’s programming extends beyond screenings with a DGA-sponsored filmmaker panel featuring Linklater, Jason Reitman (Saturday Night), and recent Oscar winner Sean Baker (Anora). The conversation will be moderated by Taylor Hackford, former DGA president and Oscar-nominated director of Ray.
“The subject is the vitality of the feature film and why we must fight to rejuvenate the experience of going into the cinema and seeing a film on the big screen,” Hackford explained. “These are people who are working directors, facing an existential crisis in our business. To have that group exchanging with their equals in France is really what the Franco-American Cultural Fund is all about.”
While attracting established names, TAFFF prioritizes introducing new filmmaking talent to the American market. This year marks the debut of the “New Horizons” program, spotlighting work from both rising and seasoned French filmmakers with a unique cinematic vision. Titles include Valérie Donzelli’s At Work, which won best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, and Claire Denis’ The Fence, starring Tom Blyth and Mia McKenna-Bruce.
“What’s important is to show that the voice of French artists is not a monolith, and that voice is diverse,” emphasized a TAFFF official. “The majority of the audience – and I’m not only speaking general audience but also industry people – might think of France right now as Emily in Paris. Well, guess what? We are not only the Eiffel Tower.”
Illustrating this point, the festival will feature Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister, a film focusing on a lesbian teen navigating life within a Muslim family. The film garnered the Queer Palm prize and a best actress award for Nadia Melliti at Cannes, and Melliti will participate in a post-screening conversation at TAFFF. Another highlighted feature is Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender, starring Vicky Krieps as a woman battling her ex-husband for custody while pursuing a new relationship.
“These are remarkable films from an artistic standpoint,” a festival representative noted, adding that Love Me Tender is currently seeking distribution. “They’re hard films to make because they tell the stories of a gay woman and are not mainstream. It’s two different stories, and they go in two different directions. But this is an example of showing different voices. Festivals are there to champion voices that are unique and different, and that’s what we do at the French Film Festival. It’s so important to the ecosystem.”
TAFFF’s 2025 lineup arrives at a moment of increasing success for French filmmakers in the American market. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, winner of the Palme d’Or in 2023, received five Oscar nominations, including wins for best screenplay. Last year’s genre film The Substance, filmed in France with a predominantly French crew, won the Oscar for makeup. And, of course, Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez led all films at the most recent Academy Awards with 13 nominations, ultimately winning awards for best song and supporting actress Zoe Saldaña.
The festival team particularly celebrates the song win for Emilia Perez, a film screened at TAFFF last year after Netflix co-chief Ted Sarandos agreed to include it in the program. Composers Clément Ducol and Camille performed a special concert following the screening. This impact was a key driver behind the festival’s 2019 decision to shift from a spring to a fall schedule, aligning it with the awards season.
“We are really the place where you have the more most important [group] of AMPAS members,” stated TAFFF executive producer and artistic director Francois Truffart. “You have to be at TAFFF to be part of the campaign. We definitely played a role in the 13 nominations for Emilia Perez and the [best song] win.”
Looking ahead, TAFFF continues to expand its reach. For those unable to attend in person, the festival offers over 1,000 film and series titles for rental through its online library. Free screenings are also offered to local high school students, including a presentation of New Wave. As streaming services increase access to international cinema, organizers hope to further cultivate interest in French projects.
“We know that we’re still a niche market, like any other foreign industry, so it’s always a challenge,” Truffart concluded. “The good news is that people get used to watching [streaming] films with subtitles, even if you have the dubbed version. People say, ‘It’s very easy now that the market is open,’ because you have all the streamers that can provide a lot of foreign films, in particular Netflix. But actually, it’s true.”