*** Hollywood's French film showcase gets high-tech | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Hollywood's French film showcase gets high-tech

Los Angeles : The world's largest festival of French film hits Hollywood this month with an innovative line-up embracing the latest technology to showcase the best of the country's filmmaking talent.

COLCOA is offering a record 82 films, television series and shorts, many never seen before in the United States, as well as a handful of international premieres and, for the first time, a web series segment.

There will also be a new "virtual reality corner," said executive producer Francois Truffart, offering an ever more diverse array of formats for enjoying French production.  

"While entertainment is still the key word for the program, with a balanced mix of comedies and dramas, several topical issues will cut across all the programs this year, including the environment, discrimination and racism, terrorism, as well as the role of artists and women in society," said Truffart. 

COLCOA is nothing if not glamorous and big international names once again sprinkle stardust on the festival in contemporary movies and special screenings of some golden oldies.

The nine-day festival at the Directors Guild of America theater complex in Los Angeles opens on April 24 with the North American premiere of Oscar-winning winning filmmaker Claude Lelouch's "Everyone's Life." 

Celebrating a half-decade of cinema, the movie features a high-profile cast of 50 French actors, including Johnny Hallyday -- often described as "France's Elvis" -- Christophe Lambert, Beatrice Dalle and Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin.