THE looming French Film Festival is less “toujours l’amour” and more “cherchez la femme” this year with a formidable line-up of female directors among its 39 films.

There’s Céline Devaux, Rebecca Zlotowski, Mia Hansen-Løve and  Virginie Efira, to name a few.

I caught up with British-French national Hortense de Pelleport, culture and communications manager at the Alliance Française de Canberra and, for this year, festival co-ordinator for Canberra.

The event is the largest celebration of French film outside of France with more than 153,000 attendees in 2022 and she enthuses, “a lot of people are waiting each year, the French community, Francophiles, students wanting to practice their French and people in the wider community… it’s so diverse that everyone can go”.

Proof of the public interest is seen in the packed parking lots and classrooms at Maison de France in Turner as first-term students arrive. The Australian infatuation with France does not seem to have abated.

“France is very attractive to Australians, and a huge variety of people want to travel,” de Pelleport says. “But many Australians can’t afford to travel there and the festival is a pretty cheap way of doing so… many people go to films three or four times a week.”

The whole country, de Pelleport believes, is a prime destination, with mountains, volcanoes, vineyards and beaches, some of the best in her family’s native Normandy.

In fact, Normandy is the setting for the touching family movie “Ride Above”, where young Zoé dreams of becoming a great jockey just like her father, filmed right near the de Pelleport family beach on the coastline.

It pleases her that while there are many glamorous pictures set in Paris or the Côte d’Azur, there are also more modest films such as “Ride Above” and “Country Cabaret”, where failing farmer David and a cast of outrageous performers transform a tired barn house into a dazzling hub of showbiz.

And yet the opening night film, “Masquerade”, is indeed set on the Côte d’Azur, full of glamour, sex, money and manipulation as Adrien relies on his beauty to seduce older, wealthy women to support his lifestyle even as trouble begins to brew. It’s a sure crowd-pleaser.

Another showstopper, “November”, is set in the capital and reflects the experience of the lead investigators of the French anti-terrorism services, working against the clock in the aftermath of the 2015 attacks across Paris.

Each year the festival has a number of focus nights and there’s always a ladies’ night, which this time will feature “Two Tickets to Greece”, with Laure Calamy, Olivia Côte and Kristin Scott Thomas playing estranged childhood friends who tentatively reunite for a trip to the Greek Islands.

“A Taste of France” is another regular feature, with this year’s choice the Australian premiere of “Sugar and Stars” based on champion pastry chef Yazid Ichemrahem’s autobiography.

A human rights night presented by the ANU will feature “Annie’s Fire”, directed by Blandine Lenoir, where Laure Calamy surfaces again as a mild-mannered, working-class mother of two who gets mixed up in an abortion and family planning network.

But with 39 films to choose from, there’s a lot more.

Another favourite is Rebecca Zlotowski’s new romantic drama, “Other People’s Children”, a “tender and modern” movie where a childless woman forms a deep bond with her boyfriend’s young daughter.

And, de Pelleport says, it would be hard to go past “Final Cut”, an opening-night hit at Cannes Festival last year. But, she warns, zombie-haters will have to endure the first weird 39 minutes, which turn out to be a fake zombie movie. “It’s hilarious,” she says.

The 34th Alliance Française French Film Festival, Palace Electric, March 9-April 5.