the festival was founded by mme maidy teitelbaum who is the ongoing operational president. the festival's first 10 years were at le musée des beaux-arts de montréal --- in 2004 the festival moved to the greater capacity imperial cinema. in 2006, mme teitelbaum was awarded the chevalier dans l'ordre des arts et des lettres by the french government for her work in fostering french culture. in addition, in 2008 the sacd (societe des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques) decorated mme teitelbaum with the awarded each year since 1777 to the persons who best exemplify efforts to protect the rights of artists, composers and writers.