OUR HISTORY
THE BET OF AN UNUSUAL FESTIVAL!
“2005. In a Paris that ignores graffiti and battles, two pioneers dare to film the street.”
the duo
François & Hayette
In the 1980s, Sydney became the first Black host on French television with the show HIP HOP on TF1. Meanwhile, in the United States, Spike Lee imposed a radical and necessary new perspective with Do the Right Thing. Meanwhile, in France, the image of the suburbs was still struggling to find its place on screens.
A few years later, injured while on the rise in the world of breaking, François Gautret took up the camera to document the hip-hop underground of his neighborhood. His raw films, broadcast on Zalea TV, won awards abroad... but in France, few channels accepted this perspective.
In 2005, he founded the Urban Films Festival alongside Hayette Fellah , Director of RStyle. Together, they imagined a place for dissemination, meetings, struggles and hope, which quickly became the first French forum dedicated to urban cinema.
Twenty years later
Twenty years later, this dream has become an international hub for urban cinema.
At a time when Netflix, Disney, and Prime are promoting stories from the streets, and when young people are sharing their own films via TikTok and YouTube, the UFF remains the leading French platform dedicated to this style of cinema, born out of urgency and necessity. A cinema that has never ceased to carry the energy of the neighborhoods, without reducing them, while retaining its militant essence. As in the film La Haine, "so far so good," the most important thing is not the fall, but the landing .
MK2 Stalingrad, November 2005: the street invades the screen.
It all began in the early 2000s with the B BOY TV show and the first short films shot during international meetings. Awarded abroad but misunderstood in France, we appeared as "UFOs" in an overly classic cinematic landscape.
In its early days, the festival reflected an overlooked reality: filming the streets, their practices and stories, in a context where resources were scarce and people were often wary. This cinema did not speak of hatred but rather noted it, before ending with love and hope.
François founded RStyle in 1999 and, alongside Hayette Fellah, organized the very first Urban Films Festival screening in 2005. 35 films, as many perspectives on the city: a shockwave for the public and the press.
In October 2005, the MK2 Stalingrad hosted the first edition: a founding moment that finally opened the doors to a youth that had been kept apart until then, reconciling the street and cinema. Very quickly, the festival spread to the four corners of the world and became a reference in terms of urban cinema.
First Edition,
First Impact
MK2 Stalingrad, November 2005: the street invades the screen.
It all began in the early 2000s with the B BOY TV show and the first short films shot during international meetings. Awarded abroad but misunderstood in France, we appeared as "UFOs" in an overly classic cinematic landscape.
In its early days, the festival reflected an overlooked reality: filming the streets, their practices and stories, in a context where resources were scarce and people were often wary. This cinema did not speak of hatred but rather noted it, before ending with love and hope.
Alongside Hayette Fellah, François founded RStyle and organized the very first screening of the Urban Films Festival. 35 films, as many perspectives on the city: a shockwave for the public and the press.
In November 2005, the MK2 Stalingrad hosted the first edition: a founding moment that finally opened the doors to a youth that had been kept apart until then, reconciling the street and cinema. Very quickly, the festival was exported to Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Canada, winning the Francophonie Prize and the Authenticity Prize, before being invited to the Hip Hop Film Festival in Los Angeles.
From a Popular Neighborhood to International Influence
True to its roots, the UFF builds bridges between generations, neighborhoods and horizons.
Twenty years later, technological accessibility has opened the camera to everyone: filming is no longer a privilege, but a possibility for everyone. The UFF has followed this evolution by transforming itself: it is no longer simply a screening venue, but a true platform for experimentation. Between hybrid shows, immersive cinema, and unique performances like the Hip Hop Show 360, the festival explores new ways of experiencing and sharing urban cinema, always in tune with its times.
But the UFF hasn't forgotten its roots: it continues to screen in working-class neighborhoods, at 104 or outdoors, to change mentalities without ever reducing the street to an "elsewhere." Here, there's no hierarchy: the neighborhoods remain at the center. The festival acts as a bridge between social and artistic worlds, connecting the professional world of cinema with semi-professional or self-taught creators.
Thanks to its strategic partnerships (DRAC Île-de-France, Conseil Départemental 93, Netflix), its influence extends internationally, from Montreal to Noumea, from Los Angeles to Paris: but its mission remains the same since day one: to show, understand and transmit urban cinema, everywhere and for everyone.
THE MISSION of the Festival: Dream and Transmit
More than a competition, a living laboratory of street cultures and the cinema of tomorrow.
From a conservatory, the UFF has become a platform looking to the future:
Experiment with new writing and hybrid forms of cinema,
Passing on twenty years of archives to future generations,
Propel 30 new talents into the spotlight each year,
Reinventing the relationship with urban cinema so that it remains a space for free, poetic and daring creation.
The UFF is no longer just a place for projection: it is a driving force for innovation and transmission, always in motion.
ANIMATION - DOCUMENTARY - FICTION - FEATURE FILM - PERFORMANCE - VIDEO
TO REFLECT
The diversity of the city
PROJECTION
20 YEARS
IN FIGURES
+6000
Court métrage
+150
Winners
+100
Places
+100
Partners
URBAN FILMS FESTIVAL
The Biggest Urban Film Festival
OUR PARTNERS
2025
