27/06/2002

France's 18th Film Festival, which took place between the 23rd and the 25th of June, attracted 3.6 spectators - a 16% increase over last year's audiences. In the city of Paris, the increase in audience was even greater, at 26%. The National Federation of French Cinemas, which calculates the results provided by cinemas, was overjoyed by the success. They attribute the increase in attendance in part to the choice of dates, which fell after final exams, but before most people left town for the holidays. But, above all, the high attendance was felt to be the result of the great appeal of several of the films in the program.
Among the most popular films viewed were Spiderman, the American blockbuster by Sam Raimi, and L'auberge Espagnole from French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch. Moviegoers with families were also captured by the latest Disney offering, Lilo & Stitch. Some films which had already been playing in theatres for some time, continued their popularity during the Festival, as was the case for Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending and Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her. Though the 2002 Film Festival was an overwhelming success, the 1999 Festival record of 4.3 million viewers remains unbroken.

(Translated from Italian)