City of Lights, City of Angels (COL•COA) was created in 1996 by The Franco-American Cultural Fund,
a unique collaborative effort between the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association,
the Writers Guild of America West, and France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of
Music (SACEM).
COL•COA is also supported by l’Association des Auteurs-Realisateurs-Producteurs
(ARP), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles and UNIFRANCE.
Each year, COL•COA is committed to promoting new French films in Hollywood and to showcasing
the vitality and the diversity of French cinema: comedies and dramas, box office hits in France and
novelties, first features and films from confirmed writer-directors, art house movies as well as mainstream
films.
In 13 years, 174 new feature films and 120 new shorts have been selected. COL•COA has constantly
developed to become a showcase of at least 50 films, with a capacity of 15,000 in 2009 and an occupancy
rate of 91.3%.
Its exclusive program has made of COL•COA an anticipated date in the industry calendar. It is now
one of the biggest events in Hollywood exclusively dedicated to foreign cinema and one of the largest
French film events in the world. Scheduled a few weeks after the Academy Awards® and less
than three weeks before the Cannes Film Festival, COL•COA has become a prestigious event in Los
Angeles.
Since 2004, the selection is exclusively composed of premieres. In 2009, QUEEN TO PLAY, HAPPY
TOGETHER as well as the opening film, SOMEONE I LOVED, had their world or international premiere
at COL•COA before their French release, giving the festival a unique exposure worldwide. Each
year, several high-profile features are presented at COL•COA for the first time in North America or in
the U.S., such as WELCOME TO THE STICKS in 2008 or OSS 117, LOST IN RIO in 2009.
COL•COA has also become popular for presenting successful films like TELL NO ONE a year before
their commercial release in the U.S., raising the event’s profile among U.S. distributors. In fact, following
the Los Angeles premieres of LA VIE EN ROSE (winner of two Academy Awards®) and PARIS
JE T’AIME at COL•COA in 2007, the showcase has become a platform used by U.S. distributors
to launch and promote their film in Hollywood. In 2009, six films had their official presentation at
COL•COA, including MESRINE: A FILM IN TWO PARTS, SERAPHINE and THE GIRL FROM MONACO.
Unique prizes given by American film critics and industry professionals to recent French
productions, the COL•COA Awards are now used by producers and distributors to promote their films
after the festival.
The COL•COA audience is mainly composed of film industry professionals (69%), including Academy
Awards® members: directors, writers, distributors, producers, agents, exhibitors, critics and journalists.
COL•COA has developed partnerships with organizations like IFTA, The Cannes Film Market,
Film Independent, Women in Film, The American Cinematheque, SAG, and in 2008, the Hollywood
Foreign Press Association and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Additionally, COL•COA is more than a film industry event. It has become more and more popular in
the Greater Los Angeles community and most of the screenings are booked several weeks before
the event.
In 2008, an educational program was also launched to promote foreign films among young American
audiences in association with E.L.M.A (European Languages & Movies in America). Close to 2,000
American students and 40 High Schools in the L.A. County attended the festival in 2009.
More than 100 French writers, directors and producers have come to COL•COA to present a film.
Among them: Costa-Gavras, Alain Corneau, Claire Denis, Robert Guediguian, Claude Lelouch, Bertrand
Tavernier, Olivier Assayas, Laurent Cantet, Arnaud Desplechin, Anne Fontaine and Mathieu Kassovitz.
Many celebrities have been seen at COL•COA, including actresses Rosanna Arquette, Marion Cotillard,
Julie Delpy, Gena Rowlands, Sharon Stone, Charlize Theron or prominent American writers and
directors: Wes Craven, Taylor Hackford, John Landis, Michael Mann or Alexander Payne.
Lastly, COL•COA attracts more and more U.S., French and International media to promote and cover
the event each year, including Variety, Screen International, The Hollywood Reporter, Canal Plus,
France 2, TF1, France Inter, Le Point, Le Parisien, TV5 Monde, Time Warner Cable, KPCC, The Los
Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Ouest France, indieWIRE, Los Angeles Magazine, Le Film Français, Studio
Magazine, Liberation, AFP, I-TV, E! France and Paris Match.
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