French Film Festival Aotearoa 2025 will kick off in Hamilton with a gala opening night featuring the musical biopic Monsieur Aznavour.
French Film Festival Aotearoa 2025 will kick off in Hamilton with a gala opening night featuring the musical biopic Monsieur Aznavour.
Waikato’s movie, cheese and wine lovers have something to look forward to next week as French Film Festival Aotearoa 2025 brings a taste of Cannes to Hamilton, Cambridge and Whitianga cinemas.
The festival opens in Hamilton with a night gala where Lido cinema will dedicate three theatres to screenings of the film Monsieur Aznavour.
The night will also see the cinema’s main floor become the festival’s foyer with live music, wine, cheese and crepe tasting provided by local creperie Le Rendez-Vous.
After the gala, the festival will run until June 29, bringing many Cannes Film Festival favourites to local screens.
Alliance Française Hamilton president and Le Rendez-Vous Samantha Wiria said the creperie wanted to team up with Lido during the festival so moviegoers could have “a full French experience”.
The creperie is also changing its operating hours and offering discounts to festivalgoers who can provide a ticket when they order.
“People can come before or after [watching a film] to the creperie.”
Wiria said the taste of authentic French food would also help to extend the atmosphere of the festival, the feeling of the “French moment”.
“I think that the French cinema has something special,“ Wiria said.
“Each time the French festival has been here, the quality of the movies is very high.
“It’s always a special period of the year.”
Alliance Française Hamilton president Samantha Wiria (left) and her family own and operate French creperie Le Rendez-Vous and will provide a tasting experience at the film festival's opening gala. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Alliance Française Hamilton secretary Catherine Neazor Brady said she was most looking forward to seeing the festival’s opening night picture Monsieur Aznavour.
“He sang really famous songs like La Boheme which are all going to be in the movie.”
Neazor Brady said the film, which tells the story of Charles Aznavour, France’s Frank Sinatra, was a must for anyone who liked musical biopics.
Alliance Française Hamilton centre manager Marie-Christine Richard said Aznavour was “iconic”.
Alliance Française Hamilton centre manager Marie-Christine Richard and secretary Catherine Neazor Brady recommend Monsieur Aznavour. Photo / Maryana Garcia
“He has been a pillar representing what the French song is all about. So it’s very classic.”
Richard said audiences would enjoy French cinema’s emphasis on soul, story and history.
“I think that people are really missing a good story.”
She said festivalgoers would also leave the theatre with good conversation.
“The endings are very puzzling. They open the possibility for reflection because sometimes French cinema is very ambiguous.”
Lido Cinema Hamilton co-owner Gordon Wood said bringing a wide and varied list of films to Hamilton for the festival was an “important cultural event”.
“It gives the public and schools a chance to see these films some of which may not get released in New Zealand.”
Wood said the festival was also a “fantastic excuse” to come for a night out and support your only locally owned cinema.
“It goes beyond ‘French’ films. These are great films in their own right.
Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.
