Spotlight: Méditerrannée
The Pirogue
(La pirogue)
When Baye Laye is offered to lead a dangerous voyage, he reluctantly accepts the job, knowing full-well the risks.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Senegal, Germany • 2012
- Director Moussa Touré
- Cast Souleymane Seye Ndiaye, Laïty Fall, Malamine Drame, Balla Diarra, Salif Jean Diallo, Babacar Oualy
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, Kanopy
Caramel
(سكر بنات)
The intersecting lives of five Lebanese women in a Beirut beauty salon.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Lebanon • 2007
- Director Nadine Labaki
- Cast Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Al Massri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisèle Aouad, Adel Karam, Sihame Haddad
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Zarafa
Young children learn the story of Zarafa, the first giraffe brought to France.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2012
- Director Jean-Christophe Lie
- Cast Max Renaudin, Simon Abkarian, Vernon Dobtcheff, Roger Dumas, Ronit Elkabetz, Mohamed Fellag
- Genre Family, Animation
- Available on No streaming locations found.
La Collectionneuse
Adrien's plan to spend a quiet summer with friends gets interrupted when he learns a young girl is staying with them.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1967
- Director Éric Rohmer
- Cast Patrick Bauchau, Haydée Politoff, Daniel Pommereulle, Alain Jouffroy, Mijanou Bardot, Annik Morice
- Genre Drama, Comedy, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel
The Rabbi's Cat
(Le Chat du rabbin)
A rabbi in 1920s Algeria attempts to teach his cat about religion after it gains the ability to speak.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2011
- Director Joann Sfar
- Cast François Morel, Hafsia Herzi, Maurice Bénichou, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Daniel Cohen, François Damiens
- Genre Animation, Comedy
- Available on Hoopla, OVID, Vudu, Apple TV, Kanopy
Spotlight: La Jeunesse, part 2
In the House
(Dans la maison)
There's always a way in.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2012
- Director François Ozon
- Cast Fabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ernst Umhauer, Emmanuelle Seigner, Bastien Ughetto, Denis Ménochet
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kino Now, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Persepolis
The downfall of the Iranian Shah is just the start of Marjane Satrapi's struggle for freedom and belonging.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 2007
- Director Marjane Satrapi
- Cast Chiara Mastroianni, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Simon Abkarian, Gabrielle Lopes Benites, François Jerosme
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
A Paris Education
(Mes provinciales)
An impressionable film student tries to find his own voice in the vibrant, but sometimes suffocating, Sorbonne environment.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2018
- Director Jean-Paul Civeyrac
- Cast Andranic Manet, Corentin Fila, Gonzague Van Bervesseles, Diane Rouxel, Jenna Thiam, Nicolas Bouchaud
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kino Now, Kanopy
Girlhood
(Bande de filles)
A girl with few real prospects joins a gang, reinventing herself and gaining a sense of self confidence in the process.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2014
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh, Mariétou Touré, Idrissa Diabaté, Rabah Nait Oufella
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hoopla, Showtime Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
The Class
(Entre les murs)
Based on his real life, a teacher must deal with the challenging dynamics of his multicultural classroom.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2008
- Director Laurent Cantet
- Cast François Bégaudeau, Franck Keïta, Louise Grinberg, Rabah Nait Oufella, Esmeralda Ouertani, Rachel Regulier
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV
Spotlight: Celebrating Pride
Stranger by the Lake
(L'Inconnu du Lac)
Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent, and lethally dangerous man.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2013
- Director Alain Guiraudie
- Cast Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte, Mathieu Vervisch, Gilbert Traina
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Vudu, Amazon Video, Kanopy
BPM (Beats per Minute)
(120 battements par minute)
A group of young activists desperately seek a cure for AIDS in 1990s Paris.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2017
- Director Robin Campillo
- Cast Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel, Antoine Reinartz, Félix Maritaud, Ariel Borenstein
