Iconic French Film Festival hosted in South West for the first time

Film lovers enjoyed a treat with some world class French films hosted at Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre for the first time last week. The Alliance Francaise Film Festival started on Thursday featuring seven French films - six of them enjoying their Australian premiere as part of the four-day festival. Alliance Francaise president Di Ingelse said French films were not the only highlight of the festival. “Education and culture are the main focuses of the festival,” she said. “We really hope that people will support the initiative so that we can do it again next year.” The festival is now in its 35th year and is the biggest of its kind outside of France and kicked off in Bunbury with the screening of The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan. BREC executive director Fiona de Garis said she was excited to see the iconic festival grace South West audiences. “There’s just a real buzz in the community and we’ve been hearing how excited they are about it,” she said. Alliance Francaise general manger Thomas Feldstein said he expected the festival would be back again. “We think that people here deserve also to benefit from French culture and cinema,” he said. “It’s important for us to connect with people, not only in Perth Metro, but also in the South West. ‘I don’t just hope (it’ll be back), it’s on the list.”