Educational Outreach

The Alliance Française French Film Festival prides itself on producing guides pédagogogiques for teachers to include as a unit of work before viewing the movies as part of the Education Outreach Programme which the Association Française de Hawke's Bay promotes among Hawke's Bay French teachers.
In our increasingly globalised world, learning languages is important for many reasons – it expands cultural horizons, breaks down barriers and increases opportunities for young people interested in living or working abroad. In addition, studies have shown that learning a foreign language can improve memory, brain power and use of English. And what better medium than film to learn a language?

AF Film festival website

Special Events

Event Cinemas, Havelock North is the local host of the Alliance Française Film Festival in Joll Road in Havelock North. (see map at the bottom of this page)
We have study guides for: Zebras Life (Years 2, 3 and 4) – Study Guide and Exercises
Dilili in Paris (Years 9 and 10) – Study Guide and Exercises
The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily (Years 9, 10 and 11) – Study Guide and Exercises
The Swallows of Kabul (Years 12 and 13) – Study Guide and Exercises

Years 2 - 13

2020

Trois histoires courtes, joliment dessinées et animées, et qui en disent long, en montrant que l’union (des différences) fait la force. (Three short stories nicely drawn and animated and which while long shows that the union of differences is a strength) - Dauphiné libéré

ZEBRAS LIFE | ZIBILLA OU LA VIE ZÉBRÉE 2019 - 91 mins - YEAR 2-4
A Zebras Life tells the story of Zibilla, a zebra who is adopted by a family of horses, who begins to hate the stripes that make her different. When Zibilla’s favourite toy is lost, she impulsively goes looking for it and finds herself at a circus whose main act, a lion, has escaped. Zilbilla falls into an exciting adventure in finding the real lion who helps her find her confidence to be herself and roar back at the bullies at school. A heart-warming tale that highlights the power of friendship and importance of accepting yourself for who you are.

Study Guide

Questions

DILILI A PARIS : DILILI IN PARIS
2018 - 95 mins - TBC YEAR 9-10
Whip-smart and astute six-year-old Dilili finds herself caught up in an ominous and nefarious underground plot, through which she and her sidekick Orel see the beauty of Paris during one of its finest times of artistic, literary and musical enlightenment. Offering staunch defence of just causes and a more than loveable determined and curious main character, Dilili in Paris pays homage to the brightest moments of modernist Paris, while also shining a light on the emancipation and advancement of women and how we view and respect difference. Be sure to savour this wonderful new film from animator extraordinaire Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, NZIFF06) on the biggest screen possible. — NM
“It’s the turn of the century and Paris is a city of diversity, architecture, culture and home to Dilili, a Kanak girl who hails from a French territory in the South Pacific. With her new friend Orel, a delivery boy, Dilili investigates a mystery involving a dastardly plan devised by a secret society called The Master-Men. Their investigation, that soon finds them being followed, finds Dilili and Orel encountering an unlikely but impressive rollcall of Parisian luminaries, from Marcel Proust, Claude Monet and Marie Curie to Louis Pasteur, Erik Satie and Sarah Bernhardt. Although there’s an unsettling sting in the tale that could prove challenging for very young viewers, Ocelot’s film employs his lovingly crafted trademark style, foregrounds the universal aspiration of good triumphing over evil, and features immensely likeable lead characters.” — Justin Johnson, BFI

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Official Website

Michel Ocelot, creator of Kirikou, pushes the limits of enchantment and wonder once again using a breathtaking pictorial and chromatic creativity.”
Le Nouvel Observateur

LA FAMEUSE INVASION DES OURS EN SICILE :
THE BEARS' FAMOUS INVASION (OF SICILY)
2019 - 81 mins - TBC YEAR 9-11
To rescue his son who was kidnapped by hunters in the Sicilian mountains, Léonce, the King of Bears, decides to invade the land of men with the help of his clan.
A classic Italian children’s book from 1945 gets an update in master illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti’s feature debut, “The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily.” Beautifully drawn with bold colors and appealing shapes, the film’s style is classic animation at its best, clear and pleasing, calculated to charm children and adults alike. The revised storyline, however, about how bears and humans clash, make amends, and then realize they’re too different to live together, can lead to unfortunate and inadvertent interpretations neither Mattotti nor the original author Dino Buzzati intended. In addition, the narrative’s pace, whizzing by from one scene to the next, frustrates an adult’s desire to relish the often-striking images, making the film most suitable for kids incapable of critically engaging with metaphor.
The battle scenes are enchanting, as in the moment when packs of wild boars suddenly turn into balloons and float away, or later when the bears send enormous snowballs down a series of cliffs, each scene beautifully imagined in primary colors. Ultimately, Tonio is found in a circus, the Grand Duke is overthrown, and bears and humans live harmoniously with Leonzio as the King of Sicily. Concord is short-lived however, as some of the bears become corrupted by the worst of human traits and the animals return to the forest: After all, bears are bears and men are men, and mixing only leads to strife.
(From Variety.com)

Study Guide

Questions

On the surface, Lorenzo Mattotti’s The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily is a likeable animation told with an innocent voice that is perfect for children. But halfway through the film, the story is turned on its head and thus takes a profound turn, as suddenly the story of bears interacting with humans becomes a tale of cultural appropriation, alternative histories and colonisation." - Cineuropa

LES HIRONDELLES DE KABOUL: THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL
2019 - 81 mins - TBC YEAR 12-13
Lauded at film festivals around the world – from Portugal to Japan to France’s acclaimed Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival – Zabou Breitman and Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec’s exquisite animated film, The Swallows of Kabul, captures the poetry of Algerian author Yasmina Khadra’s 2002 novel of the same name.
Khadra’s cherished tale is brought to life through two couples living in the Afghan capital during the nineties, and the impact Taliban rule has on each relationship. Through their individual love stories, unforgettable characters emerge amid the devastating impact of armed combat. On one side sits idealistic Mohsen (Swann Arlaud) and Zunaira (Zita Hanrot) who dream of a better future, and on the other is a disillusioned prison guard, Atiq (Simon Abkarian), and his seriously ill wife, Mussarat (Hiam Abbass).
Stylistically marked by swathes of gentle watercolour and illustrated characters who express a complex spectrum of emotions, The Swallows of Kabul successfully creates powerful tensions with its subject matter. The very tenderness of the film’s romantic relationships lie in sharp contrast to the violence of lives and loves forever changed by the horrors of war. While The Swallows of Kabul does not seek to soften these blows, it instead draws the audience in, like moths to a flame, thanks to its sensitive insights into tragedies many of us could never comprehend.
French with English subtitles.

Study Guide

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“The Swallows of Kabul threads an undying hope for the future through every shade of its tragedy and sacrifice.” – Roger Ebert

2019

ASTÉRIX, LE SECRET DE LA POTION MAGIQUE: ASTERIX: THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC POTION
2018 - 85 mins - PG
On the 60th anniversary in 2019 of Goscinny and Uderzo’s much-adored comic book series.