COLCOA STORY
COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL, "9 Days of Premieres in Hollywood", was founded in 1996 by The Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF), a unique collaborative effort of 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). COLCOA is also supported by l’Association des Auteurs-Réalisateurs-Producteurs (ARP), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles, the CNC, TV France International and UNIFRANCE.
COLCOA is the acronym of City of Lights, City of Angels, the original name of the French film festival in Hollywood, chosen in 1996 by FACF members including Jack Valenti and John Frankenheimer. This titles underlined the relation between Paris and Los Angeles, two world capitals for cinema. For some reason, this name was misspelled from the very beginning as a "s" was added to "City of Light". Although the mistake has been regularly noticed, the festival's name has never been corrected. In 2015, the official name of the festival became COLCOA FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL.
COLCOA takes place in April now for nine days in the prestigious theaters of the Directors Guild of America on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood (3 theaters, a 210 capacity lounge and a 1500 capacity lobby).
COLCOA is committed to promoting new French films in the U.S. and to showcasing the vitality and the diversity of French cinema in Hollywood: comedies and dramas, box office hits in France and novelties, first features and films from established writer-directors, documentaries, animation features, short films, art house movies as well as mainstream films.
In 18 years, 538 films have been selected. COLCOA has continually evolved to become a showcase of at least 60 films, with a capacity of more than 21,000 in 2014 and an occupancy rate of 94%.
Its exclusive program has made COLCOA an anticipated date in the industry calendar and now the largest French film festival in the world. Scheduled a few weeks after the Academy Awards® and before the Cannes Film Festival, COLCOA has become a prestigious event in Los Angeles.
Since 2004, the selection is entirely composed of premieres. Several high-profile features are presented at COLCOA for the first time in North America or in the U.S.. The showcase is also known for present- ing films several months before their commercial release in the U.S., raising the event’s profile among U.S. distributors who now use the event as a platform to launch and promote their film in Hollywood.
The COLCOA audience is mainly composed of film industry professionals (74%), including Academy Awards® members: directors, writers, distributors, producers, agents, exhibitors, critics and journalists. COLCOA has developed partnerships with organizations like IFTA, The Cannes Film Market, Film Independent, Women in Film, The American Cinematheque, SAG, and since 2008, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Additionally, COLCOA 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 launched to promote foreign films among young American audiences in association with E.L.M.A (European Languages & Movies in America). More than 100 high schools in Los Angeles County have participated in the program since 2008. In 2010, a master class program was in- troduced for colleges, film schools and universities. In 2015, the festival will welcome its 15,000th student.
With 20,000 attendees in 2014, COLCOA has reached a new dimension, which will be confirmed in 2015 with the introduction of an additional day (for a total of 9 days), in order to satisfy a still growing audience and give our sponsors more visibility.
One reason for the success of COLCOA is a growing interest from the press. In addition to media partnerships with Variety, LA Times, LA Weekly, KPCC-89.3 FM, DailyMotion, TV5 Monde, and Indiewire, COLCOA has continuously developed relationships with journalists and critics. Thanks to a specific accreditation program, which includes press screenings and press sessions with filmmakers and actors, journalists have a priority access to screenings and various social events during the week. In 2014, 80 journalists, professional bloggers and critics were accredited. Click here to access the 2014 press book of the festival.
More than 100 French writers, directors and producers have presented their film(s) at COLCOA . Among them are Olivier Assayas, Bertrand Blier, Dany Boon, Stéphane Brizé, Laurent Cantet, Cedric Klapisch, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Julie Delpy, Claire Denis, Arnaud Desplechin, Anne Fontaine, Michael Hazanavicius, Mathieu Kassovitz, Philippe Le Guay, Claude Lelouch, Claude Miller, Bertrand Tavernier, Danièle Thompson, and Francis Veber.
Many celebrities have attended COLCOA , including Rosanna Arquette, Nathalie Baye, Berenice Bejo, Halle Berry, Jaqueline Bisset, George Chakiris, Marion Cotillard, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Alexandre Desplat, Herbie Hancock, Michel Legrand, Helen Mirren, Jeremie Renier, Gena Rowlands, Sharon Stone, Charlize Theron, Lambert Wilson as well as prominent American writers and directors: Wes Craven, Taylor Hackford, John Landis, Michael Mann or Alexander Payne.