Films on the Green is the free outdoor French Film Festival produced annually in New York City parks by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, FACE Foundation and NYC Parks.  This year’s 11th edition has a lineup focused on gastronomy, and includes an additional screening  in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

In 2018, Films on the Green will explore the profound relationship between French culture and gastronomy: an integral part of France’s social fabric. Featuring 12 classic and contemporary films, the selection will explore various aspects of this multifaceted theme, from cuisine as an art (Le Grand Restaurant by Jacques Besnard, Haute Cuisine by Christian Vincent) and wine making as a traditional family savoir-faire (You Will Be My Son by Gilles LeGrand), to the meal as a social event (a family Christmas gathering in La Bûche by Danièle Thompson). In The Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir, the meal scenes, with their tacit social rules and governing etiquette, display a corrosive critique of the French society. French cinema often centers around the staging of meals, like in Claude Chabrol’s Hitchcockian thriller Le Boucher and Claude Sautet’s Garçon!, set in a popular Parisian bistro. Luis Buñuel, on the other hand, plays with this French obsession with food in the ironic film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, where the guests, already seated, are not permitted to eat.

Showcasing the diversity of French cinema, this year’s selection features a screening of The Scent of Green Papaya, directed by Vietnamese-born French director Trần Anh Hùng, in Vietnamese with English subtitles. Additionally, for the second year in a row, a special screening will be presented in French with Spanish subtitles at J. Hood Wright Park in Washington Heights, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie by Luis Buñuel, presented in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and the Instituto Cervantes.

For the first time this year, the festival will extend beyond Manhattan and Brooklyn, with a new screening location in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

“Films on the Green is one of the most community oriented programs of the Cultural Services,” says Bénédicte de Montlaur, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy. “It offers a selection of both classic and contemporary films that, we hope, speak to both the identity and interests of the local communities. As the birthplace of the motion picture industry, Fort Lee, New Jersey, seemed like a natural next step. We’re thrilled this year to partner with the Fort Lee Film Commission to bring the best of French cinema right to their doorstep.”

Twelve screenings in total are scheduled for this year’s festival in eight different locations in New York City and New Jersey. Most of the screenings will be accompanied by DJs from New York University’s radio station, WNYU 89.1 FM and Hunter College’s WHCS, who will spin French music on-site before the screenings.

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy, FACE Foundation and NYC Parks would like to thank Films on the Green’s 2018 official sponsors, Air France, BNP Paribas, JC Decaux, and TV5 Monde.

For more information:
FILMS ON THE GREEN – 2018 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

All films are shown with English subtitles, except for the film that will be screened on July 11th, which is in French with Spanish subtitles. 

Screenings begin at sunset.

June 1 – Central Park (79th St & Fifth Ave): Le Grand Restaurant by Jacques Besnard

June 8- Washington Sq. Park: The Scent of Green Papaya by Trần Anh Hùng, presented in partnership with the Vietnam Heritage Center (in Vietnamese with English subtitles)

June 15 – Washington Sq. Park: The Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir

June 22 – Transmitter Park (Brooklyn): La Bûche by Danièle Thompson

June 29 – Transmitter Park (Brooklyn): Garçon! by Claude Sautet

July 6 – Tompkins Sq. Park: Le Boucher by Claude Chabrol

July 11 – J. Hood Wright Park (West 173th St): The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie by Luis Buñuel, presented in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and the Instituto Cervantes (in French with Spanish subtitles).

