November 2008

Welcome to our monthly bulletin on language and culture from the French Embassy. Click here to view other months. Click here to be removed from list.
 
Student contest on Europe
Deadline: November 15
To celebrate France’s European Union presidency, taking place from July to December 2008, the French Embassy in partnership with the French-American Chamber of Commerce, the French Institute Alliance Française and the French-American Fondation organize a high school contest opened to Tri-state high school students only. "Concours sur l'Europe" is an essay competition. Great prizes will be offered: one-week trips to France valued at 5 000€ and 2 000€! The Deadline to participate is November 15, 2008 at Midnight. more | website | flyer [pdf]

N.Y. Premiere Aurélia’s Oratorio - FIAF
November 20 to November 22
The Jack H. Skirball Center at NYU presents the New York premiere of Aurélia’s Oratorio, a hit international sensation starring Aurélia Thiérrée in a display of acrobatics, dance, puppetry. Inspired by medieval drawings, the magic of music hall, and circus, Aurélia’s Oratorio will play for 4performances only.more | website
Celebration - Florence Gould Hall's Anniversary FIAF
November 1 to November 25
In honor of Florence Gould Hall’s 20th Anniversary, FIAF has created a celebration of the French culture. The celebrations presents a CinémaTuesdays series dedicated to memorable films featuring French stars.The Opéra Français de New York also presents the U.S Premiere of Kurt Weill’s Marie Galante for 3 performances on November 13, 15 & 16.more | website
Les sept planches de la ruse - 2008 Next Wave Festival BAM
November 5 to November 8
Deceptively simple and sublimely elegant, the ancient Chinese game of tangram moves mathematics into the realm of poetry. For Aurélien Bory, artistic director of France's Compagnie 111, it's an inspired starting point for the stunning nouveau cirque work | website
“Every Minute, Four Ideas: The Films of Arnaud Desplechin”
November 5 to November 13
A comprehensive retrospective of one of France’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers screens at IFC Center. The series includes all of Desplechin’s acclaimed fiction features—La sentinelle, the breakthrough My sex life... or how I got an argument, the English-language Ester Kahn, and his hit Kings and Queens. Also screened are the rarely-shown L' aimee, and the early featurette La vie des morts, winner of the Prix Jean Vigo. more | website

Burning Man, Voyage in Utopia by Laurent Le Gall
November 8 & November 9
In celebration of highly evolved concept of Burning Man, Free Run Pictures is screening their documentary, “Burning Man: Voyage in Utopia” an immersion into a journey towards a new world. Just as impressive, the original musical score composed by French recording artist, Nelly Mella, blends a marvelous melody of vocal chants. Billed as one of the best films about Burning Man ever seen, “Voyage in Utopia” is sure to grab the souls of viewers worldwide…more | website
New French Films - BAM
November 12 to November 16
Each year the Brooklyn Academy of Music presents the best recent cinema from France. This year, it introduces perhaps their best selection yet - All is Forgiven, Just Anybody, Angel, Journey to the Pyrenees, and also including a sneak preview of François Ozon’s latest as well as recent winner of the Prix Louis Delluc (given by French film critics), The Secret of the Grain.| website
Stranded by Gonzalo Arijón
Through November 4
In 1972, a plane filled with cheerful, well-to-do young men, leaving Uruguay for a rugby game in Chile, crashed in a remote part of the Andes. Stranded recreates the extraordinary experience of the 29 who initially survived the crash, followed by two months of cold, hunger and despair. Winner of the Grand Prize at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).more | website

L’Orchestre de Contrebasses - Theater Connelly
November 27 to December 21
Created in 1981 by Christian Gentet, “L’Orchestre de Contrebasses” symbolises a most promising approach to modern musical creativity. “L’Orchestre de Contrebasses” groups six virtuosi. These musicians blend sound and sight : a revolutionary repertoire in which music discovers new horizons, where the double-bass, pushed to its extreme limits, becomes sensual, seductive, and magical, where we find ourselves willing captives of a spontaneous musical flight. | more
New Literature from Europe
November 17 to November 21
Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the literary series New Literature from Europe this year takes on the burgeoning world of graphic novels. Graphic Novels from Europe presents 5 days of discussions, exhibits and book signings. Please join us to meet artists especially the French artist Nicolas De Crécy. | more
Denis Darzacq The Fall- Part of "I kiffe NY" French Urban Cultures Festival
 Through November 20
Photographer Denis Darzacq’s images presented in The Fall become a metaphor for youth in precarious stability, playing a game of equilibrium and provocation. Featuring the bodies of young hip-hop, capoeira and contemporary dancers in weightless positions, The Fall opposes the elasticity of these bodies to the raw material of architecture. | more
Francois Chevallier - Pop art collection “Ma Tribu” (Personal Tribe)
November 24 to January 4
Francois states “Ma Tribu” (Personal Tribe) conveys the “natural” so called relational mode, a homogenous and interdependent group spirited with a sincere friendship. The approach is stimulated by photography. The proper image is a portrait that will reveal the road on which I am going to explore the regions of a face, looking for its truth and soul.”Francois lives and works in Paris.An opening reception and the unveiling of his latest acrylic portraits will be held on Wednesday, December 3rd from 7-9 p.m at the Gershwin Hotel.| website
French Style at Home : Living Today at Château Vaux le Vicomte - FIAF
November 18, at 7pm
Join Comte and Comtesse Patrice and Cristina de Vogüé for a lively inside conversation about their passion for Vaux le Vicomte, the architectural masterpiece that inspired Versailles. Cristina de Vogüé, a renowned and elegant hostess, will share her personal experience as a modern châtelaine. The evening will include a tasting of her famed desserts, featured in her new book Decadent Desserts, Recipes from Château Vaux le Vicomte.| more

