Summer in America is typically the season of blockbusters. If you are looking for something more independent, film festivals and film organizations offer plenty of alternatives. On July 12, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will offer a special presentation of Jean Epstein’s film from 1928, The Fall of the House of Usher. For those living in Portland, the Northwest Film Center offers a Varda series including some of the best films from the French filmmaker (July 10 – August 9). The Jewish Film Festival will also present a few French productions, and will close its San Francisco festival on July 30 with Karin Albou’s The Wedding Song in presence of the director. SFFS Screen, the year-round San Francisco Film Society weekly screening at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in San Francisco, offers two French films in July: Bouli Lanners’s Eldorado (July 3-9) and Eric Zonca’s Julia (July 10-16). Finally, do not miss the commercial release of Anne Fontaine’s The Girl from Monaco, opening in the Bay Area on July 3rd, and of Martin Provost’s Seraphine, winner of seven French Césars, opening on July 17.

July is also the month of the French National Day, Bastille Day on July 14. For details of celebrations, please check our general website of the French Consulate in San Francisco. On the same day, Mills College will present a performance in French, “De la race en Amérique”, adapted by José Pliya from Barack Obama’s speech given in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008.

The collective exhibition “Summertime” has opened at the San Francisco Art Institute, gathering young artists, including French artists Cyprien Gaillard and Marine Hugonnier (until September 12). Be sure to also stop by the CCA Wattis Institute to check out the new exhibit by Aurélien Froment, opening August 4, with a talk given by the artist.

Finally, the San Francisco International Poetry Festival will run from July 23 to July 26, gathering 26 poets from 21 countries, including French poet Francis Combes and francophone poet Maram al-Massri.

From films, to performances, national celebrations, art exhibitions and international poetry, there are plenty of ways to enjoy French culture in July!

The Cultural Services in San Francisco