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hoopla, fuboTV, Dekkoo, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Crackle, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy, Plex
Tomboy
When a young girl moves to a new neighborhood with her family, she assumes a new identity as a boy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2011
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani, Mathieu Demy, Rayan Boubekri
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Microsoft Store
Summertime
(La belle saison)
When Carole follows Delphine back to her family farm in the conservative French countryside, the two find gay rights and feminism are not as easily accepted in the countryside.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2015
- Director Catherine Corsini
- Cast Izïa Higelin, Cécile de France, Noémie Lvovsky, Laetitia Dosch, Kevin Azais, Loulou Hanssen
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Song of Love
(Un chant d'amour)
Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1950
- Director Jean Genet
- Cast Lucien Sénémaud, Bravo, André Reybaz, Jean Genet, Java, Coco Le Martiniquais
- Genre Romance, Fantasy
- Available on Kanopy
Spotlight: Voyages
A Trip to the Moon
(Le Voyage dans la Lune)
A voyage to the beginning of narrative cinema
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1902
- Director Georges Méliès
- Cast Georges Méliès, Henri Delannoy, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet, Depierre, Farjaut
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Amazon Video, Public Domain Movies
The Great Journey
(Le grand voyage)
Reda's life is in full swing when his father summons him for a pilgrimage to Mecca.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Morocco, Bulgaria • 2004
- Director Ismaël Ferroukhi
- Cast Nicolas Cazalé, Mohamed Majd, Jacky Nercessian, Ghina Ognianova, Kamel Belghazi, Atik Mohamed
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Faces Places
(Visages, villages)
Director Agnès Varda and street artist JR journey through rural France, forming an unlikely friendship through spectacular collaborative artwork.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2017
- Director Agnès Varda, JR
- Cast Agnès Varda, JR
- Genre Documentary
- Available on MUBI, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kino Now, Tubi TV, Kanopy
The Spanish Apartment
(L'Auberge espagnole)
They came from Paris, Rome, London and Berlin to... the Spanish Apartment... where a year can change a lifetime.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Spain • 2002
- Director Cédric Klapisch
- Cast Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly, Cécile de France, Cristina Brondo, Federico D'Anna
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
L'Atalante
Small-town girl Juliette and barge captain Jean marry after a whirlwind courtship, but all is not smooth sailing...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1934
- Director Jean Vigo
- Cast Michel Simon, Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Gilles Margaritis, Louis Lefebvre, Maurice Gilles
- Genre Romance, Drama, Comedy
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Spotlight: Youth
Goodbye First Love
(Un amour de jeunesse)
Do we ever grow out of our first loves?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany • 2011
- Director Mia Hansen-Løve
- Cast Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Valérie Bonneton, Magne-Håvard Brekke, Serge Renko, Özay Fecht
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Kanopy
School Life
(La Vie Scolaire)
A novice teacher arrives from the French countryside to work at a middle school in the troubled Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2019
- Director Mehdi Idir
- Cast Zita Hanrot, Liam Pierron, Soufiane Guerrab, Moussa Mansaly, Alban Ivanov
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Being 17
(Quand on a 17 Ans)
When his mother takes in a bully whose own mother is ill, Damien must learn to live with the boy who terrorized him.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2016
- Director André Téchiné
- Cast Sandrine Kiberlain, Kacey Mottet Klein, Corentin Fila, Mama Prassinos, Alexis Loret, Jean Fornerod
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
Monsieur Lazhar
An elementary school class is left reeling after their teacher dies by suicide—until the substitute arrives…
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2011
- Director Philippe Falardeau
- Cast Mohamed Fellag, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx, Sophie Nélisse, Marie-Ève Beauregard, Denise Lamontagne
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, Hoopla, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Crackle, Tubi TV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Kanopy, Plex
Fat Girl
(À ma soeur!)
