Austin Film Society Announces the Lineup for New French Cinema Week 2026
October 29, 2026, AUSTIN, TX— The Austin Film Society announces the lineup for its 11th annual New French Cinema Week, a festival of new international films by up-and-coming Francophone filmmakers. The festival runs November 12 to 15 at the AFS Cinema and will feature six new French films, plus special appearances by international guests. Filmmaker Valéry Carnoy will attend the screening of his feature film debut, Wild Foxes, the festival’s opening-night selection. The film was a selection of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and the Premiers Plans Festival of Angers, where it won the Best Actor award. AFS will also host an opening-night reception on November 12 featuring complimentary light bites, open to attendees of that evening’s film and AFS members.
A complete list of film screenings and descriptions can be found below or by visiting austinfilm.org/french.
To watch the trailer for New French Cinema Week 2026, click here or on the image above.
New French Cinema Week is programmed and presented in partnership with the two leading film organizations from Angers, France, Austin’s sister city: the Premiers Plans Film Festival and the 400 Coups Cinemas, with support from Villa Albertine and Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Each year, New French Cinema Week brings Austin audiences award-winning selections and festival favorites from across the French-speaking world, many of which have yet to be distributed in the US.
The 2026 New French Cinema Week begins with an opening-night reception in the AFS Cinema lobby at 6 p.m., featuring regional French wines and complimentary light bites from Angers, France-based Chef Germain Kpakou, visiting as part of Austin Angers Days. The reception is open to the opening-night film attendees, festival pass holders, and AFS members. After the reception, AFS will present the opening-night film, Wild Foxes, which follows a champion boxer at a French boarding school for elite athletes whose training and future are called into question after a terrible accident. The screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the film’s director, Valéry Carnoy. On Friday, the festival continues with La Gradiva, the feature debut by celebrated cinematographer Marine Atlan, which took home the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last May. Saturday will feature two screenings: A Man of His Time, which won Best Screenplay at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, and Shana, a dark comedy by rising director Lila Pinell. The festival wraps up on Sunday with That Summer in Paris, a fish-out-of-water chronicle set against the backdrop of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and the closing-night selection, Flesh & Fuel, a neo-realist queer romance.
Festival passes for New French Cinema Week are available at 20% off the list price of individual tickets. Passes include admission to all six screenings and the opening-night reception. Click here to purchase festival passes, and visit austinfilm.org/french for individual tickets.
NEW FRENCH CINEMA WEEK 2026 FESTIVAL LINEUP
Thursday, November 12
Opening Night: WILD FOXES
Valéry Carnoy, Belgium/France, 2025, 1h 32min, DCP, In French with English subtitles.
Thursday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m.
With writer/director Valéry Carnoy in attendance.
In his critically acclaimed first feature film, writer/director Valéry Carnoy has crafted a propulsive narrative with a stellar ensemble cast, sensitively examining a group of young athletes facing dramatic life changes. Camille is a champion boxer at a French boarding school for elite athletes. A terrible accident changes the course of his training, and his ideas about the future are called into question. A selection of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and the Premiers Plans Festival of Angers, where it won the Best Actor award.
Friday, November 13
LA GRADIVA
Marine Atlan, France/Italy, 2026, 2h 25min, DCP, In French and Italian with English subtitles.
Friday, November 13, at 6:30 p.m.
A timeless, humanist tale with its roots in the cinema of Jacques Rozier and the Italian neo-realists, this stunning and layered feature debut by Marine Atlan (celebrated cinematographer from last year’s GIRL IN THE SNOW) took home the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last May. A high school trip to Naples brings a group of 17-year-olds face-to-face with ancient history. Personalities clash, and family histories collide with the present as the trip drives each student on an inward voyage to better understand the adults they are becoming, and in turn, who they’ll be to each other.
Saturday, November 14
A MAN OF HIS TIME
Emmanuel Marre, France, 2026, 2h 35min, DCP. In French with English subtitles.
Saturday, November 14, at 4 p.m.
Writer-director Emmanuel Marre exposes the fine lines between ambition and sin in this fresh and imaginative story about a Vichy government loyalist during France’s Nazi occupation. In the early 1940s, businessman Henri Marre (a brilliant Swann Arlaud) arrives in the new seat of the collaborationist French government in Vichy, France, armed with a self-published manifesto on government management practices and intent on making a name for himself in the newly formed cabinet of Marshal Pétain. Abandoning his wife and children in Nazi-occupied Paris, Marre’s restless ambition will bring him to the brink as the Vichy government incrementally takes on the Nazi agenda. Winner of Best Screenplay at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
SHANA
Lila Pinell, France, 2026, 1h 20min, DCP. In French with English subtitles.
Saturday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Shana is a girl who’s got problems. So many, it turns out, that she might be contending with the biblical plagues. When her abusive dealer boyfriend gets out of prison to find a stack of his money gone missing, Shana’s in danger of being on the wrong side of a criminal gang, with only a magic ring (inherited from her Moroccan-Jewish grandmother) to protect her. A dark comedy featuring a messy heroine who can do no right, SHANA is a captivating vision and a true collaboration between rising director Lila Pinell and her star, Eva Huault.
Sunday, November 15
THAT SUMMER IN PARIS
Valentine Cadic, France, 2025, 1h 17min, DCP. In French with English subtitles.
Sunday, November 15, at 4 p.m.
Director Valentine Cadic shows off her mastery of indie filmmaking craft in this bright and winning fish-out-of-water chronicle, set against the backdrop of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Blandine is a soft-spoken 30-year-old from a small town in Normandy who heads to Paris with a few dreams in mind: see her favorite swimmer dominate at the games, and reconnect with her estranged Parisian half-sister. After a few strokes of bad luck and more than a few expectations shattered, the journey will challenge Blandine to face what she really wants from her trip, and from life.
FLESH & FUEL
Pierre Le Gall, France/Poland, 2026, 1h 30min, DCP. In French, Polish, and English with English subtitles.
Sunday, November 15, at 7 p.m.
A middle-aged man’s life is turned upside down after a coup de coeur with a fellow long-distance truck driver in this neo-realist queer romance. Etienne is a seasoned long-hauler who has sacrificed relationships and a personal life for his profession. One night on the road, what seems to be a random hook-up with a Polish trucker turns into an unforeseen connection, but Etienne will have to contend with his identity as a committed workaholic for the relationship to go anywhere. FLESH & FUEL features a nuanced observation of a modern middle-aged gay romance that doesn’t come with a map, and outside the truck windows, a rapidly changing Europe.
About Austin Film Society
Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, AFS creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS supports filmmakers from all backgrounds towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first-run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. More at austinfilm.org.
