Culture In France

Vying for a prize in the Fipadoc international competition category in Biarritz in January 2019 is Oscuros y Lucientes. Madrid director Samuel Alarcon's second film digs into the mystery surrounding Goya's lost head. Despite the serious subject, Alarcon raised a few laughs during the film's French première. The body of the great Spanish artist was exhumed some 30 years after his burial in the French city of Bordeaux in 1828.The Spanish consul in the mid-19th century was having the emigré's remains repatriated. When the grave was opened, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes' head had been removed.Mixing art history, history of science and an eye for the extraordinary within the ordinary, in today's cities of Bordeaux, Madrid and others, Alarcon's story unfolds gradually and leaves place for his own imagination as well as the spectator's."This gives the sensation that a lot of amazing stories are happening all the time."A cluster of open umbrellas moves away like a dark grey cloud from a statue of the head of Goy

Caravaggio in Rome: Friends and Foes is a compact yet intense exhibition running at The Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris. Some of the most important works of the early 17th-century Italian painter, as well as those of his peers and his disciples, are on display. The exhibition explores the painters' milieu, highlighting themes like music, games, romance and religion. RFI's Rosslyn Hyams speaks to Pierre Curie, curator of the Jacquemart-André Museum and co-curator of Caravaggio in Rome.

Paris's Maillol Museum was founded in 1995 by Dina Vierny, a model and close associate for 19th and 20th-century sculptor Aristide Maillol. It is currently showing the works of Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, along with several works by artists such as Maillol, Aguste Rodin and Germaine Richier. Interesting to compare. To listen to Rosslyn Hyams's radio report click on the arrow in the top right hand of the photo. Alberto Giacometti spent a lot of time in Paris, in his studio in Montparnasse, and his works have been more or less fashionable over the years since his death in 1966.Today he is considered as one of the most important sculptors of his generation.The exhibition at the Musée Maillol in association with the Giacometti Foundation, is laid out to enable an exploration of Giacometti's sculptures and drawing.In bright white spaces, the delicate heads in glass cubes look all the more vulnerable.How thin can a person be? Giacometti saw the human figure as frail, even cast in a solid metal like bronze. His

An exhibition that is part of the French centenary commemorations for the end of World War I provides a fascinating historical and geographical eye-opener, centred on the peace treaties signed after the war and what came next in central and eastern Europe, as well as in the Middle East. The Museum of the Armies, set in Paris's imposing Invalides complex built in the 17th century under Louis XIV, has brought together rare documents and artefacts, parts of uniforms or weapons, propaganda tools like posters from some 20 collections in France and Europe, east and west.The museum's film department has joined Gaumont-Pathé in digging out and restored some rarely seen footage.As part of the many events being organised in France this year for the centenary of the end of World War I, on 11 November 2018, the exhibition sheds light on the lesser known consequences of the devastating war on countries west of France and Italy.Without ignorng the suffering of the soldiers and their families in the Flanders fields, the exh

At the National Drama Centre in Montreuil, a suburb east of Paris, director Mathieu Bauer's double-bill Nuit Américaine adapts two US movies for the stage. Bauer says it's like "diving into the history of cinema and of the US" at the same time.Click on the arrow in the top right-hand of the photo to listen to the RFI English Culture in France broadcast on 17 October 2018, and hear actors Clément Barthelet and Rémi Fortin talk about their experiences in the plays. Plays and literature are more often adapted to the screen rather than vice versa. French director Mathieu Bauer thinks differently. He draws all the elements of stage, not least of all illusion, to pull off an entertaining and thought-provoking double-bill.He began with Samuel Fuller's 1963 Shock Corridor, set in a mental hospital, as a project for the students of the National Theatre School in Strasbourg (TNS) and which has matured naturally over the past three years.The same crew work with Bauer, and his accomplices/musicians Sylvain Cartigny and J

Rosslyn Hyams visits powerful exhibitions of photos taken in central and east Africa, mainly of refugees and internally displaced people near and on the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where long-awaited elections are slated for December 2018.

In this week's Culture in France, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams visits the Vaux le Vicomte Fait son Cinéma exhibition in the 17th Century palace and gardensnear Paris. The grounds and rooms have featured in some 50 movies over the past half-century since opened to the public in 1968, a revolutionary year. Click on the arrow on the photo to hear the feature. US director Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2005) was shot in part at Vaux le Vicomte, as was French stage and film director Ariane Mnouchkine's Molière (1977), along with at least two films directed by French veteran film maker Bertrand Tavernier, including Que la Fête Commence (1974), and Milos Forman's 1988 Valmont. More recently, Vaux le Vicomte, also popular for its Year-End decorations and festivities, hosted the shoot of Dany Boon's comedy Raid Dingue (2016), and the TV historical drama series, Versailles devised and directed by Simon Mirren and David Wolstencroft.The exhibition, Vaux le Vicomte fait son cinéma which runs until 4 November combines 17th cen

Culture in France this week climbs to a niche in the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac museum in Paris, for a small but powerful exhibition about the life and times of Afro-American international actor, singer, rights campaigner, Paul Robeson. "Paul's influence, along with others, was massive, even if he's not talked about so much these days," remarks Paris-based US Opera Singer Howard Haskin.Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda Goode, a scientist and rights campaigner, were part of a generation of Black, or African, Americans who were trail blazers in the 20th century. Robeson. They fought for equal rights, at home and abroad, and beyond skin colour or race.The exhibition at the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac museum shows him as a multi-faceted man of the world, cosmopolitan and outreaching, a sort of "man for everyman and everywoman".He was part of a pan-Africanist movement which stretched from the US and Caribbean to England, Africa and the Soviet Union, and as well as being a gifted man, he was an advocate of humanity.

