Drs. Peter Kirkpatrick and Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick created Richmond’s immensely popular French Film Festival in 1993 and ran it until 2022. They were professors of French literature, culture and film studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Richmond, respectively. The Festival became the largest French movie and culture showcase outside of France. In addition to film screenings and master classes, it included more than 900 guest artists. This is the first part of a two-part podcast that will cover:
– How they met and ended up together
– How the idea of a festival went from books to films
– Why they got involved with the Pocahontas Reframed Festival
– Hanging the French flags in Carytown in the middle of the night

(The second podcast on June 11 will delve deeper into the changes, challenges and closing of the festival)

LINKS:
The French Film Festival webpage
The podcast on the Pocahontas Festival that featured Dr. Kirkpatrick
Podcast with Terry Rey about the Biograph
My review of “The Ballad of Wallis Island”