Guggenheim - The anyspacewhatever
October 24, 2008 to January 7, 2009
A number of artists whose three French artists - Dominique Gonzales, Philippe Parreno, Pierre Huygue - eschewed the individual object in favor of the exhibition environment as a dynamic arena. Organized by the museum’s Chief Curator, Nancy Spector, the exhibition will present a genealogy of their shared history through site-specific installations of new, often self-reflexive works created on the occasion of this project. more | website
Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940
November 5, November 19, December 4
The Museum of the City of New York will organizes 3 discussions : Bringing Paris Home: The Influence of Parisian Interior Design by Penny Drue Baird, author of Bringing Paris Home (The Monacelli Press, 2008) and one of Architectural Digest's top 100 designers ; French Cuisine and Restaurants in New York, with some of the most renowned chiefs and restaurant owners ; Harlem in Montmartre: American Jazz in Paris by Charles Hobson, contributor to Thirteen/WNET's " Great Performances,". | website



Conversation with The Honorable Guy Yelda, Consul-General of France in New York
November 10, 6:00 pm
The French-American Foundation cordially invites you to a conversation and reception with The Honorable Guy Yelda, Consul-General of France in New York on the topic France's Presidency of the European Union. Nicholas Dungan, President of the French-American Foundation, will conduct the conversation with the Consul-General. This will be followed by questions and answers from the audience in the Harvard Club of New York City. | website
Lectures at The Center for French Studies
November 6 - November 19 - November 24
The center for French Stuides will organize 3 lectures : "Simone de Beauvoir and the United States" by Annie Cohen-Solal, "Theatre et opera francais a l'age classique: regularite et corretion poetique (Pourquoi hair l'opera)" by Professor Catherine Kintzler, and "Translating diversity in the middle ages" by Simon Gaunt.| website

Fatou Diome at the Maison Francaise, Columbia University
November 12
With the aid of the Cultural Services of the French Consulate, the Maison will host Senegalese novelist and literary critic Fatou Diome for a special lecture. Author of Le Ventre de L'Atlantique (2003) and Ketala (2006), her latest book, Inassouvies, Nos Vies, has just been published. Please note that Fatou Diome will speak in French. | website

Christian Boltanski at the Maison Francaise, Columbia University
November 18
Christian Boltanski will deliver the Fall 2008 Eugene J. Sheffer Distinguished Lecture. In his lecture "The Impossible Life of Christian Boltanski", he will focus on themes of memory and loss. His artwork can be found in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Louvre and MoMA. | website
Talks - Literary Rebels
November 6
Join renowned author and cultural critic Edmund White and distinguished writer Francine du Plessix Gray, as they discuss the subjects of their new biographies: Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel, and Madame de Staël: The First Modern Woman (Atlas & Co.). A book signing with the two authors will follow the discussion.| more

Bike Share: From Paris to New York?
November 12, 6:30 p.m.
A round table will be organized at The Institute of French Studies Colloquium. A Film screening "Paris : Velo Liberte" from Karena Albers and Tad Fettig will be followed by a discussion.| calendar
Fall Festival 2008 Lycee Francais New York
November 14 to November 15
The Lycée Français de New York hosts a two-day event featuring a French and English book sale, classes, and cultural activities. Proceeds from the event contribute to the Annual Fund, which assists with scholarships, sports and arts funding. | website
Inauguration of the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques
March, 18 2009
Centre de la francophonie des Amériques wishes to put the French-speaking world in movement by facilitating the exchanges, the partnership and the development of networks between the numerous communities which compose it. The Center offers a place of virtual gathering for the individuals, the organisms and the partners of the French-speaking world of Americas.| website
French English bilingual classes PS 151
November 18 at 6 pm
EFNY (Enseignement Francais a NY) organize an information meeting about the opening of French-English Dual Language classes in PS 151 for Kindergarten and 1st grade. Bilingual classes are constituted by 50% of French speaking children and 50% of English-speaking children who want to learn French. Classes teach the program of public schools of NYC. We are looking for parents and students interested in participating in a dual language program at PS 151.| website
French Learning Games for Adults and Teens
November 14
The FIAF Language Center presents the Teachers’ Workshop Program. Under the guidance of certified educators, all of whom are native French speakers, current and future French teachers may improve their instruction of French to primary students, secondary students, and adults. French Learning Games for Adults and Teens will be presented: Fanny Raineau, Professor at FIAF. | website
Presentation of French-English Dual-Language Programs in Primary Schools at Rutgers University
December 1st - 6pm
contact: Christelle Palpacuer (christelle.palpacuer@rutgers.edu) or Francois Cornilliat (fracorn@rci.rutgers.edu) 732.932.8223.
Contest "Histoires de l'histoire de l'art"
Deadline : March 25, 2009
The Ministry of Education organizes an essay competition for French-speaking students. Students have to write a text from an image according to a series of scenarios proposed on the site www.imageimaginaire.com.The goal is to propose an opening towards the art history and to arouse the creative writing. Students from 14-years old to 20-years old are eligible.| website
Class for teens
Small downtown group seeks students, middle and high school ages, to join reading and writing class. Native speakers only. Saturday 2-4, class is fun and includes discussions, theater and music. Contact: f_nash@yahoo.com.

A bientôt,

Fabrice Jaumont
Education Attache
French Embassy
972 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10075
fabrice.jaumont@diplomatie.gouv.fr

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