film festival, s'il vous plait

For the second year, AASU held the Francophone Film Festival. Incredible! You would think the Fine Arts Auditorium would have been filled all three evenings, particularly as the event was completely free. Yes, that's right - FREE. The five wonderful films were shown to a small, but enthusiastic, audience. I saw four of the five, missing out only on the opening film last Thursday. Honestly, I believe I would have been there had I only picked up a copy of the local entertainment paper.
One of the four I saw had been shown at the Savannah Film Festival, either last year or the previous. "Entre Les Murs", which translates to "Between the Walls", was re-titled "The Class" and was about an 8th-grade teacher and the effect of one unruly student on the mindset of his other students. Even though I had seen it before, I watched again and truly enjoyed it. This film was the second show on Friday night; the first was "Un Secret". Its lead character was shown in flashbacks, at two ages during his childhood, and was a sweet, but sad film about life as a Jew in occupied Paris.
The really nice surprise Friday night was the food. That's right, between the two films, the attendees were treated to fine French fare! A new local French restaurant provided several different types of fancy sandwiches as well as a fabulous salad. Yum! I had planned to just run down the street and get a bite between the films; this was much, much better! All for free, too. The French Club even served as hosts for this feast and provided it again after the second film. I wished I had been there on Thursday for the opening! The restaurant had provided several different savory quiches and even desserts! I did not catch the name of the restaurant that night, but thought I would be sure to note it on Saturday.
Alas, that was not to be. The fine French food was no longer the fare between the films on that warm evening! My bird was in town and I thought I had found us not only free entertainment, but free dinner as well. I did well on the former, but not the latter. Dagnabbit!
Still, we had a good time at the films, both of which were quite different from the ones the previous evening. These were both romances, for starters. The first was an animated film about two brothers from different mothers, both searching for the same woman to wed. "Azur et Asmar" was delightful and quite a fairy tale, good for both boys and girls. Of course, any children viewing the movie would have to be literate, as this film, like all the others, was in French with English subtitles.
When we exited the auditorium, we were hoping for food. We had driven straight from the beach to the film festival and had not eaten since lunch. I had just been SO sure the intermission would be catered again! Oh, well, off we went for roast beef sandwiches, returning for the last film of the festival. "Les Amours d' Astree et de Celadon" was a very sweet tale of a shepherdess and shepherd, whose love was forbidden because his folks didn't like hers. Yep, classic star-crossed lovers fare, but with a twist and much humor. Quite a high note to end the festival!