The lights dim. The screen turns on. A crowd of students sits at the edge of their red seats, waiting in anticipation.

On Nov. 10, French students of all levels watched a screening of “April in France” during AcLab. After receiving tickets in their French classes, they were able to check in at the theater at the beginning of the block. 

“I haven’t watched international movies that much before, and I haven’t watched a French movie before, so it was very new,” said sophomore Nikki Paquette.

The movie follows April, a 5-year-old girl, and her father as they move from London to Paris just as the COVID-19 lockdown begins. In an effort to help April acclimate, the pair go on a trip to her late great-grandfather’s former home in Labasade.

“My favorite part of the movie was probably just seeing April get more accustomed to living in France and start to enjoy it more, and seeing her walk around, enjoy nature and meet new people,” Paquette said. “My biggest takeaway is that you should enjoy the moment and you won’t always get your way at first. But if you try to enjoy [the situation], then it can be better than you expected.”

The screening was part of the 32nd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 9-19 and exposes audiences to movies from 32 countries in 39 languages. French teacher Blair Hopkins worked with Cinema St. Louis to organize the screening at school.

“I’ve been on [Cinema St. Louis’] mailing list for years. They emailed me in October and said this is what the movie will be for this year,” Hopkins said. “Then I had to reserve the theater. The only tricky part that took the longest was touching base with all of the people [who] wanted to sign up.”

Hopkins believes that movies can be an important part of learning a language.

“If you’re learning another language, the best thing you can do is find something that’s interesting to you. So movies or TV or books or whatever you like to read or listen to, just because you need as much input as possible,” Hopkins said. “To me, that’s got a really special place in my heart because that’s how I improved my French, [through] just zillions of movies.”

Cinema St. Louis offers its International Film Festival each November, along with the Robert Classic French Film Festival each April. Hopkins recommends that all students participate in these events.

“I still like to watch Italian movies, even though I don’t speak that language. I just think the view of the world is so, so interesting. Cinema styles are so different and I always learn something about the world that I didn’t know. That’s really important for everybody to do. It’s kind of like you traveled without actually having to go anywhere,” Hopkins said.