We don’t know how this bypassed the attentions of the Daily Mail-reading, Union Jack-toting, anti-French brigade, but the annual celebration of cheese-eating, surrender-monkey cinema has reached its 16th year in the UK.

That’s right, mes amis. If you can detect a faint whiff of garlic in the air, it’s because the French Film Festival UK has invaded our shores with the typically-French intention of mocking our dainty, English sensibilities and seducing our spouses. That’s just the price we pay for the chance to see a sample of engrossing films from across the channel before they’re picked up by Hollywood and re-made with all the subtlety of a flatulent Walrus wearing a drum-kit trying to sneak out to the toilet while at a poetry reading.

The festival kicks off on the 7th March but if you need your fix before then, Sky Arts are broadcasting classic and contemporary French films over the month which include films starring Mission Impossible’s Emmanuelle Béart and Asterix’s Gérard Depardieu (yes, I could have picked a better film from Monsieur Depardieu’s filmography, but that movie was so awful it deserves special attention).

Find out more about the festival and see what films are showing on Sky Arts here…