Deauville has shown American films since 1975, in a Norman seaside resort built for Parisians, with the beach huts along the Planches bearing the names of visiting actors and directors. The competition is for American independent features, and the festival has a reliable record of selecting films that go on to the following year's awards conversation; the tributes and premieres bring the studio names.
No recent attendance figure is published by the organiser, so we record none.
Its timing is shrewd: the first days of September, when the resort's summer crowd has gone and the hotels need filling, and when the autumn festival circuit is starting. Passes are sold to the public, which makes it one of the more accessible film festivals in France — unlike Cannes, an ordinary visitor can simply buy entry.
Deauville is two hours from Paris by train.
PlanningSeasonal window in early September, immediately after the summer season ends.