Six o’clock Friday night found people waiting patiently in line at the Crest Theatre. They were waiting for the doors to open into Sacramento’s 10th French Film Festival.

The festival started with a not-so-humble beginning in 2002 when they opened at Tower Theatre to a sold -out crowd, with a line to the pre-party around the block. They have since moved to the Crest, which seats about 940 compared to the 500 seats at Tower.

The festival is the brainchild of Cécile Mouette Downs and Connie Georgiu. Downs still serves as the artistic and executive director. The festival has found support and acceptance from the community, artistic and otherwise.

Among those who have embraced the festival from the very beginning is photographer Kent Lacin, who has designed the promotional poster every year. This year’s poster features Downs on a horse a la Joan of Arc carrying a film reel as a shield, as Georgiu hovers above with wings and trailing a spool of film. It also features art by Lacin’s daughter Sofia and calligraphy by Hennessy Christophel.

Asked how she got from idea to celebrating the festival’s 10th year and her plans for the future, Downs laughed and said, “I don’t plan.”

She is surprisingly modest about her role in the festival. That’s when her husband John Downs, technical director, speaks up on her behalf. Newly arrived to the West Coast without a job, Downs looked around and decided she wanted to share movies from her homeland with Sacramento cinephiles

Working with other members of the Alliance Françoise of Sacramento, the idea blossomed as more and more people gained interest and wanted to be a part. It is easy to see from Downs’ charismatic energy how she infected others with that same enthusiasm.

From there, more and more interest was shown until it had became a community event with everyone pitching in to make every year a success. And every year has been a success, even the year they ran out of food. The crowd laughed it off and were still able to enjoy that night’s entertainment.

This year’s grand opening two-hour pre-party was catered by various establishments, like French Lady Catering, Aioli Bodega Española, Selland’s and others who donated their time and wares free of charge.

Along with delicious appetizers, there was music from DJ Christophe and the Harley White Jr. Orchestra featuring Peter Petty, or “Dirge Gainsbourg” as he affectionately went by that night. With “Gainsbourg, A Heroic Life” playing closing night, Petty wrote a Serge Gainsbourg tribute that Downs loved and wanted to showcase opening night.

After the pre-party, the crowd moved from the lobby into the theater. Downs came on stage for her opening speech and gave many thanks to the community, filmmakers and audience, who all help make each year a resounding success.

Sacramento State French professor Kevin Elstob presented Downs with a corsage for her “inventiveness, vision, desire and passion” in building this event that has flourished in the past 10 years. This year the festival is presented by the Sacramento French Cultural Society, a nonprofit organization Downs established last year. The SFCS helps with sponsorships and grants, like the “Cineconcert” that was held earlier this year with the Sacramento Philharmonic.

This year’s opening trailer was composed by local filmmaker Chad Turner and creatively featured puppets. Next was the short film “L’Accordeur” (The Piano Turner) by Olivier Treiner, and then the “main course,” “Le Nom des Gens” (The Names of Love) by Michel Leclerc in which Sara Forestier, playing Bahia Benmahmoud, won a Cesar for best actress.

“Le Nom des Gens,” a romantic political comedy, is one of the festival’s most hilarious, complex films they have ever had, addressing serious subjects in a light way.

The Downses were a bit overwhelmed the first year with the outpouring of support offered and the crowds that gathered, but they have since settled into a well-oiled groove. With hilarious, serious and sometimes controversial subjects, the film-going community of Sacramento has embraced them all.

Downs said, in 10 years, there has not been a year when cinephiles did not connect with the films shown. She takes all feedback, positive and negative, into advisement and wants to make sure the audience knows they are very important to her, each and every seat.

Die-hard audience members, some who see each film each year, are attracted by films they would not normally see in Sacramento, plus the culture and sense of camaraderie when they see friends from the previous years.

This year, the festival has two weekend engagements and a special mid-week showing of “Un Homme, un Vrai” (A Man, A Real One), which is part of the category “The One That Almost Got Away,” a film that was too expensive to showcase when it was first released in 2003.

The festival concludes June 26 with a special showing of “Gainsbourg, A Heroic Life” followed by a champagne and cake party courtesy of Moriah’s Marvelous Cakes, with live music by The Jazz Report.

Remaining dates and films include:

Wednesday, June 22

6:00pm - Marius and Jeannette
8:25pm - A Man, A Real One (Un homme, un vrai)

Saturday, June 25

10:00am - Petit Dejeuner (French Breakfast) with the team of Pardon Her French.
10:30am - Short Film Screening
12:20pm - I’m Glad That My Mother is Alive (Je suis heureux que ma mere soit vivante)
2:30pm - A Man, A Real One
5:10pm - Angele & Tony
7:10pm - Beautiful Lies (De vrais mensonges)
9:35pm - Pierrot le Fou
Midnight - Don’t Look Back (Ne te retourne pas) - followed by an early breakfast

(Note: "Petit Dejeuner" at 10 a.m. is a breakfast event being offered as part of the festival and is not a film showing)

Sunday, June 26

11:00am - Pierrot le Fou
1:30pm - Angele & Tony
3:30pm - Beautiful Lies
5:55pm - I’m Glad That My Mother is Alive

Closing
8:05pm - Gainsbourg, A Heroic Life (Gainsbourg, vie heroique) - followed by a Champagne and Cake party with live music by The Jazz Report.

Go to http://sacramentofrenchfilmfestival.org/program.html for more information on movie content and ticket prices.