From Parisian love stories to transcontinental tales of identity and belonging, French language and co-produced films bring a distinctly poetic and provocative edge to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026. Across seven French-language features, two striking international co-productions, and a French short, the French presence at Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026 is as bold as it is varied: spanning historical injustices, queer desire, faith, motherhood, and surveillance.
Whether it’s Caroline Fournier’s tender ensemble piece Amantes, Hafsia Herzi’s Cannes‑winning The Little Sister, or Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s Thai‑French horror satire A Useful Ghost, these works affirm the power of French and Francophone cinema to probe intimacy and identity with nuance, sensuality, and rebellious heart. Read on to discover the French language films, French co-productions and a French short coming to Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026.
FILMS IN FRENCH AT MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL 2026
Country: France
Language: French
Director: Caroline Fournier
7pm 16 February; Event Cinemas, George St
An interconnected group of lesbians navigate their desires and fears in Paris, in this charming and romantic French answer to The L Word.
Musician Nour immediately falls head over heels for Camille, but their expectations clash when Camille prefers to take things slow. Insecure Laura upends the already delicate balance of her throuple when she suggests to her partners, Rebecca and Ophélie, they should have a child. Meanwhile Gabrielle, a respected therapist who feels neglected by her workaholic partner Ruby, must navigate one of her patients confessing feelings for her.
Filmmaker Caroline Fournier has created a bold and refreshing celebration of unapologetically complex lesbian characters whose romantic lives are still a work in progress. Microbudget and independently produced by an exclusively female team, both behind and in front of the camera, Amantes (French for “lovers”) authentically captures the experiences of a variety of women in their thirties and forties with plenty of heart and humour.
Directors: Orian Barki Meriem Bennani
Countries: Italy, Morocco, USA
Languages: Moroccan, Arabic, French, English
7pm 18 February; Event Cinemas, George St
A 35 year-old queer Moroccan filmmaker in New York reflects on how her sexuality has shaped her relationship with her mother in Casablanca.
Bouchra, a 35 year-old queer Moroccan filmmaker in New York, is struggling to decide on her next project. She also happens to be an animated coyote in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals. A phone call with her mother back in Casablanca resurfaces memories of how her sexuality has shaped their relationship. Their tender yet complex exchange sparks a creative breakthrough, as she begins to craft a fictionalised narrative to explore what their relationship would be like had she hidden that part of herself.
With a shared background in documentary and animation, Barki and Bennani have created a film that defies categorisation, utilising real life phone calls between Bennani and her mother as part of the narrative in some of the film’s most poignant scenes. The choice to use 3D animated animals against photographic backgrounds brings extra layers of symbolism to a story of someone who feels caught between worlds and languages.
Director: Simon Bouisson
Country: France
Language: French
20 February 8:30pm; Event Cinemas, George St
A mysterious drone appears outside a student’s Parisian window, turning surveillance into obsession and control in this sleek techno-thriller.
Newly arrived in Paris to study architecture, Émilie lives alone high above the city. She makes ends meet working as a cam girl, carefully controlling what’s seen and what remains hidden. As a flirtation begins with fellow student Mina, she finally starts to feel like she’s settling in. Then a drone appears outside her window – hovering silently, patient and unblinking. At first its presence unsettles her, but soon it fascinates her. But when it begins offering money, the balance of power shifts as the drone’s gaze seeps into Émilie’s work, relationship and sense of self.
Transforming surveillance into a modern allegory of desire, control and consent, Drone immerses audiences in dizzying Parisian nightscapes. In a world saturated with cameras, the film asks an unsettling question: when does looking become possession – and who truly controls the image?
Direcor: Jean-Claude Monod
Country: France
Language: French
23 February 6:30pm, Dendy Cinemas Newtown
The extraordinary but little-known true story of Anne Grandjean, an intersex person subjected to public trial for the crime of falling in love in 18th century France.
When Anne was born her parents sought advice from a priest as to what gender to raise her as. But when she confesses her attraction to women as an adult, he instructs her to start living as a man, reasoning only men can love women. Mocked by the townspeople for wearing men’s clothes, she flees to the city and becomes the apprentice of a tailor. Falling for his daughter, Mathilde, they marry and life seems idyllic. Until someone reveals her intersex identity, and her private life is dragged into the public eye. Accused of violating religious and legal norms, Anne is subjected to a brutal judicial system determined to define, categorise and control her body and desires.
Rooted in fact and marked by emotional restraint, Girl for a Day examines how institutions police gender and sexuality, while honouring the courage required to live truthfully. Rejecting sensationalism, this film transforms historical record into a quietly devastating meditation on identity and bodily autonomy, reflecting the continued persecution and misunderstanding intersex people face today.
Director: Anna Cazenave Cambet
Country: France
Language: French
6:30pm 21 February, Event Cinemas, George St
Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) gives a tour de force performance as a mother separated from her son in this complex, deeply affecting drama.
Lawyer turned writer Clémence (Krieps) is a woman who refuses to compromise. Amicably separated from her lawyer husband Laurent (Antoine Reinartz, Anatomy of a Fall), they share custody of their 8 year-old son, Paul. Carving out a bohemian life for herself in the Parisian queer scene, Clémence’s sex life is a fixture of her autofiction. But when she rebuffs Laurent’s advances and reveals she’s started dating women, her whole life is turned upside down. Filing for divorce and sole custody of Paul, he claims her lifestyle makes her a danger to their son, weaponising the legal system and her writing against her.
