Heartbreaker (15), 2 - 15 July

Rom-com is not usually a term associated with cinema gold. Heartbreaker is 24 carat funny, already securing a huge and appreciative audience in its native France. Leads Vanessa Paradis and Romain Duris are a very glamorous but unconventional couple. Alex (Duris) has a policy of only chasing women already in a relationship, and Juliette (Paradis) seems very happy and fulfilled in hers. Perhaps Alex’s motivation in breaking up couples will be exposed by his new conquest? See this sexy film before you have to tolerate the inevitable word, remake.

White Material (15), 2 - 15 July

Set in an African country in the throes of a civil and racial conflict, White Material follows a French woman determined to keep her coffee plantation functioning even while social structures are collapsing and her workforce is bailing out. With her ex-husband at her side and her son violently propelled into the action, Maria must draw on all her resources to survive. Meanwhile, a rebel officer is hiding out nearby. As their way of life disintegrates around them, each character makes choices, none of which are predictable.

Claire Denis: The Cinema of Desire and Sensation. Jenny Munro, postgraduate student at University of Glasgow, will introduce the season prior to the screening on Sunday 4 July (5.30).

Leaving (15), 9 -22 July

When an unhappy housewife tries leaving her husband for another man, she runs into even unhappier times in this brooding tale of explosive amour fou. Tightly wound and crafted, with robust performances by Kristin Scott Thomas and Sergi Lopez, the film offers a rough, no-frills take on a story as old as France itself. Director Catherine Corsini is no stranger to making films with complex female protagonists, and her story of wilful female passion is made all the more engrossing by the bold performances of her high-calibre cast.

Screening with The Artists’ Cinema short film A Love Story (5 mins) part of a new series of artists’ film commissions from the ICO and LUX

Three Colours: Blue (15), 11 July

The first instalment of Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy remains his most cherished. Juliette Binoche is stunning as a widow attempting to overcome the recent death of her family by disowning her past – but painful memories haunt her isolation.

Le Concert (15), 16 - 29 July

Andrei Flipov was a prodigy – the celebrated conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra, the greatest orchestra in Russia. Today aged 50, he still works at the Bolshoi, but as a cleaner. During the communist era he was fired at the height of his fame for refusing to get rid of his Jewish players, including his best friend Sacha Grossman. Then Andrei finds a fax. An invitation for the orchestra to play at Pleyel, in Paris, in two weeks time, as a last minute replacement for the indisposed San Francisco Philharmonic. The Concert is pure weepie pleasure – and a brilliant, old-fashioned lesson in how a piece of music can be used cinematically to carry and mould an audience’s emotions.

London River (12A), 27 - 29 July

This is the story of Ousmane, a Muslim, and Mrs Sommers, a Christian. Ousmane lives in France, Mrs Sommers in the Channel Islands. They both lead ordinary lives until their respective children go missing on the day of a terrorist attack in London. Although they come from different religious backgrounds, Ousmane and Mrs Sommers share the same hope of finding their children alive.

12A: Contains brief moderate injury detail and emotionally intense scenes

Gainsbourg (15), 30 July - 12 August

From a child in Nazi-occupied Paris to the sultry crooner who bedded Brigitte Bardot and married Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg is one of France’s greatest mavericks. This imaginative and visually flamboyant debut feature from Sfar, a brilliant French cartoonist, brings back to life the world’s most influential popular musicians – an artistic icon and a provocateur. Taking the best from La Vie en Rose and Amelie, Gainsbourg is one of 2010’s highly awaited films.