In Paris, the “Fesses Film Festival” restores its letters of nobility to erotic cinema

The name can make you smile: “The FFF is a film festival: we repeat it, because people remember the word buttocks a lot and not the word film very much” laughs Anastasia Rachman, who takes care of the Saint cinema -André-des-Arts in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. The Fesses Film Festival, or FFF for short, is a voluntary project, “born from a desire to meet up with friends around a project, and to take on a subject that inspires us all: love, sexuality, identity”. “We found it exciting to put this subject at the center to talk about cinema” adds Anastasia Rachman.

Because the FFF has come a long way: set up in 2014, the festival suffered from the two years of a pandemic, like the whole cultural community. For its seventh edition, its programming is based on the seven deadly sins, offering films in several Parisian cinemas, such as the Reflet Médicis, the Archipelago, the Grand Action, or the Saint-André-des-Arts, legendary cinema in the Quartier. Latin. “At the FFF, we have filmmakers who have trouble having their films programmed or produced: so knowing that they can exist in a cinema like this, with good projection quality, is great,” says the founder. .

Program_1
Program_1 – FFF

Restoring its letters of nobility to erotic cinema

At the FFF, the films are erotic, sometimes even pornographic, but not creepy or sanitized. The team’s goal was to “talk about a serious subject with lightness, and a light subject with seriousness”. “We especially wanted it to be joyful, because in our education, sex was often discussed from the point of view of danger. We wanted to add a breath of freedom to it,” develops Anastasia Rachman. Especially since the FFF has many partners from the alternative cinema world, such as the La Clef Revival collective.

Lust, pride, anger, laziness, envy… Deadly sins explored by this seventh edition, through documentaries, short films, series or forgotten feature films. “We show all formats, all genres, all eras, contemporary, heritage, heritage…” adds Anastasia Rachman. Cinematographic moments that want to be experiences, gravitating an exhibition, performances, round tables and games around the sessions. This interaction with the public is important for the founder: “We’re going to experience something super intimate in the dark of a cinema, and everyone has a subjective relationship to this type of cinema: there has to be dialogue and communication”.

For the FFF team, meeting the spectators, during discussions or informally, allows them to have their feedback and to be able to create bridges. “We’re talking about such a broad, complex subject… All these films bring a lot of different perspectives, which feed this complexity,” explains Anastasia Rachman.

Program_2
Program_2 – FFF

A precarious balance

“We are a festival without any subsidies, we are not taken seriously or we do not understand what we are doing” sighs Anastasia Rachman. Because the festival is struggling to bring its project to institutions, frightened by the title and the subject of the screenings. “Sometimes we would like to have more money to do more projects. And at the same time, it gives a crazy freedom” adds the founder, who explains that the team is voluntary, and that the festival is paid only on the entries of the spectators.

The theme of sexuality and intimacy is also complex on social networks, and the FFF unfortunately pays the price: four years ago, the festival’s Facebook page was closed, despite its 10,000 subscribers. “We are still a young, feminine team, who talk about sexuality” concludes Anastasia Rachman.

source site