the essential
The 28th edition of Œillades, the French-speaking film festival in Albi, kept all its promises in terms of programming and attendance.
The Albigensian French-speaking film festival Les Œillades is today an institution of Albigensian cultural life. At the end of 2024, it once again offered 50 screenings, numerous preview films, short films and unparalleled work, with schools and students from Champollion.
Claude Martin, co-director of the event, takes stock of this 28th edition: “What is really pleasing is that the public was satisfied with the programming. It’s simple. It’s the best attendance since the creation of the festival”.
It relies in particular on the arrival of 38 guests and on the organization without false notes to propose the screening of 50 sessions in 6 days.
An attractive program
Claude Martin remembers the audience prize that went to “A Bicyclette”: “It’s a film that touches emotion, with the story of this man, who follows in the footsteps of his deceased son. I knew before the start of the festival, that it would be in the first three But it was decided by very little with “En fanfare” which is now a hit at the box office.
Small hitch, the non-appearance of Julie Gayet, bedridden a few hours before her arrival in Albi, to present her film Olympe de Gouges. “We had to deal with it. She’s an artist who has values, super kind. That’s why we went to Paris to give her an award.”
For the film’s programming, the room was extremely full: “We had to turn away around a hundred people. So when there is a star planned, the public always comes in very large numbers.”
Today, we have to restart the machine, prepare for 2025. “We are at a time of the year, where we are finalizing the accounts and submitting files. It’s not the most fun of the job,” he admits .
“We have a very small deficit, which does not endanger the festival. The good news is that the town hall and the department have confirmed to us that their subsidies will not decrease. The big question is the Region. We don’t know, with the cuts in state aid, if it will continue to help us, and that’s no small thing for us.”
Afterwards, we will have to look for short film gems, take a trip to the Cannes festival to contact the producers, and watch hundreds of films to prepare for production. A daily life that has rocked the lives of Œillades volunteers for 28 years.
