Les Misérables at 2019 COLCOA French Film Festival Opening Night

Editor’s Note 1/13/2020: “Les Misérables”, representing France, has been nominated for Best International Feature Film of the Year for the Oscars 2020. The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 9, 2020. It is the first film by a black filmmaker to be submitted by France.

Co-writer/director Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables” has not been released yet but it has already garnered two major titles: the 2019 Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and France’s submission for Best International Feature Film for the 2020 Academy Awards.

After watching the film last night at the opening night of the 23rd edition of COLCOA French Film Festival in Hollywood, we can only think that there will be more prizes, acclamations and recognitions on the way. The public in France will have to wait until November 20, 2019, to see the 103-minute drama depicting life — and it is not an easy one — in one Parisian suburb through the eyes of its inhabitants and three policemen.

> Watch our exclusive video with actors Damien Bonnard & Djebril Zonga

While the team who created the movie and the three main actors were professionals — and good ones — this was not the case for the rest of the cast, some 200 of them, recruited in the city of Montfermeil where the movie was shot. (It is also one of the locations upon which Victor Hugo based his novel Les Misérables, therefore the title). They learned fast! Supported by the rhythm, the music, the cinematography, the editing, the writing, the humor and the storyline, the actors delivered a colorful fresco that exemplifies why we go to the movies. “Les Misérables” is a film with a true message to all without borders.

It will be released in the U.S. on October 18, 2019, by Amazon Studios.

> About the 2019 edition of COLCOA French Film Festival

When: September 23, 2019 – September 28, 2019

Admission: General admission tickets are $14 on the COLCOA official website. Tickets are also available at the festival box office September 24-27 from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and September 28th from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Free admission is available for certain screenings (weekday events before 4 p.m.) on a first come, first serve basis.

Where: 7920 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046, U.S.A.

Click here for more information.