Welcome to the third edition of the Princeton French Film Festival, taking place between March 28 and April 25, 2025.
Conceived as a public humanities initiative, a community-engaged project, and an innovative promotion of the arts in Princeton, this festival will celebrate the 130th anniversary of cinema in all its richness and complexity.
It offers 20 feature-length and short movies (from classics to US Premieres) by emerging and award-winning filmmakers, 13 Q&A sessions with directors, artists, and professors, 3 masterclasses with renowned artists, 2 art exhibitions on campus and at the Arts Council of Princeton, a first-of-its-kind ciné-symposium on and with a Honorary Oscar Awardee, a book discussion with a world-class writer, a concert with two exceptional Haitian musicians, a rediscovery of Princeton through a cinematic guided tour, and numerous pedagogical projects with local schools.
The films will be screened on Princeton University’s campus, at the Princeton Public Library, at the Princeton Garden Theater, and at the Arts Council of Princeton in their original language(s) and with English subtitles. All rooms are wheelchair-friendly.
This screening of A Thousand and One Berber Nights will be followed by Q&A with director and a free reception with Moroccan food. Introduction and moderation by Prof. (CUNY). On view is Trenton-based artist Alia Bensliman’s exhibition at the Arts Council of Princeton.
About the film:
In the late 1950s, Hassan Ouakrim was a young dancer and actor in Morocco. Little did he know that he would soon become the protegé of La Mama Theatre founder Ellen Stewart, performing across America, forming friendships with the likes of jazz virtuosos Ornette Coleman and Randy Weston, and becoming a pioneer in spreading Amazigh dance and music in North America.
