De Gaulle Triumphs in Los Angeles: French Wartime Epic Wins Top Audience Prize at 30th American French Film Festival

LOS ANGELES — Antonin Baudry’s two-part wartime epic De Gaulle has won the Audience Award, the top honour for best film, at the 30th American French Film Festival (TAFFF) in Los Angeles, capping a six-day anniversary edition that drew more than 18,000 people to the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater Complex in Hollywood. The Franco-American Cultural Fund and the festival’s programme committee announced the 2026 winners on Monday, 9 November, a day after the awards were presented at the festival’s closing ceremony on 8 November.

The prize is a significant American milestone for a film that has already become a box-office phenomenon in France, where its two instalments have together passed five million admissions since their June releases, according to Screen Daily. It also underlines the festival’s role as a bridge between French cinema and Hollywood: the event exists to put French and French-co-produced films directly in front of American audiences, critics and awards voters at the height of the awards season.

Illustration: A historic Los Angeles cinema dressed for a French film festival — the American French Film Festival held its 30th anniversary edition at the DGA Theater Complex in Hollywood.

What Happened

The 2026 awards were announced on 9 November, following a closing ceremony on 8 November at the DGA Theater Complex on Sunset Boulevard. Sixty-one films and series were showcased during the festival, which ran from 3 to 8 November, with 59 eligible for awards. Winners were chosen by attending audiences, members of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), an entertainment professionals jury and a student jury.

In the cinema categories, De Gaulle received the Audience Award and the top honour for best film. La Gradiva, written by Marine Atlan and Anne Brouillet and directed by Atlan, earned the Critics Award for best film, presented in association with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Atlan’s film had already won the Critics’ Week prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, according to Screen Daily.

A Place for Her, written by Mélisa Godet and Catherine Paillé and directed by Godet, won the First Feature Award. Whispers in the Woods, written and directed by wildlife photographer Vincent Munier, received the Documentary Film Award. The Green Eyes, written and directed by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, claimed the American Students Award.

The television and short-film prizes reflected the festival’s widening scope. Alice: Pioneer of Cinema, a series about the pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché, took the Audience Series Award, while Swapped earned the Jury Series Award. In the shorts categories, Diego, written and directed by Melissa Silveira, received the Audience Short Film Award, and God Is Shy, written and directed by Jocelyn Charles, won the Jury Short Film Award.

The festival said its 30th anniversary edition drew more than 18,000 attendees, with numerous sold-out screenings including the opening and closing nights. The audience awards were presented in association with Air Tahiti Nui, MK2 and Viking. The festival is presented and produced by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a collaboration among the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM) and the Writers Guild of America West, in association with the CNC, France’s national cinema body.

Illustration: A wartime leader addresses the nation by radio over a blacked-out London — Antonin Baudry's two-part epic De Gaulle revisits the general's war years.

Background

De Gaulle tells the story of Charles de Gaulle, the French general who led the Free French forces during the Second World War and later became president of France. Baudry’s film is released in two instalments, De Gaulle: Résistance and De Gaulle: Liberté, which together run for more than five hours. Pathé produces the film, handles its international sales and distributes it in France, where the two parts were released in June 2026 and have since combined for more than five million admissions, Screen Daily reported.

The film’s arrival in Los Angeles was one of the centrepieces of the anniversary festival. Screen Daily reported that the DGA screenings marked the first showing of Baudry’s epic in the United States, with the two parts presented back-to-back on Saturday, 7 November, and with Baudry and Abkarian in attendance. Variety reported that the marathon screening ended with a seven-minute standing ovation from packed audiences, and that the first part opened in American cinemas the same weekend through Samuel Goldwyn Films. Variety also reported that the film has sold to China, a further sign of its international reach.

