This year's edition of the French Film Festival returns this March with more than 30 films, bringing a mix of recent releases and key works of contemporary French cinema to Bucharest and 15 other cities across Romania.

The event’s Panorama section will once again highlight films that have made an impact at international festivals. François Ozon’s L’Étranger, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Albert Camus, will open the festival. Also in the program are Carine Tardieu’s L’Attachement, an eight-time nominee at the 2026 César Awards, and Abdellatif Kechiche’s Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due, according to Agerpres.

A dedicated section will allow school students to discover the richness of French cinema, while the competition section Young Talents – Shorts was devised this year by students of the Audiovisual Archives Master’s program at the National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC) in Bucharest. Invited to draw inspiration from the catalogue of Agence du Court Métrage, they selected five films. A student jury, made up of final-year students from the same program, will select the winning film, and its director will benefit from a writing residency at Pustnik.

The competition section Young Talents – Feature Film will showcase four films by a new generation of filmmakers. The program will be presented in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iaşi and Timişoara, and the winning film will be screened in April at Cinema Elvire Popesco in Bucharest.

The Young Audiences section will also be part of the program. Among other titles, it will showcase Ugo Bienvenu’s animated film Arco. The selection will also include documentaries for teenagers, as well as animated films for the whole family.

The festival’s Heritage section invites the public to rediscover classics of French cinema in dialogue with more recent films from the 1990s and the contemporary period. It will also screen Nae Caranfil’s Dolce far niente, in the presence of the director. As a French-language film by a Romanian filmmaker, it is meant to illustrate the dialogue between the two cinematic traditions.

Also at this year’s edition, the festival will hold a screening for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, with Romanian descriptive subtitles. Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender, presented in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, will have its Romanian preview screening on this occasion.

The festival will also host its industry days. Approximately ten Romanian projects in development will be selected and presented to producers and French distributors over two days of meetings, round tables and talks. The initiative is meant to consolidate the emerging generation of Romanian professionals in the sector.

The 30th edition of the French Film Festival will take place between March 19 and 29 in Bucharest and Arad, Baia Mare, Braşov, Brăila, Cluj-Napoca, Constanţa, Craiova, Iaşi, Piteşti, Ploieşti, Sfântu Gheorghe, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu Mureş and Timişoara.

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editor@romania-insider.com