Growing a Twelve Year Tradition of French Cinema
Professor of French Florence Jurney at the Majestic Theater. (William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By William Oehler, Director of Photography
French professor Florence Jurney sits in front of her computer, scrolling through countless trailers of the newest French movies, already planning next years’ French Film Festival. Her passion project grew the minute she stepped onto Gettysburg’s campus decades ago, and since then she has spent each day working with countless campus partners to bring more community events to campus, the greater Gettysburg community and beyond.
Twenty years ago, the French Film Festival had not been thought up by Jurney, but she saw an absence of French presence on campus. So she set about creating a series of events that could connect both the campus and the greater Gettysburg community along with spreading her love of French and Francophone culture. She began partnering and programming for National French Week.
Now in its twelfth year, the French Film Festival invited audiences every Sunday in October to the Majestic Theatre.
“I want to make sure there is a link between the College and the community. In the past people came as far as Frederick for certain movies.”
Professor of French Florence Jurney (William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
Tickets have been covered by the many collaborators ever since its beginning, allowing more people to watch French cinema that would otherwise be difficult to access. “The goal isn’t to show artsy movies, they are not accessible, I want the movies to be accessible for everyone.”
Jurney works with a large group of contributors to pay for movie rights, tickets and venues; planning the Festival takes collaboration from the French, Africana studies, cinema and media studies, political science, theater, women, gender & sexuality studies, and history departments, with special input from the Sunderman Conservatory, Musselman Library and the Majestic Theatre. Jurney works with Kevin Augenbaugh at Musselman to source movies that may not be within the College’s resources, and many departments contribute their time and money to help make sure the Festival performs as best it can for everyone. But the Festival wasn’t always a staple of the Gettysburg community.
“Early on we did initiatives, we had a French singer come and sing, a person who came to read Moliere extracts, and we had folks perform traditional African music,” explained Jurney. “I thought ‘we need to have something that is more impactful to all students on campus.’”
To begin creating a larger presence on campus, Jurney began a now 20-year-long relationship with Dining Services.
“They’ve been absolutely wonderful… and we got together to have a dinner that is all French in the dining hall. This is French Night. I wanted to make sure this was a big community event where not just people who spoke French got involved.”
With her inception of French Night, Jurney began creating events that catered to the whole campus community, in hopes of getting everyone involved. The build-up to what is now a 12-year running tradition sought to build capacity and interest in French culture. In 2008, a year after Jurney began her idea of a festival, she began to see the impact.
“You need big budgets to bring performers, and we don’t necessarily have those budgets, so I thought ‘what about trying movies?’” recalled Jurney. By 2013 “…we started having a regular movie festival.”
Every Fall since 2013 there has been a full list of between four and eight movies, all chosen by professors Jurney, Ferraris Besso, and Jack Murphy of the French department. Jurney begins the process early every year; watching trailers as they come out looking for mysteries, comedies, africana films, and kid-friendly offerings. Jurney wants to develop a list that can draw in audiences from farther away than just Gettysburg, and as the President of the Alliance Francaise in Frederick, Maryland, she makes sure there is something for everyone.
This article originally appeared on page 12 of the No. 1 December 2024 edition of The Gettysburgian magazine.
