Beaune International Thriller Film Festival

Heir to the Cognac Festival

The Beaune International Thriller Film Festival was born in 2009, succeeding the famous Cognac Film Festival which had been held for twenty-five years (1982-2007) in Charente. After the cancellation of the Cognac edition for financial reasons and the absence of a festival in 2008, Beaune took up the torch by hosting the first edition in its cinemas and cultural venues. The president of the feature film jury for this inaugural edition was Claude Chabrol, an emblematic figure of French cinema.

A prestigious festival for crime cinema

For eleven editions, from 2009 to 2019, the Beaune International Thriller Film Festival established itself as one of the unmissable events for thrillers and crime films worldwide. Two juries—one composed of film personalities, the other of police professionals—awarded the films in competition. The festival also presented the French Crime Novel Award and the Foreign Crime Novel Award, given by a jury of fifteen personalities from the literary and cinematic world.

Tributes and international stars

Over the years, the festival paid tribute to many personalities from the crime film genre: Robert Duvall at the first edition, but also Harvey Keitel, Oliver Stone, Tim Roth, James Ellroy, and many others. Screenings and ceremonies took place in Beaune's cinemas and heritage sites, offering an exceptional setting for fans of the genre.

Move to Reims

After the 2019 edition, the festival left Beaune to settle in Reims under the name Reims Polar. An online edition was organized in 2021 due to the health crisis, before resuming in person in Reims. The Beaune International Thriller Film Festival remains, however, an important chapter in the cultural history of the Burgundian city and French crime cinema.