July 13 – Tompkins Sq. Park: Romantics Anonymous by Jean-Pierre Améris

July 20 – Riverside Park, Pier I (at 70th St): You Will Be My Son by Gilles Legrand

July 27 – Riverside Park, Pier I (at 70th St): Haute Cuisine by Christian Vincent

Sept. 1 – Fort Lee Community Center (Fort Lee, NJ): Donkey Skin by Jacques Demy, presented in partnership with the Fort lee Film Commission as part of their “Music & Movies under the Stars” series

Sept. 3 – Columbia University (at 116th St): The Grocer’s Son by Eric Guirado, presented in partnership with the Columbia Maison Française

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FILM DESCRIPTIONS

Friday, June 1 | 8:30pm – Central Park, Cedar Hill

Le Grand Restaurant directed by Jacques Besnard
With Louis de Funès, Bernard Blier, Maria-Rosa Rodriguez
1966 | Comedy | 1h35 | France

During a dinner at the “Grand Restaurant,” a South American head of state mysteriously disappears. The boss, Mr. Septime (de Funès), is soon suspected. An organization of formidable terrorists, already on the track to find the disappeared, surrounds the restaurant where an incredible game of hide-and-seek between the police, journalists, and Septime’s staff begins.

Friday, June 8 | 8:30pm – Washington Square Park

The Scent Of Green Papaya (L’Odeur de la papaye verte) directed by Trần Anh Hùng
With Tran Nu Yên-Khê, Lu Man San, Truong Thi Loc
1993 | Drama | 1h44 | France-Vietnam
Screening in Vietnamese with English subtitles
Presented in partnership with the Vietnam Heritage Center
In ‘50s Saigon, 10-year-old Mui (Man San) enters household service for an affluent but troubled Vietnamese family. Despite her servile role, Mui discovers beauty and epiphany in the lush physical details that envelope her. She observes her new surroundings with trusting eyes, trying to remember every detail: the smell of the green papaya, the taste of the water, and the colors of fabrics sold by the lady of the house. But one day, the father disappears with the fortune of the household.

Friday, June 15 | 8:30pm – Washington Square Park

The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu) directed by Jean Renoir
With Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, Roland Toutain
1939 | Comedy-Drama | 1h50 | France
At la Colinière, the deceptively idyllic country estate of a wealthy Parisian aristocrat, a selection of society’s finest gather for a rural sojourn and hunting party. While the masters are gathered around sumptuous banquets, the servants sing them during meals at the office. Over the course of the weekend the haute bourgeoisie acquaintances reveal themselves to be absurdly, almost primitively, cruel and vapid.

Friday, June 22 | 8:30pm – Transmitter Park, Brooklyn

La Bûche directed by Danièle Thompson

With Sabine Azéma, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Emmanuelle Béart, Claude Rich, Françoise Fabian

1999 | Comedy | 1h46 | France
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures

Will there be “une bûche,” a traditional French dessert, for Christmas dinner? By trying to answer this fundamental question, a family of three sisters with opposite characters, Louba the singer (Azéma), Sonia the bourgeois (Béart), Milla the young rebel (Gainsbourg), and their divorced parents, Yvette (Fabian), newly widowed of her second husband, and Stanislas (Rich), an excentric Russian violinist, will try to settle their old accounts…

Friday, June 29 | 8:30pm – Transmitter Park, Brooklyn

Garçon! directed by Claude Sautet
With Yves Montand, Jacques Villeret, Nicole Garcia
1983 | Comedy-Romance | 1h32 | France
Alex (Montand) is a head waiter in a popular Parisian bistro. Between his incessant comings and goings from the restaurant’s kitchen to the dining room, from his friends to his customers, Alex dreams of a near future in which he would open a small amusement park by the sea. Then, one day, he falls in love with the beautiful Claire (Garcia) whom he met 17 years ago. Will she give him the strength to turn an old dream into reality

Friday, July 6 | 8:30pm – Tompkins Square Park

Le Boucher (The Butcher) directed by Claude Chabrol
With Stéphane Audran, Jean Yanne, Antonio Passalia
1970 | Thriller | R | 1h33 | France-Italy

In a provincial French town, a sophisticated schoolmistress Hélène (Audran) befriends the charmingly passionate local butcher Popaul (Yann), a veteran of Algerian and Indochina wars.Shortly after Popaul’s return to his hometown, two bodies are discovered. As a serial killer spreads terror throughout the countryside, Hélène reluctantly suspects her new friend.

