I love foreign films more than most. I don’t mind the subtitles. I can get over slow-moving plots. And I definitely don’t need a star, action sequence or CGI to get sucked in. I’m looking for escapism at the movies and what better way to get it than by looking through the lens of another culture.
So, one of my favorite weekends in Richmond is when the VCU French Film Festival takes over The Byrd Theatre, the gorgeous old movie palace that’s just two blocks from our house. French natives and Francophiles come from all over (this year from Oregon and Washington state and elsewhere), the streets were filled with buses from area lycees, or French schools, and Can Can Brasserie was brimming all weekend with espresso-sippers (including us). But the French Film Festival let us down this year.
