French Film Festival Aotearoa 2026
Films premiering in New Zealand at the French Film Festival, touring nationally 27 May-24 June 2026
Featuring Isabelle Huppert in a delicious, tailor-made role, writer/director Thierry Klifa’s film is freely inspired by the captivating real-life scandal surrounding Liliane Bettencourt, the heir to the L’Oreal fortune.
The superb new film from François Ozon is a gripping and elegant adaptation of Albert Camus’ landmark novella about a detached young expat under trial for murder in 1930s French-colonised Algeria.
Grégory Gadebois re-teams with writer/director Éric Besnard (Delicious) for a poignant new adaptation of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Misérables charting the origin story of Jean Valjean, the beloved tale’s iconic protagonist.
Directly following the break-out success of 2025’s The Stolen Painting, acclaimed writer/director Pascal Bonitzer brings his unique perspective and directorial panache to Georges Simenon’s beloved Parisian detective.
The first-ever debut feature selected to open the Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Amélie Bonnin's dramedy stars Juliette Armanet as a rising Parisian chef who's forced to reconnect with her small town upbringing during an unexpected trip home.
Valérie Donzelli stars in the enchanting new comedy of manners from Grégory Magne (Perfumes) as a wealthy heiress whose plan to stage a landmark concert is derailed by the clashing egos of the virtuosos recruited for the performance.
A razor-sharp portrait of power, ambition, and the flexibility of principle, Carlos Abascal Peiró's all-star political comedy follows a young opportunist who plots for his reluctant, retired father to seize the French Prime Ministership.