Wednesday, July 11 | 8:30pm – J. Hood Wright Park

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie directed by Luis Buñuel
With Fernando Rey, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Stéphane Audran, Delphine Seyrig
1972 | Comedy | PG | 1h41 | France
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures
Screening in French with Spanish subtitles

Presented in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and the Instituto Cervantes

A group of six friends—three men and three women, decidedly of the French Upper Middle Class—have their dinner plans continually interrupted due to a series of bizarre events that can only be described as Buñuelian.

Friday, July 13 | 8:30pm – Tompkins Square Park

Romantics Anonymous (Les Émotifs anonymes) directed by Jean-Pierre Améris
With Benoît Poelvoorde, Isabelle Carré
2010 | Comedy-Romance | PG-13 | 1h20 | France-Belgium
Chocolate factory owner Jean-René (Poelvoorde) hires Angélique (Carré), a gifted chocolate maker. Although they are both incredibly shy and both suffer from social anxiety, their passion for chocolate brings them together. They fall in love, but are too timid to admit their feelings. When they enter their chocolates in a prestigious competition, they must face their lack of confidence and risk revealing their feelings.

Friday, July 20 | 8:30pm – Riverside Park, Pier I

You Will Be My Son (Tu seras mon fils) directed by Gilles LeGrand
With Lorànt Deutsch, Neils Arestrup, Nicolas Bridet, Patrick Chesnais
2013 | Drama | R | 1h42 | France
Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
Paul de Marseul (Arestrup) is the passionate, demanding proprietor of his prestigious family wine estate in Saint-Émilion. But he has no faith in his son, Martin (Deutsch), who works at the vineyard. Paul dreams of a harder-working, successful son—a dream that one day seemingly materializes when he meets Philippe (Bridet), the son of his dying estate manager (Chesnais). Can Paul turn against his own blood and choose Philippe as the rightful heir to his family estate?

Friday, July 27 | 8:30pm – Riverside Park, Pier I

Haute Cuisine (Les Saveurs du palais) directed by Christian Vincent
With Catherine Frot, Jean d’Ormesson, Arthur Dupont
2012 | Comedy-Biography | PG-13 | 1h35 | France
Hortense Laborie (Frot), a renowned chef from Perigord, is astonished when the President of the Republic (d’Ormesson) appoints her as his personal cook, responsible for creating all his meals at the Elysée Palace. Despite jealous resentment from the other kitchen staff, Hortense quickly establishes herself, thanks to her indomitable spirit. The authenticity of her cooking soon seduces the President, but the corridors of power are littered with traps…

Saturday, September 1 | 8:30pm – Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center, NJ
Donkey Skin (Peau d’âne ) directed by Jacques Demy
With Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Jacques Perrin, Delphine Seyrig
1970 | Musical | PG | 1h30 | France
Presented in partnership with Fort Lee Film Commission as part of their “Movies and Music Under the Stars” series
The King (Marais) seeks the hand of his own daughter (Deneuve) in marriage after promising his dying wife to only wed a woman more beautiful than herself. Listening to her fairy godmother (Seyrig), the frightened Princess flees and hides, disguised as a scullery maid, while wearing the skin of a donkey as a disguise. As a visiting prince (Perrin) passes by, he asks Donkey Skin to bake him a cake. She decides to bake him a Love Cake, in which she hides a ring…

Thursday, September 6 | 7:30pm – Columbia University

The Grocer’s Son (Le Fils de l’épicier) directed by Eric Guirado
With Nicolas Cazalé, Clotilde Hesme, Daniel Duval, Jeanne Goupil
2007 | Drama-Romance | 1h36 | France
Presented in partnership with the Columbia Maison Française

It is summer, and Antoine (Cazalé) is forced to leave the city to return to his family in Provence. His father is sick, so he must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed—driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants. Accompanied by Claire (Hesme), a friend from Paris whom he secretly has a crush on, Antoine gradually warms up to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers, who initially seem stubborn and gruff, but ultimately prove to be funny and endearing.