Speech by Consul General Axel Cruau at the Opening Ceremony of Colcoa 2013

Chers partenaires et amis de Colcoa,
Cher François,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honor for me to be here tonight to celebrate the 17th anniversary of a major rendez-vous for French cinema overseas.

Just like its previous editions, I’m convinced that Colcoa 2013 is an excellent vintage, combining the talents of young filmmakers and the mastery of French classics, delightful comedies and art house cinema.

I am so grateful to the French-American cultural fund for its commitment in organizing this festival, and I would like to convey the support and thanks of the French partners who are not with us tonight, the French ministry of foreign affairs, ARP (association auteurs réalisateurs producteurs), CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée ) and UNIFRANCE

Thank you, dear François Truffart, and thank you all, active participants of Colcoa’s organization, for your ongoing commitment to French movies and for your audacity in giving a chance to young French directors ; especially this year, with the new section "French neWave 2.0”.

I can imagine how thrilling and how encouraging it must be for a young filmmaker to have his first work presented here in Hollywood, at the prestigious Directors’ Guild of America.

I also want to salute another new program of Colcoa, the “World Cinema Produced in France”.

Indeed, as you know, some of the most outstanding international films of this past award season, "Amour" or "The Gatekeepers", would never have seen the light without the specificity of our production system that fosters this diversity, well beyond France and Europe.

I am also glad to see that the festival is paying homage to some of the greatest French cultural icons, such as Alain Resnais, Louis Malle, Maurice Pialat, Jacques Demy and André Techiné.

This is an opening ceremony, so let’s get started without further delay. Tonight, you’ll discover first, one of the 19 short films competing for the Colcoa short film awards, Clean, written and directed by Benjamin Bouhana, produced by the directors of the Intouchables, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano.

Then, we are pleased to open the festival with the US première of « It happened in St Tropez ».

Played by the best of current French talents including raising star Lou de Laâge, the film was co-written and directed by Danièle Thompson, and they will both join us after the screening for a question and answer session moderated by the Oscar-winning writer-director Ed Zwick — who most recently wrote and directed : Love and Other Drugs, Defiance, The Last Samurai and has directed such features as : Blood Diamond, Legends of the Fall, and Glory.

It’s now my great pleasure to welcome on stage writer-director Danièle Thompson and actress Lou de Laâge./.