The prestigious Cannes Film Festival rolled out the red carpet last Wednesday, and will be running until Sunday May 22nd — when the jury will reveal the award winners of this 69th edition. As the CIA is located near this wonderful event, our students enjoy the effervescence of this international festival while studying French… in France!
The Cannes Film Festival was imagined as an alternative to the Venice Film Festival. On the eve of the Second World War, the intervention of the Italian and German fascist government in the film selection process for the festival were becoming stifling. As a consequence, the idea of a French-American partnership for the creation of an international, free and democratic film festival emerged. Louis Lumière was named president of a first edition, aborted on the very day of its opening on September 1st, 1939 — the day the German troops invaded Poland. The first official edition of the Cannes Film Festival took place in 1946, once the war was over.
All the fluent French speakers will tell you so: the two best ways to familiarize oneself with a language is to immerse completely in the culture (through a language study holiday); or to watch films in French regularly. Want to improve your French? Watching French films that have won the famous Palme d’Or could be a good start. For example, have you seen Le monde du silence by Jean-Yves Cousteau et Louis Malle (1956), Orfeu negro by Marcel Camus (1959), Une aussi longue absence by Henri Colpi (1961), Les parapluies de Cherbourg by Jacques Demy (1964), Sous le soleil de Satan by Maurice Pialat (1987), Entre les murs by Laurent Cantet (2008), or Dheepan by Jacques Audiard (2015)? The CIA offers classes for all levels and all ages. Our teachers use a diverse range of teaching materials including films and videos. Here at CIA, we know that learning all the syntax and grammatical rules of a language is not enough to fully grasp it. Watching films, such as those shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival, allows learners to expand their understanding of the French culture and to better assimilate the language. Delay no further! Join us and learn French in France, just a few steps away from the glitters of the Croisette and the glamour of the most famous film festival in the world.
French classes at the Centre International d'Antibes
