Calling All French Film Buffs

By W.A. Muller

Films on the Green is a free outdoor French film festival produced annually in New York City parks by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, FACE and the City of New York Parks & Recreation Department. Created in 2008 with the desire to bring French cinema to American Francophiles, the festival has increasingly expanded the reach of French films and brought classic and contemporary movies to New Yorkers in some of the most pleasant summer spots: the parks! With films specially selected by the cinema department of the French Embassy, Films on the Green has become a not-to-miss summer event amid the vibrant New York cultural offerings.

"The hallmark of good cinema is its ability to seduce you, to draw you into a universe. When you watch a foreign film, you enter one of these unfamiliar and exhilarating spaces. That's what Films on the Green is about: experiencing French culture through film, while also sharing and exchanging with a community." stated Antonin Baudry, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy.

From the silent film era, to the Nouvelle Vague of the 60's, to the cinema d'auteur of the 90's, French cinema has made waves in the U.S. It continues to make an impact through innovative new approaches to film and the emergence of so many brilliant filmmakers and actors every year. "It is the goal of FACE and the Cultural Services to make all these genres of French cinema known to New Yorkers." added Adrien Meyer, Chairman of FACE.

Masculin Masculin 2014 festival theme – a play on the 1966 Godard film title Masculin Feminin – presents a gamut of colorful male figures in French film: lovers, heroes, gangsters, and rebels.

Screenings will take place every Friday from May 30 to August 1, and the finale screening will be on September 4 at Columbia University, in partnership with the Columbia Maison Française. This much-loved summer festival will show ten films at six major locations: Central Park, Riverside Park, Tompkins Square Park, Washington Square Park, Columbia University, and Transmitter Park (Brooklyn).

2014 Films on the Green Festival Schedule

May 30 – Central Park: Purple Noon by René Clément

June 6 – Washington Square Park: Les Tontons Flingueurs by George Lautner

June 13 – Washington Square Park: Buffet Froid by Bertrand Blier

June 20 – Tompkins Square Park: The Women on the 6th Floor by Philippe Le Guay

June 27 – Tompkins Square Park: La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz

July 11 – Riverside Park, Pier I: The Moustache by Emmanuel Carrère

July 18 – Riverside Park, Pier I: Grand Illusion by Jean Renoir

July 25 – Transmitter Park (Greenpoint, Brooklyn): Le Magnifique by Philippe de Broca

August 1 – Transmitter Park (Greenpoint, Brooklyn): 2 Autumns, 3 Winters by Sébastien Betbeder

Sept. 4 – Columbia University (at 116th St): The French Minister by Bertrand Tavernier

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy provides a platform for exchange and innovation between French and American artists, intellectuals, educators, students, the tech community, and the general public. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and eight other cities across the US, the Cultural Services focuses on six principal fields of action: the arts, literature, cinema, the digital sphere, French language and higher education. The Cultural Services of the French Embassy offers a variety of events such festivals, readings, film retrospectives, concerts, all to broaden American access to French culture. To keep up to date on all our events and programs, go to www.frenchculture.org and follow us on social media at

@franceinnyc and facebook.com/frenchculture