De Gaulle had already been in the awards conversation before it reached Hollywood. In September, France’s 11-member selection committee shortlisted De Gaulle: Résistance as one of five titles in contention to represent France in the international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards, alongside Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Minotaur, Arthur Harari’s The Unknown, Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva and Louis Clichy’s animated Iron Boy, Screen Daily reported. The committee ultimately selected Minotaur as France’s submission, but the shortlisting put Baudry’s film among the most closely watched French titles of the season. The two parts of De Gaulle have also been shortlisted for the 2027 European Film Awards, whose nominations are due on 14 November during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, according to Cineuropa.

The American French Film Festival itself has spent three decades building its position as the main showcase for French cinema in the United States. Its 30th anniversary programme featured 31 fiction features, 11 series, four documentaries and 14 short films, many of them North American or United States premieres, including 19 titles from this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Among them were Minotaur and Fjord, the Palme d’Or winner, and the Netflix animation In Waves, which opened the festival. François Truffart, the festival’s executive producer and artistic director, told Screen Daily that the festival’s mission was to support filmmakers “from their earliest short films to eventual Oscar recognition”.

For the 18th year, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association partnered with the festival on the Critics’ Award and the First Feature Award in the cinema category, while audiences were invited to vote in the cinema, television and shorts categories. The festival’s sponsors included Unifrance, Villa Albertine, TV5 Monde and Variety as official sponsors, with Netflix as opening night sponsor.

Why It Matters

The audience prize for De Gaulle matters for three reasons: what it says about the film, what it says about the festival, and what it says about French cinema’s place in the American market.

First, the film itself. An audience award is a different kind of verdict from a jury prize: it measures how a paying public responds to a long, demanding historical epic in a foreign language, in a market where subtitles alone are often treated as a commercial handicap. That De Gaulle won the top audience honour after a five-hour, back-to-back marathon screening — and, according to Variety, a seven-minute standing ovation — suggests the film connects with viewers beyond the critics and programmers who championed it in France. Its French box-office performance already pointed the same way: more than five million admissions for a two-part historical drama is a rare commercial achievement, and it is the foundation of the film’s international campaign.

Second, the festival. Thirty years after its founding, the American French Film Festival has become the place where French films meet the people who decide their American fate: distributors, critics, guild members and Academy voters. This year’s programme was heavy with Cannes prizewinners and national Oscar submissions, so an audience prize won in front of that industry is not a purely local honour; it is a signal that a film can travel.

Third, the wider context. French cinema is enjoying a strong run on the festival circuit and in the awards race, with titles such as Minotaur, Fjord and La Gradiva all in contention for major honours. But festival acclaim does not automatically translate into American box-office success, and distributors have grown cautious about foreign-language releases. A popular prize at a Hollywood festival, won in front of the very audiences distributors need to reach, gives Samuel Goldwyn Films a concrete talking point as it rolls the film out: this is a film American audiences stood up and applauded.

The result also matters for the other winners. A Critics Award for La Gradiva adds an American laurel to a film that already carries a Cannes prize, strengthening its position with its United States distributor, 1-2 Special. A First Feature Award for A Place for Her puts a debut director on the map at the start of her career. And the documentary, students’ and series prizes show a festival that is no longer only about feature films: television and short-form work now share the stage, reflecting how audiences actually watch French stories in 2026.

Illustration: A golden trophy on a cinema awards stage — De Gaulle took the Audience Award, the festival's top honour for best film.

What Happens Next

For De Gaulle, the immediate next step is its American release. The first part, De Gaulle: Résistance, opened in United States cinemas on the weekend of the festival, through Samuel Goldwyn Films, and the film’s reception in Los Angeles will shape how widely the distributor pushes the second part, De Gaulle: Liberté, in the weeks ahead. The film has also sold to China, according to Variety, extending a rollout that began with its June releases in France.

