French Film Selection at the 48th Mill Valley Film Festival

Villa Albertine San Francisco is excited to co-present this year’s French film selection at the 48^th annual Mill Valley Film Festival.  

Recognized worldwide for its dedication to cinematic excellence, MVFF48 presents yet another selection of dynamic new French films. Since 1978, the festival has established itself as a vital platform for discovering emerging filmmakers and viewing groundbreaking works, while also honoring the best independent and international cinema.  

We invite you to join Villa Albertine San Francisco at the film’s featured in this year’s festival line-up to experience contemporary French cinema on the big screen.  

Preview some of the selection below:

It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi 

Recipient of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, this revenge thriller blends complex moral dilemmas with dark humor, making for an unmissable West Coast premiere. 

Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) becomes convinced that Eghbal (Ebrahim Aziz) is the government security officer who once tortured him. When Eghbal insists he is mistaken, Vahid gathers fellow survivors to confront the man and test his identity. Drawing from his own experience of government persecution, Panahi delivers a work that is at once searingly critical of Iran’s regime and disarmingly funny. 

A Private Life by Rebecca Zlotowski 
 
Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster stars as Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist and amateur sleuth following the death of one of her long-time patients, Paula (Virginie Efira). Convinced that Paula’s death by suicide is in fact, a murder, Lilian pursues her suspicions. However, nothing is straight forward in A Private Life, and the audience is treated to a disarmingly delightful blend of genres as Lilian pursues the truth under the guidance of a hypnotist. 
The result is a beguiling mystery-drama with black comic turns, making it easy to see why this 2025 Cannes Film Festival entry received a 10-minute standing ovation.   
 

Summer Beats by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret 

Don’t miss the US premiere of this new film from Studio Canal with the directors present! 

When friends Shaï and Djeneba take jobs as camp counselors for the summer, what unfolds is story of friendship, identity, and growth.  Themes of class, queerness, cultural tension, and resilience are explored with sensitivity and heart carried by a resonant soundtrack which captures the rhythm of belonging. Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret blend humor and emotion with a light touch that gracefully dances between genres and refuses to be contained in a single box. 

Case 137 by Dominik Moll 

View the US premiere of a film which questions: who polices the police?   
 
Stéphanie (Léa Drucker), a dedicated member of France’s internal affairs unit, will stop at nothing to uncover the brutal injury of an innocent man during a peaceful protest. Premiering  in Cannes’ prestigious Competition slate, Case 137 unfolds like a taut procedural as Stéphanie tracks down the perpetrators but Moll pushes the genre to explore an officer’s realization of the limitations of her job as she is branded a traitor by her colleagues and faces the anger of  the victim’s family, who are eager for justice. Navigating an emotional minefield, Case 137 measures the toll on those trying to make a difference. 

Once Upon a Time in Gaza  by Arab and Tarzan Nasser  

Don’t miss the US premiere of this winner of Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Director at Cannes.

While working at a falafel shop in Gaza, Yahya (Nader Abd Alhay) witnesses a terrible crime that alters the course of his life. Years later, he is unexpectedly selected by the Ministry of Culture to star in a TV series honoring martyrs and resistance heroes. As conflict simmers in the background, Yahya is handed real weapons, raising the stakes as the show becomes his chance to confront the figure responsible for the trauma of his past. With their third feature, twin Palestinian directors Tarzan and Arab Nasser deliver a darkly comic, politically sharp satire that critiques the cycles of violence shaping Gaza.

Sirāt by Oliver Laxe 

Franco-Spanish director Laxe’s fourth feature takes audiences on a mythical journey across southern Morocco.  Luis (Sergi López) searches for his daughter, who never returned from a desert rave and is joined by his son in a desperate hunt that becomes an existential quest. As they traverse the unforgiving Sahara, the characters grapple with life, death, and the inexplicable. Shot against the breathtaking desert landscape, Sirāt is a hypnotic, award-winning work—recipient of this year’s Cannes Jury Prize—that demands to be experienced on the big screen.  

Witness this exceptional work at its west coast premiere in the presence of the director. 

Promised Sky by Erige Sehiri 

Drawing on her documentary background, Sehiri crafts a moving drama portraying three young women from Côte d’Ivoire living in Tunisia. When they take in an infant rescued from one of the many boats bound for Europe, their fragile stability is thrown into doubt. As Tunisia intensifies its crackdown on non-citizens, the roommates must navigate the constant threat of discovery while protecting a child who isn’t theirs. 

Be among the first in North America to experience the premiere of a film that illuminates the precariousness of migration, solidarity, and survival with sensitivity and urgency. 

Calle Malaga by Maryam Touzani 

Experience the West Coast premiere of Maryam Touzani’s, Calle Málaga. Set against the vibrant streets of Tangier, the film follows María Ángeles (Carmen Maura), the beating heart of her neighborhood, fiercely attached to her home of 40 years. When her financially challenged daughter resolve to sell the apartment, María plans to reclaim the life, community, and memories she refuses to let go. Along the way, she is swept into unexpected romance, reminding viewers that joy, desire, and freedom cannot be bound by age. 

Co-written with Nabil Ayouch (Everybody Loves Touda), this funny and deeply touching film celebrates the right to happiness at any age.   

More information and tickets here.