Grant helps host French film festival

Dr. Olivier Le Blond, associate professor of French at the University of North Georgia (UNG), received a grant to support his efforts to showcase global issues in a film festival on UNG's Dahlonega and Gainesville campuses.

The Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival will be held from April 18-26 in the Hoag Auditorium on the Dahlonega Campus and Nesbitt 3110A on the Gainesville Campus. A total of five films will be presented between the two locations, and a sixth will be streamed online.

UNG received $2,500 in grant money from the Face Foundation to organize the film festival. The festival is also supported by UNG's Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) office and UNG's French Club, Le Blond said. The grant will fund the screening rights of eight films, which Le Blond said were chosen very specifically. Issues highlighted in the films include women's rights, LGBTQ, and racial issues.

"Not just gender issues, but also race, all the issues that are taking the forefront of what is being discussed currently when it comes to social justice," Le Blond said. 

Le Blond said it is important to highlight cultural aspects through film, and another benefit of the six films could be empathy.

"Whether it's a fictional character or a person in a documentary, there may be ways of identifying with characters or people on some level," Le Blond said. "Some of those topics are universal."

Films scheduled for the festival include:

Dahlonega

April 19: "Slalom," 5 p.m.

April 26: "Un Film Dramatique," 5 p.m.

Gainesville

April 18: "Little Girl," 5 p.m.

April 20: "Story of a Three Day Pass," 5 p.m.

April 25: "Night of the Kings," 5 p.m.

Online

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Cinémathèque means film library, and it is part of a larger program that includes the grant for the festival, but also a film club open to all French professors and universities across the country with virtual screenings of French movies, Le Blond said.

"As someone who teaches a language, you need to go beyond the classroom and if you're interested in languages, you need to learn about the culture," Le Blond said.

All movies have subtitles and trailers are available, Le Blond said.