Arrotown's Dorothy Brown's Cinema will host the second annual 2013 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival next month.
Held for the first time last year, the film festival is one of the largest of its kind in New Zealand and is this country's premier French cultural event.
It is run by the national Alliance Francaise network, whose role is to promote the French language and culture throughout New Zealand.
Festival director Sarah Reese said this year's festival would offer a ''comprehensive programme of French cinema at its best'', including drama, comedy and animation, along with a special category introducing French-language films from countries like Switzerland, Canada and Belgium.
Included was the French/Belgian production The Big Night, the French/Swiss drama Sister and Lorraine Levy's The Other Son, set on the Gaza Strip.
In the Fun for All Ages category would be Animation Express - an anthology of French-Canadian short films, covering everything from World War 2 to work woes, body image, blindness, arctic animals and adventure.
French Ambassador to New Zealand Francis Etienne said he was delighted to be able to show off an enriching selection of French films to a New Zealand audience.
''One of our goals is to make French cinema more accessible to New Zealanders and I think that the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is the ideal way to do that.''
The festival would open with Haute Cuisine, based on the extraordinary true story of President Francois Mitterand's private cook Daniele Mazet-Delpeuch, screening at Dorothy Brown's on April 11.
The closing film would be Camille Rewinds, described as ''amusing and touching''.
