NC State is one of several university campuses chosen to host the Tournees French Film Festival this year, which will run from Thursday to Feb. 11 at Witherspoon Student Cinema and the Hunt Library auditorium. All film screenings are free and open to the public.

The Global Training Initiative, Cultural Exchange Network, Union Activities Board Films Committee and NCSU Libraries are presenting the festival. 

“The films we’ve chosen are all really different because we thought that would appeal to the most people,” said Ilin Misaras, assistant director of the GTI. “With the exception of one, they’re all either classic or contemporary French films.”

Films include “The Connection,” “Two Days One Night” and “Girlhood.”

In order to host the festival at NC State, the GTI had to apply for a $2,200 grant from the FACE Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to support French-American cultural exchange by partnering with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. 

“We wanted this grant because it was based on the arts,” said SKEMA programs assistant Becky Cibulskis. “State has a reputation for its engineering, but we wanted something that would offer a different perspective and make some of our international students feel more at home.”

North Carolina has one of the fastest growing populations of French expatriates in the country, according to Cibulskis. NC State is home to many French students because of its SKEMA business school.

“The partnership we’ve been able to grow between SKEMA and NC State, as well as the collaboration between all the different departments, has been one of the most beneficial parts of the festival for the university,” Cibulskis said.

Several local French groups are sponsoring the event, such as the Alliance Francaise de Raleigh and L’Ecole — French School of Raleigh.

“The $2,200 grant only covers about 75 percent of the cost to show the films,” Misaras said. “We have to cover advertising, which we’ve done by finding sponsors in the community.”

Meredith College’s Foreign Languages Department and the Meredith MBA program are also sponsoring the festival.*

“We’re shooting for the moon as far as how we want this festival to go,” Misaras said. “We can apply for the grant again and again over the next few years, but hopefully afterwards we’ll be able to host it ourselves. Eventually, we’d love for it to become a larger international film festival.”

Although all of the films are originally shot in French, many of the filmmakers are from the larger international film community, according to Cibulskis.

“It’s not just a French film festival with French filmmakers,” Cibulskis said. “Many of the filmmakers aren’t French, just French speakers, so they offer a lot of different perspectives in their films.”

An NC State faculty member will introduce each of the films to provide context, except for “The King and the Mockingbird,” the only animated movie of the festival.

“We chose ‘The King and the Mockingbird’ because we wanted at least one family-friendly film,” Misaras said. 

“The King and the Mockingbird” is playing Saturday, which is also French Connections Day. There will be programming with the L’Ecole — French School of Raleigh.

“It’s exciting for kids to learn French culture,” Misaras said. “And students are welcome too.”

The full festival schedule can be found online at www.ncsu.edu/gti/tournees.

*Editor’s note: The Technician originally reported that the festival was also sponsored by Meredith College’s Foreign Language MBA Program. This is incorrect. The festival is also sponsored by the Meredith College’s Foreign Languages Department and the Meredith MBA program.

January 14

La French / The Connection (R)

6:15 p.m. | Campus Cinema @ Witherspoon Student Center

January 16

Le roi et l’oiseau / The King and the Mockingbird (NR)

2 p.m. | Hunt Library Auditorium

January 21

Deux jours, une nuit / Two Days, One Night (PG-13)

6:15 p.m. | Campus Cinema @ Witherspoon Student Center

January 28

Diplomatie / Diplomacy (NR)

6:15 p.m. | Campus Cinema @ Witherspoon Student Center

February 4

Timbuktu (PG-13)

6:15 p.m. | Campus Cinema @ Witherspoon Student Center

February 11

Bande de filles / Girlhood (NR)

6:15 p.m. | Campus Cinema @ Witherspoon Student Center