"French trash" vacationers, a late-in-life marriage, a self-taught painter gone mad and Beauty and the Beast will take to the screen at the Crest Theatre this weekend.

Usually occurring in July, the eighth Sacramento French Film festival has an early start this year with its opening reception tomorrow night. The festival is held annually at the Crest Theatre as a project of the Alliance Française de Sacramento; it will run Friday through Sunday this weekend and Saturday and Sunday next weekend.

Cecile Downs, co-founder of the SFFF, said the festival's selection will include comedies, dramas and thrillers as well as "midnight movies" — one is the erotic film A l’Aventure by Jean-Claude Brisseau, and the other is Fear(s) of the Dark, a collection of animated, nightmare-inspired stories.

"We try to have a really big variety so that everybody can find something they want to see," Downs said.

This year's opening film, Paris by Cédric Klapisch, will play tomorrow evening after the reception. Considered a huge success in France, the dramatic comedy features an "all-star" cast including Juliette Binoche and Romain Duris in a Parisian setting.

Next weekend, the film Séraphine will run both nights, based on the servant and self-taught painter Séraphine de Senlis, who lived during the Great Depression and World War II.

"I'm very excited to show this one," Downs said. She added that it won seven Césars (French Academy Awards).

Other films will include French classics such as Jean Cocteau's 1946 film Beauty & the Beast and Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir.

I Do, by Éric Lartigau, is about a middle-aged man forced to marry late in life, and features French comic Alain Chabat — currently starring in U.S. films Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Saturday night, Le Cirque de la mode, a fashion show presented by Opaline’s Closet featuring Sacramento designers, boutiques and salons, will precede Max Ophüls' 1955 Lola Montès, based on the 19th century dancer, actress and courtesan.

This year's closing film is Welcome, by Philippe Lioret. "It's a film that was in the news because of its subject, it's [about] illegal immigration," Downs said. "It's a beautiful film, [and] there's a love story." A champagne party will conclude the festival next Sunday night after the film.

For more information on the films, show times and tickets, visit this link.

*Author's Note: Photos courtesy of the Sacramento French Film festival.