COLCOA French Film Festival to open with the thriller ‘A Perfect Man’

The 19th COLCOA French Film Festival, which will take place April 20-28 at the Directors Guild of America on Sunset Boulevard, is expanding from eight to nine days to showcase a record 68 films including three world premieres, seven international premieres and 16 West Coast premieres, as well as 20 new shorts.

And for the first time in the festival’s history, COLCOA is shining the spotlight on films produced for French TV.

COLCOA executive producer and artistic director Francois Truffart said the festival felt it was necessary to add television to the mix because a “big part of the production, exactly like in the U.S., is dedicated to programs for the small screen. We won’t reduce the cinema side of it. It’s the biggest lineup ever.”

The festival is set to open with the North American premiere of “A Perfect Man,” co-written and directed by Yann Gozlan. “It’s a psychological thriller that just opened in France,” said Truffart. “The cast is really amazing. The main character is played by a rising star in France, Pierre Niney. He just won the Cesar for ‘Saint Laurent.’”

COLCOA is also featuring the latest from several established French filmmakers including Anne Fontaine (“Gemma Bovery”), Patrice Leconte (“Do Not Disturb”) and Andre Techine (“In the Name of My Daughter”).

Besides “A Perfect Man,” the film noir series will feature Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin’s (“The Artist”) thriller “The Connection,” “SKI” and Cedric Anger’s “Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart,” starring Guillaume Canet as a serial killer who is also a cop.

The documentary series includes the West Coast premiere of Laurent Becue-Renard’s “Of Men and War,” which chronicles a dozen Iraq war veterans in treatment in California for PTSD. “It’s a very powerful film and a very unique way to talk about the veterans’ situation and what happens after war,” said Truffart.

Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist”) is the subject of this year’s Focus on a Filmmaker. COLCOA will screen his latest film, the war drama “The Search,” and his 2002 hit comedy, “OSS 117, Cairo Nest of Spies.”

COLCOA Classics will include the North American premieres of the digital restorations of Jean Renoir’s 1931 “La Chienne” and Francois Truffaut’s biggest box-office success, 1980’s “The Last Metro.”

For the complete lineup and more information, go to www.colcoa.org.