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The 13th annual Cinéfranco festival launches its main program on the 26th of March this year, but the festival is giving a taste of international francophone cinema to its younger audiences over these first couple of weeks of March. The festival’s Jeune Cinéma (Young Cinema) program runs on the 6th (Saturday) and 7th (Sunday) of March at the AMC Yonge & Dundas, and targets youth and families with this year’s theme of Heroism and Young People. At the same time, Cinéfranco’s School Program is currently in the middle of its run at the Bloor Cinema (it began on the 1st of March and ends on the 10th). This program is intended for large groups from classes and schools, but is also open to the public.

Jeune Cinéma will feature 8 films all focused on the theme of youth and heroism; the films range in ratings from G (General) to PG (Parental Guidance Advised) and 14A (Adult Accompaniment Under-14). Topics and themes vary, from a Belgian-French co-production about a teacher who takes her students hostage (Skirt Day) to the English-Canadian premiere of renowned Greek-born French director Costa-Gavras’ new drama Eden is West, which tells the story of an illegal immigrant aiming for Paris and the many misadventures that befall him on his way.

The School Program offers screenings at the Bloor at 11:30 a.m., presumably so teachers can incorporate the film-going excursion into the school day. What could possibly be cuter than Little Nicholas (dir: Laurent Tirard)? A young boy overhears his parents talking about a new baby in the family and begins to entertain all sorts of hallucinatory paranoid visions about being displaced and forgotten; a familiar story told with a colourful twist.

Click here to visit the official Cinéfranco website, where you can find info on tickets and screening times, as well as detailed descriptions of all the films and links to their trailers. If you would like to bring a class to a screening in the School Program, contact the festival for a special reservation. You can also find details about the festival’s main program on the website, which starts on March 26th. Parents, guardians, and teachers: visit the Ontario Film Review Board for more detailed information about film ratings and content guidelines.