ECU's 2nd Annual French Festival starts February 3rd, 2012

The French American Cultural Exchange has once again given us a grant to host a French Film Festival at ECU, and ECU's own Cultural Activities Committee is pitching in as well.  As a result, Sigma Tau Delta will be hosting ECU's 2nd Annual French Film Festival, featuring free French Films at 4 p.m. on Fridays in February (plus a Valentine's Day screening on Tuesday, February 14th).  This year year we expect to give out over $700 in door prizes in the form of French DVDs, books, posters, Chanel products, and bon-bons, plus a certificate for a night of fine-dining for two at La Baguette Bistro in Oklahoma City (worth over $100).

These are the 5 films we currently plan to screen along with screening dates (we expect all screenings to begin at 4 pm):
Friday, February 3: Paris 
Friday, February 10: Coco Avant Chanel
Tuesday, February 14:  A French Gigolo
Friday, February 17: I’ve Loved You So Long
Friday, February 24: Potiche

We hope you will make the French Film Festival part of your plans in February, 2012!

Friday, February 3: Paris 

Directed by Cédric Klapisch 130 min. Rated R Characters with vastly different backgrounds interact in this ensemble film featuring Juliette Binoche. Whether you’ve been to the City of Light or not, this film will inspire you to book a flight to the French capital right away.

Friday, February 10: Coco Avant Chanel

Directed by Anne Fontaine 110 min. Rated PG-13 Audrey Tautou stars in this biopic about the pre-fame life of Coco Chanel, the world’s greatest fashion designer. Opening in 1893 when 10-year-old Coco is dumped at an orphanage, the drama a few years before Chanel launches her fashion empire.

Tuesday, February 14: A French Gigolo

Directed by Josiane Balasko 107 min. Unrated Confident attractive 50-ish divorcée Judith (Nathalie Baye) runs a homeshopping TV show with her sister, Irène. While Irène dreams of love, Judith prefers to pay for sex. But when the wife of Judith’s preferred escort finds out about her husband’s secret moonlighting activities, trouble ensues. Though consistently funny, this film is seriously committed to exposing sexual double standards.

Friday, February 17: I’ve Loved You So Long

Directed by Philippe Claudel 117 min. Rated PG-13 After completing a 15-year sentence for murdering her young son, a physician (Kristen Scott Thomas) is taken in by a younger sister with children of her own. This emotional drama is the directing debut of Claudel, himself a novelist and professor of literature.

Friday, February 24: Potiche

Directed by François Ozon 103 min. Rated R Potiche (“trophy wife”) tells the story of a submissive housewife who becomes the boss of the family business. Suzanne played by the reigning queen of French film, Catherine Deneuve, breaks free of her coddled life and realizes how political the personal is.