Take a two-hour trip to France with nothing but a bag of popcorn in your hand at the Tournées French Film Festival.
Sarah Nelson, associate professor of French at the University of Idaho, said a French film festival was in high demand before the Tournées festival began to take shape.
“A long time before we really started deciding to do this, people had come up to me and said, ‘It would be really great if we had a French film festival,'” Nelson said.
The Tournées festival is a partnered event between the University of Idaho and Washington State University, and is brought to the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre by way of a $1,800 grant from the French American Cultural Exchange.
In 2010, Nelson and Sabine Davis — a colleague and French instructor at WSU — began planning the Tournées festival and applying for the Tournées grant after learning about the opportunity to bring French cinema close to both universities.
“The concept of these festivals is that they should be festivals (celebrating) recent French films on college campuses,” Nelson said. “They’re very interested in making it not just an entertainment event, but somehow integrated into the education that’s offered on the campuses.”
The umbrella program issuing these start-up grants, the Tournées Festival Program, is in its 17th year, having worked with more than 400 universities, according to the Tournées Festival website.
The Kenworthy, a historic arts center located in downtown Moscow, allows students and the public access to the film festival. At the festival’s first showing in 2010, Nelson said 57 percent of the audience was comprised of students, while 43 percent was community members and university faculty and staff. The following year, each of the five films throughout the festival had an estimated mix of 40 percent students and 60 percent community members.
“It’s nice, it’s a large chunk of students, as it should be — that’s what (the FACE council) wants it to be — but it’s also really an event that community members get excited about,” Nelson said.
The Tournées grant reimburses organizers $1,800, but it only covers nearly half the $4,000 Davis said is required to run the festival.
“(The grant) is not a huge amount of money . . . but it does go a long ways toward getting the rentals of the films and rental of the theater,” Davis said.
The Tournées festival grant is offered in hopes that universities will accumulate enough start-up funds to begin their own French film festivals. As this will be the third year of the UI-WSU festival, Nelson said the grant isn’t likely to be awarded to the universities in upcoming years.
In order to continue the Tournées festival, organizers must save and earn enough funds this year to continue the festival in upcoming years without the grant.
“Now we’re going to be making a more concerted effort to ask for donations,” Nelson said. “The community really does seem to value it, and I think that people will be happy to donate a little bit to keep it going.”
For Nelson and Davis, the festival brings French culture to life for students outside a textbook.
“It’s a way to show them the French culture through a medium that is accessible and appealing,” Davis said.
The festival is open to community members for $4 per ticket, or $15 for a full festival pass. Students get in free with their UI or WSU ID.
“I think some of the people who come are already big fans of French cinema,” Davis said. “They know why they’re coming and they want to see more.”
Dale Graden, UI professor of history, said anyone can enjoy the festival — not only students or speakers of French.
“Given that I don’t have a huge background in French film, but I’m an avid viewer of films, (the films are) a great entreé for me — great opportunities for me to see films I don’t know much about,” Graden said.
Nelson and Graden agreed that the Kenworthy was a perfect fit for the presentation of the Tournées films.
“The Kenworthy has been a fabulous partner, they’re so professional,” Nelson said. “It is a vital cultural center for Moscow and Pullman, (and) they are really, really nice to work with.”
As students and community members come together for the Tournées festival, Graden said the appreciation of foreign films is critical to the cultural balance of the Moscow community.
“The Kenworthy is a hugely important place of gathering here in Moscow,” Graden said. “It’s a community theater. These are threatened entities all across the land. It takes these kinds of events to keep places like this going, so I think that’s really important.”
The first film of the Tournées Film Festival, The Women on the 6th Floor, will be held on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre.
Chloe Rambo can be reached at [email protected]
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Adam Ward finishes changing the Kentworthy Performing Arts Centre marquee for the first film of the Tournées 2012 French Film Festival. “The Women on the 6th Floor” will show at 7 p.m Tuesday.