Watching her beautiful older sister be desired, Anaïs struggles to come to terms with both her own body and her sister's pain.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 2001
- Director Catherine Breillat
- Cast Anaïs Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero De Rienzo, Arsinée Khanjian, Romain Goupil, Laura Betti
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max, Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video
Spotlight: Michel Piccoli
Belle de Jour
(Belle de jour)
Luis Bunuel's erotic masterpiece.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1967
- Director Luis Buñuel
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Geneviève Page, Pierre Clémenti, Françoise Fabian
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
La Grande Bouffe
Four middle aged men retire to a villa for a weekend of culinary and sexual excess.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1973
- Director Marco Ferreri
- Cast Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Andréa Ferréol, Solange Blondeau
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel
Contempt
(Le Mépris)
A vivid display of conflict between passion and art.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1963
- Director Jean-Luc Godard
- Cast Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Giorgia Moll, Fritz Lang, Raoul Coutard
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mauvais Sang
A love that burns quickly but lasts forever.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 1986
- Director Leos Carax
- Cast Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant, Michel Piccoli, Hans Meyer, Julie Delpy, Carroll Brooks
- Genre Crime, Drama, Romance
- Available on Hoopla, Amazon Video
We Have a Pope
(Habemus Papam)
We all have our doubts.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2011
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa, Franco Graziosi
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Kanopy, Plex
Spotlight: The Misfits
Vagabond
(Sans toit ni loi)
A young woman's desire for freedom leads to her demise.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1985
- Director Agnès Varda
- Cast Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Stéphane Freiss, Setti Ramdane, Yahiaoui Assouna, Yolande Moreau
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Sauvage
A young sex worker longs for love as he navigates the trials of his profession.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2018
- Director Camille Vidal-Naquet
- Cast Félix Maritaud, Éric Bernard, Nicolas Dibla, Philippe Ohrel, Marie Seux, Jean-Pierre Basté
- Genre Drama
- Available on Vudu, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Kanopy
La Haine
In the banlieues of France, the immigrant populations' resentment simmers away -- until it starts to boil.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 1995
- Director Mathieu Kassovitz
- Cast Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili, Souleymane Dicko, Héloïse Rauth
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
The Bare Necessity
(Perdrix)
A police captain's life is changed when an unusual woman decides to move in with him.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2019
- Director Erwan Le Duc
- Cast Swann Arlaud, Maud Wyler, Fanny Ardant, Nicolas Maury, Patience Munchenbach, Alexandre Steiger
- Genre Comedy, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
A Prophet
(Un prophète)
The timeless tale of the student who becomes the master -- set in a French prison.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 2009
- Director Jacques Audiard
- Cast Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Hichem Yacoubi, Reda Kateb, Jean-Philippe Ricci
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
Spotlight: Through the Artist’s Eye
Camille Claudel, 1915
What happens when an artist is forbidden from creating art?
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2013
- Director Bruno Dumont
- Cast Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent, Robert Leroy, Armelle Leroy-Rolland, Emmanuel Kauffman, Marion Keller
- Genre Drama
- Available on Kino Now, Kanopy
Van Gogh
The last 67 days of the great artist's life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1991
- Director Maurice Pialat
- Cast Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Bernard Le Coq, Gérard Séty, Corinne Bourdon, Elsa Zylberstein
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Séraphine
Drudgery and mental illness were not enough to repress her eye for the colors of life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2008
- Director Martin Provost
- Cast Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Geneviève Mnich, Nico Rogner
- Genre History, Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Hoopla, OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Plex
The Mystery of Picasso
(Le mystère Picasso)
A documentary which shows Picasso's paintings come to life in real time.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1956
- Director Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Cast Pablo Picasso, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Claude Renoir
- Genre Documentary, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, YouTube, Kino Now, Kanopy
Ulysse
A remarkable film inspired by an unusual photo.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1982
- Director Agnès Varda
- Cast Charles de Gaulle, Agnès Varda
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Criterion Channel
Spotlight: Music in Motion
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
(Les parapluies de Cherbourg)
A film for all the young lovers of the world.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, West Germany • 1964
- Director Jacques Demy
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Mireille Perrey, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Félicité
A nightclub singer must support her son after he suffers a grave accident.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium, Senegal • 2017
- Director Alain Gomis
- Cast Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, Gaetan Claudia, Papi Mpaka, Nadine Ndebo, Elbas Manuana
- Genre Music, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, VUDU Free, Kanopy
The Chorus
(Les Choristes)
A new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration in postwar France.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Germany • 2004
- Director Christophe Barratier
- Cast Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Kad Merad, Jean-Paul Bonnaire, Marie Bunel, Jean-Baptiste Maunier
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Concert
(Le Concert)
The grand deception that became the performance of a lifetime.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy, Romania • 2009
- Director Radu Mihăileanu
- Cast Lionel Abelanski, Mélanie Laurent, Dmitri Nazarov, François Berléand
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on Hoopla, Amazon Video, Freevee
La Vie en Rose
(La Môme)
The extraordinary story of Edith Piaf, a singer and icon
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United Kingdom, Czech Republic • 2007
- Director Olivier Dahan
- Cast Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Paul Rouve, Gérard Depardieu
- Genre Drama, Music
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube