From April 23-30, COLCOA (formerly City of Lights • City of Angels), the annual celebration of French films returned to Los Angeles. The festivities kicked off on April 23 with an opening night gala at DGA headquarters in Los Angeles. The weeklong festival featured 86 films and television programs competing for the 2018 COLCOA Awards; as well as North American, International and World Premieres; panel discussions and an educational program that presented screenings to hundreds of students from local high schools. All screenings were free to DGA members.
During the opening night gala, Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF) Board members mingled with French filmmakers and other VIP guests at a gala reception, highlighted by the North American Premiere of Director Eric Barbier’s new drama, Promise at Dawn (La Promesse de l’aube), followed by a Q&A with the director moderated by DGA Past President/FACF Board member Taylor Hackford.
Other highlights from this year’s festivities included the return of the popular one-hour panel discussion series Happy Hour Talks, one of which was the Focus on a Filmmaker salute to Director Melanie Laurent (Breath and COLCOA Best documentary winner Tomorrow), with screenings of her film, The Adopted (Les Adoptés), and the premiere of her latest feature, Diving (Plonger); followed by a discussion with Laurent moderated by DGA Director-member Mike Mills. Additional Q&As with French filmmakers moderated by DGA members included Dany Boon discussing his film Family is Family (La ch'tite famille) with Anne Fletcher, Xavier Legrand discussing his film Custody (Jusqu'à la garde) with Jon Amiel, and Christian Carion discussing his film My Son (Mon garçon) with Jon Avnet.
The 2018 COLCOA also included the participation of DGA members in other special events such as panel discussion about the filmmaking process in both France and the USA moderated by DGA Special Projects Committee Chair Jeremy Kagan; and service on the COLCOA Television awards jury by Director Charles Haid and the COLCOA Short Film Competition jury by Director Maria Burton.
About the Festival
COLCOA is presented by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a partnership of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM), and the Writers Guild of America, West, and is produced in association with France’s Writers, Directors and Producers Association (L’ARP), the CNC, the Los Angeles Film and TV Office of the French Embassy, and Unifrance. The DGA has supported the festival since its founding in 1996.