2026 FREE HAPPY HOUR TALKS
FREE ADMISSION, NO RESERVATION
If you are planning to see a film at the festival, come earlier and attend a Happy Hour Talk panel. The panel series Happy Hour Talks is part of the TAFFF industry program and is scheduled arround 3:00PM (3:45 on Saturday). It presents topics of interest to industry professionals and cinephiles.
Each 45 minute panel is followed by a complimentary Wine & Cheese reception in the Festival Lounge. For 21+ panel attendees only. Panel attendees also have priority access to the theaters for the next screenings. Only panel attendees have access to the reception. You can enter panels up to 20 minutes after they start.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 – Truffaut Theater – 3:05 pm
(Panel ends at 3:50 pm) – Followed by a complimentary Wine & Cheese reception
GUARDING THE HUMAN TOUCH: TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVES ON AI IN CREATION
Moderator: Jazz Tangcay (Variety)
Panelists:
Randal Kleiser, Director, DGA member
Pierre Salvadori, Writer/Director
Screen industries on every continent are confronting the same question at the same moment: what place should AI hold in the creative and production process? An American director meets a French filmmaker to compare how the technology is perceived and used on each side of the Atlantic, from a director’s point of view. Beyond shared principles (consent, transparency, fair remuneration), the panel explores how different frameworks shape the protection of authorship and human control, the room left for innovation.
Presented in association with CNC
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5 – Truffaut Theater – 3:15 pm
(Panel ends at 4:00 pm) – Followed by a complimentary Wine & Cheese reception
BREAKING THE CLICHE: SELLING FRENCH FILMS TO A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICAN VIEWERS
Moderator: Elsa Keslassy (Executive Editor of International at Variety)
Panelists:
Robert Aaronson, Executive Vice President – Cohen Media Group
Jon Gerrans, Co-president – Strand Releasing
Paul Hudson, CEO – Outsider Pictures
Is there a new perception of French cinema among US distributors, and have the criteria for acquiring a French film changed? Specialized distributors share how they are reaching a new generation of viewers for French art-house films, while others challenge the stereotype of the French intellectual drama by betting on high-concept comedies, action, animation, and genre-bending films. Together, they explore how French films can be positioned, marketed, and released to break out of the niche “foreign film” category and reach a wider audience. French cinema spans an exceptional range of genres, voices, and formats, and that very diversity may be one lever for attracting new audiences to American theaters and reviving moviegoing among younger viewers.
Presented in association with CNC
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 – Truffaut Theater – 3:20 pm
(Panel ends at 4:05 pm) – Followed by a complimentary Wine & Cheese reception
MEET FRENCH TALENT AFTER OR BEFORE SEEING THEIR FILMS & SERIES
Moderator: Didier Allouch – Journalist
Panelists:
Nora Arnezeder, writer / director – Agnès
Marine Atlan, writer / director – La Gradiva
Antonin Baudry, writer/director – De Gaulle Part 1: Resistance, De Gaulle Part 2: Liberty
Philippe Béziat, writer/director – We are the Orchestra
Caroline de Jenlis, producer – Alice: Pioneer of Cinema
Savina Dellicour, director – Swapped
Marc Fitoussi, writer/director – All About Corinne
Vincent Garencq, writer/director – Forsaken
Valentin Hadjadj, composer – Coward, The Girl Unknown
Dom La Nena, composer – Madame, Whispers in the Woods
Hélène Lam Trong, director – Inside Gaza
Laïla Marrakchi, writer/director – Strawberries
Raphaël Quenard, actor – The American Dream
Hélène Rosselet-Rouiz, writer/director – Madame
A tradition at TAFFF: Festival goers are invited to meet French writers/directors, producers, composers and actors in person, as they talk about their film or series presented at the festival, the impact of American cinema on their work, but also, for the first time, must answer a randomly chosen mysterious question asked by famous French film journalist Didier Allouch.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 – Truffaut Theater – 3:45 pm
(Panel ends at 4:30 pm) – Followed by a complimentary Wine & Cheese reception
THE SCREENPLAY AS RESISTANCE: SCRIPTING THE HUMAN UNDER PRESSURE. THE POINT OF VIEW OF FOUR FRENCH SCREENWRITERS
Moderator: Yvette Foy – WGA West member
Panelists:
Coralie Amedeo – A Good Little Soldier – Winner of Best Screenplay at the 2026 Venice Film Festival
Fanny Burdino – In Waves, A Woman’s Life
Abdel Raouf Dafri – A Prophet
Thomas Finkielkraut – Jupiter
In an age governed by rigid, crushing systems, how do we write a character’s struggle to remain human? Where does the screenwriter locate the exact breaking point where institutional obedience ends and individual moral resistance begins? WGA member Yvette Foy exchange with four French Screenwriters, who present their film at the festival including the difference between the “French approach” to character-driven structural flaws versus the traditional American hero’s journey.