Adapted from Constance Debré’s bestseller, this complex drama is deeply affecting and emotionally raw. Krieps is utterly magnetic as an unapologetically independent woman navigating homophobic and misogynistic bureaucracy, and a relentless barrage of lawyers, psychologists and blocked supervised visits.
Director: Cecilia Verheyden
Country: Belgium
Language: French, Flemish
7pm 13 February; Event Cinemas, George St
A gifted rower develops unexpected feelings for her brother’s new girlfriend, in this wind-brushed coming-of-age drama capturing the intensity of first love.
Fifteen year-old Malou is a gifted rower who loses herself in the rhythm, but she’s bullied by her teammates for avoiding the group showers. The youngest of three, she’s grown up exclusively wearing her brother’s hand-me-downs and revels in the androgyny. With her single mum tentatively beginning to date again, the one constant in Malou’s life is her older brother Max – until she develops unexpected feelings for his new girlfriend, Nouria. Caught between loyalty, desire and confusion, Malou’s inner world is quietly but irrevocably transformed.
Unfolding with an organic, naturalistic sensibility, Skiff is shot with warmth and precision by cinematographer Jordan Vanschel, carried by an eerie, ethereal score by Karl Frid. Anchored by a remarkably assured performance from Femke Vanhove, the film resists easy labels or conclusions, honouring uncertainty as a vital part of growing up.
Director: Hafsia Herzi
Countries: France, Germany
Language: French, Arabic
15 February 6:30pm, Event Cinemas, George St
The Queer Palm and Best Actress (Nadia Melliti) winner at Cannes, this subtle drama traces a young Muslim woman’s path between faith and self-discovery.
Seventeen year-old Fatima is the youngest daughter in a boisterous Franco-Algerian family. Ready to leave the suburbs of Paris behind, she sheds her old friends and conservative boyfriend. Embarking on a new life at university, she tentatively explores her emerging sexuality through a series of one-off steamy hookups with more experienced women, using a fake name to maintain anonymity. But when she forms a deeper connection with Korean nurse Ji-Na (Park Ji-min, Return to Seoul), can she reconcile her desires with her faith?
Based on Fatima Daas’s acclaimed novel The Last One, Hafsia Herzi’s assured French drama unfolds with remarkable sensitivity and restraint, capturing its protagonist’s inner life through Jérémie Attard’s intimate, quietly expressive cinematography.
FRENCH COPRODUCTIONS THAT ARE NOT IN FRENCH
Country: Thailand, France, Singapore, Germany
Language: Thai with English Subtitles
Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
6:15pm 24 February; Event Cinemas, George St
Thai superstar Davika Hoorne (Heart Attack) stars in this haunting, genre‑defying debut from Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes Critics’ Week.
When his vacuum cleaner breaks down, self-described “Academic Ladyboy” (Wisarut Homhuan) enlists the help of handsome repairman Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjad). Unconvinced by the suggestion it’s haunted, they exchange flirty banter as Kong tells him the story of Nat (Hoorne), a young woman who died from suffocating on dust pollution, and returned to her grieving husband as a bright red vacuum cleaner manufactured in his family’s appliance factory. Beneath the humour and the hauntings lies a sharp queer allegory about class, family expectation and the pressure to be “useful” in a world that treats both workers and spirits as expendable.
Blending black comedy, romance, horror and political satire into one unforgettable vision, A Useful Ghost has been celebrated for its bold visual style, retro‑futurist production design and deadpan ensemble performances. Playful yet piercing, it offers audiences a visually striking, emotionally resonant experience that lingers long after the dust – and the credits – have settled.
Actor Wisarut Homhuan in attendance for Q&A.
Director: Kristen Stewart
Countries: USA, France, Latvia
Language: English
6:15pm 19 February; Event Cinemas, George St
Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut in this visceral adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s best-selling memoir, starring Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), Thora Birch (Ghost World) and Jim Belushi (Twin Peaks: The Return).
Lidia (Poots) only feels at home in the water. Brought up in an environment torn apart by alcohol and violence, swimming offers a brief respite from the father who sexually abused her and her sister (Birch). But away from the pool she seems destined for self-destruction. Drinking, drugs and sex do little to numb her trauma, only jeopardising her college swimming scholarship. But a creative writing class with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey (Belushi) offers her unexpected freedom. Writing allows her to find her voice and finally reclaims her own story.
Shot on 16mm, the fragmented way Stewart stitches together breathtaking and haunting images mirrors the ephemeral nature of memory. Drawing comparisons to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, Terrence Malick and Lynne Ramsay, she has nonetheless crafted something original and her own. Like Lidia, she’s found her voice.
PLUS A FRENCH SHORT
Carpobrotus
Directed by Simon Frenay
Friends Maxime, Yann and Laura holiday on a remote Mediterranean island. Maxime immerses himself in a quest for love with the handsome Yann, at the risk of losing himself between dream and desire.
This short screens with other films under the banner Hot Boys Shorts
KEY INFO FOR MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL 2026
WHAT: Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026
WHEN: 12- 26 February 2026
WHERE: Various cinemas in Sydney
HOW: Purchase your individual tickets via the links above or purchase your Flexi passes here
HOW MUCH:
Pricing is as follows:
Individual film tickets
- Full price $25
- Concession $22
- Queer Screen Member $21
Flexi Passes
- Flexi Pass 5 (films) $110 Full price, $90 for members
- Flexi Pass 10 (films) $180 Full price, $170 for members
- Flexi Pass 15 (films) $240 Full price, $225 for members
Don’t forget the Antenna Documentary Film Festival is also coming to Sydney in early February 2026, Europa Europa in mid-February (article to come) and the Alliance Française French Film Festival in March.
