The Tournées Festival, a five-week long event showcasing five contemporary French films, continues Thursday evening with a showing of  ““Les Émotifs Anonymes” (Romantics Anonymous) at 7 p.m. in the Griffin Hall Digitorium.

In this film, viewers will be able to see how a French romantic comedy differs from American one, according to Director of Cinema Studies John Alberti.

The film, which is about an two socially awkward chocolate lovers who end up on a first date together, runs 80 minutes and will be presented with English subtitles.

The opening night of the festival premiered “Les Contes De La Nuit,” or “Tales of the Night,” March 21.

It was an animated film, in which all characters were silhouetted against a bright background, and took place in a French theatre where three characters devised six different story lines for possible plays.

“[“Tales of the Night”] was an enjoyable film and had some interesting ideas in it,” said senior art history major Joseph Portwood. “It’s interesting to see how one director has an idea and executes it in such a unique way.”

The bright and vivid colors against the harsh silhouettes of the characters made for an eye-popping spectacle in the Griffin Hall Digitorium.

“I’m dying to see it in 3-D,” said the enthusiastic Interim World Languages and Literatures Department Chair Katherine Kurk.

The films being shown throughout the festival are all recent movies, with the earliest release date in 2011.

“I like the opportunity of bringing a really important, really recent movie to campus that hasn’t played theatrically in the area,” Alberti said.

The next installment is April 4 with the French-Canadian movie, “Curling.” Alberti said the film is an “indie movie with a dark sense of humor.”

“The Women on the 6th Floor,” which Alberti refers to as a “French madmen” type of film, will show on April 11, and “The Kid With A Bike,” which is Alberti’s top pick, will show April 18, ending the Tournées Festival for NKU.

“[‘The Kid With A Bike’] is one I was really anxious for us to show,” Alberti said. “This is a movie that was on all sorts of 10-best lists, not just 10-best American movies, but 10-best in the world when it came out in 2011.”

The movies are carefully chosen by professors from the cinema studies program, World Languages and Literatures Department and the English Department where variety and range, audience and subject matter all play an important role in selection.
The movies are free to NKU students each week and $5 for the general public.