The awards calendar now moves quickly. The European Film Academy will announce nominations for the 2027 European Film Awards on 14 November, and De Gaulle is on the Academy’s fiction shortlist, so Baudry’s film could add a European nomination to its American audience prize within days. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil its 15-film shortlist for best international feature on 15 December, with the five nominees announced on 21 January 2027 ahead of the 99th Academy Awards on 14 March 2027. France’s entry in that race is Minotaur, not De Gaulle, but the Los Angeles result keeps Baudry’s film firmly in the wider awards conversation.

For the festival, the 30th edition’s attendance of more than 18,000 — with sold-out opening and closing nights — sets a strong base for the 31st edition next year, when the event returns as a fixed point in the autumn calendar for French cinema in Hollywood.

The other winners will now take their prizes into their own release campaigns. La Gradiva will be handled in the United States by 1-2 Special, A Place for Her by Pathé Films for international sales, and Whispers in the Woods by Le Bureau Films. Each will use its Los Angeles laurel in the same way De Gaulle will: as evidence, presented to distributors, exhibitors and audiences, that the work has already been tested in front of a demanding public — and passed.

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FAQ

What is the American French Film Festival?

The American French Film Festival, known as TAFFF, is an annual festival in Los Angeles that showcases French and French-co-produced films, series, documentaries and short films. It is presented and produced by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a collaboration among the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, France’s SACEM and the Writers Guild of America West, in association with France’s CNC. The 2026 edition was its 30th anniversary, held from 3 to 8 November at the DGA Theater Complex in Hollywood.

Which film won the top prize at the 2026 festival?

Antonin Baudry’s two-part wartime epic De Gaulle won the Audience Award, the top honour for best film. The winners were presented at the closing ceremony on 8 November and announced on 9 November. The film stars Simon Abkarian as Charles de Gaulle and had its United States premiere at the festival.

What is De Gaulle about?

De Gaulle tells the story of Charles de Gaulle, the French general who led the Free French forces during the Second World War and later became president of France. It is released in two instalments, De Gaulle: Résistance and De Gaulle: Liberté, which together run for more than five hours. Pathé produces the film and distributes it in France, where the two parts have combined for more than five million admissions since their June 2026 releases, according to Screen Daily.

What other films won awards at the festival?

Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva won the Critics Award for best film, A Place for Her by Mélisa Godet won the First Feature Award, Vincent Munier’s Whispers in the Woods won the Documentary Film Award, and The Green Eyes by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh won the American Students Award. In television, Alice: Pioneer of Cinema won the Audience Series Award and Swapped won the Jury Series Award, while Diego and God Is Shy won the audience and jury short-film awards.

Where can audiences in the United States watch De Gaulle?

Samuel Goldwyn Films holds the United States distribution rights and released the first part, De Gaulle: Résistance, in American cinemas on the weekend of the festival, 7–8 November 2026. The second part, De Gaulle: Liberté, is expected to follow as the rollout extends.

Sources

• Film Daily, “Franco-American Cultural Fund announces TAFFF 2026 awards”, 9 November 2026 — full winners list, ceremony and attendance figures.
• Screen Daily, “‘Minotaur’, ‘Fjord’, ‘In Waves’ among 30th American French Film Festival lineup”, 6 October 2026 — festival programme, United States premiere of De Gaulle, Cannes titles.
• Screen Daily, “France unveils shortlist for 2027 international feature Oscar”, 10 September 2026 — De Gaulle: Résistance among France’s five-title Oscar shortlist; more than five million admissions in France.
• Screen Daily, “France sends Andrey Zvyagintsev’s ‘Minotaur’ to 2027 international Oscar race”, 17 September 2026 — Minotaur selected as France’s submission over De Gaulle and the other finalists.
• Cineuropa, “The European Film Academy announces the European Film Awards shortlist”, 14 October 2026 — De Gaulle on the 2027 European Film Awards fiction shortlist; nominations 14 November 2026.
• Variety, “Goldwyn Bets on French WW2 Epic ‘De Gaulle’ Crossing Over to U.S. Audiences”, 8 November 2026 — seven-minute standing ovation at the TAFFF premiere, United States release weekend, sale to China.