‘De Gaulle’ Wins Top Prize at 30th American French Film Festival

Antonin Baudry’s two-part World War II epic “De Gaulle” took home the top audience prize at the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles, capping a 30th anniversary edition.

The two-part historical saga, starring Simon Abkarian as the French general and Simon Russell Beale as Winston Churchill, screened back-to-back on Saturday to packed theaters and received a seven-minute standing ovation.

The win marks another boost for the ambitious French production, which is being released in the U.S. by Samuel Goldwyn Films. The first part, “De Gaulle: Resistance” was released over the weekend in theaters across the country and on transactional VOD, while the second part “De Gaulle: Liberty” will come out in early December.

Written by Baudry and Bérénice Vila, the two-part saga charts the French general’s rise during World War II and his epic battle to build a French Resistance movement after France surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940. Pathé has just sold the film to China where it will be widely released. It’s currently playing in the U.K. where it ranks as this year’s highest grossing French film of 2026.

The 30th anniversary edition, which was spearheaded by its longtime programmer Francois Truffart and deputy director Anouchka Van Riel, drew more than 18,000 attendees, with numerous screenings selling out, including the opening and closing night presentations. The milestone lineup showcased 31 fiction features, 11 series, four documentaries and 14 shorts. Nearly half of the lineup previously played at Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno and Toronto, while 19 titles screened at the L.A.-based festival before their release in France.

Marine Atlan’s coming-of-age drama “La Gradiva” earned the Critics Award for best film, presented in association with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Written by Atlan and Anne Brouillet, the film marks the directorial debut of Atlan, who is also an acclaimed…