America Great Again was a major section of one of the biggest photography conventions in the world, held in the picturesque southern French town of Arles. Rosslyn Hyams reports on the higlights of Les Rencontres d'Arles, which runs until 23 September 2018. Listen to this week's Culture in France by clicking on the arrow on the photo. One of the biggest draws for photography fans, for history fans, for art fans, from all over the world, the 49th Rencontres d'Arles saw a six percent rise in the number of visitors during the first week of July, which was reserved for photographers or associated professions.In all 18,500 people visited in the first week alone.In September there's less of a crush to explore the works of top ranking international photographers, old and new, working across all styles.Among the various awards at Les Rencontres this year, the event's 20,000-euro Discovery Prize went to Dutch photographer Paulien Oltheten for his works on the La Défense business district of Paris.And the work of two of

Still a busy cosmopolitan city, Paris winds down in the summer. But in July the annual performing arts festival, Paris l'été, occupies some of the spaces vacated by schoolchildren and holidaymaking Parisians in public buildings and outdoors, including one of the municipal swimming pools. As if France's winning the football World Cup wasn't exciting enough, Paris was gearing up for the opening events in the Paris summer festival on the very day President Emmanuel Macron celebrated the victory with the national team at the Elysée palace.Now the festival is up and running, jumping and even moving very slowly (in Johann Guillerm's Transhumant for example).Indoor and outdoor cultural events, peforming arts and installations or "happenings" are organised by the city in 28 different venues in and around the capital until 4 August.Cue for international cooperation, fraternity and bridgebuilding. As well as showcasing French talent, some shows are from Belgium, Burkina Faso and Japan.On Wednesday night a special, free

A festival of cinema from the Middle East and Gulf, organised by, and at, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris has been revived. The 10-day Festival des Cinémas Arabes programmed films from across the Arabic-culture countries, giving a boost to the Institute's regular cinema programme. At a lively ceremony at the Institut on 8 July, prizes rewarded emerging talents especially. The Festival des Cinémas Arabes awards at the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris were as follows:Fiction category:Joint winners of the short and medium features: Affability by Ahmad Nader (Egypt, 2017) and Land Of Our Fathers by Ulaa Salim (Iraq, 2017)IMA award for best actress: Zahraa Ghandour in The Journey by Mohamed Jabarah Al Daradji (Iraq/Qatar/France/The Netherlands/UK, 2017)IMA award for best actor : a collective award to the castof The Lunch by Lucien Bourjeily, (Lebanon, 2017)IMA/TV5MONDE award for first feature: Benzine by Sarra Abidi (Tunisia, 2017Jury Special/Hyatt Paris Madeleine feature award: The Lunch by Lucien Bourjei

The Avignon Festival is one of the biggest collective annual theatre events in Europe. The programme will see the whole spectrum of performing arts take place in and around the south-eastern French region. In this week's Culture in France, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams talks to festival director Olivier Py and some of the artists whose work has marked the first of the three week-long international showing.

The Champs-Elysées film festival is underway at some of the many cinema halls on and around the famous Parisian avenue. The festival focus is American and French independent cinema. One of its highlights are its retrospectives. One of the special guests is British actor Tim Roth. A man of many faces, and even an ape's as RFI's Rosslyn Hyams reports in this month's Culture in France. Roth's full interview with RFI can be heard on RFI Soundcloud. The 7th Champs-Elysées film festival runs competitions for feature and short films, French and US, and some coproductions. Results at the closing ceremony on Tuesday, June 19.Here's a list of movies in the running:US Features1985 directed by Yen TanHale County This Morning, This Evening directed by Ramell RossMadeline's Madeline by Josephine DeckerMy Name is Myeisha by Gus KriegerSollers Point - Baltimore directed by Matt PorterfieldTyrel directed by Sebastián SilvaFrench Features68, mon père et les clous (68, My Father and the Nails) directed by Samuel BigiaouiCassand

In this week's Culture in France, Christiane Naffah-Bayle curator of an exhibition of official French tapestry called  'Au Fil du Siècle' - 'A Century-long-thread' talks about textile works which have recorded French history, art and social trends from 1918 up till today. Some of the best pieces in the collection of the famous Manufacture des Gobelins, from 1918 up to today, are showcased in the Galerie de Gobelins until September 2018.

Two Syrian cooks living in France offer a unique take on classic recipes from the Levant. Inspired by memories of their childhood in Aleppo and Damascus respectively, their food creations also bear a marked French influence. Myriam Sabet, owner and founder of Maison Aleph in the Marais neighbourhood of Paris opened her patisserie shop in July 2017.People from Tokyo, Los Angeles, Astana or Berlin stop by to taste her pastries and ice creams (only in summer), infused with Middle Eastern flavours - citron, mastic, sumac, orange blossom, to name but a few."My creations come from what I would like to make people [here] discover," she explains. "For example, we're going to mix tamarind with almond paste; we're going to work zaatar with chocolate and peach. The idea always is to procure pleasure and if, at the same time, our clients discover new flavours, the deal is done."Maison Aleph’s recipe of Sesame Halva 1001 FeuillesBy Myriam Sabet, Paris.Preparation: about one hourChilling and baking: about 3 1/2 hoursYield:

The Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, The Directors' Fortnight opens on Wednesday, 9 May, 2018 in Cannes. In its 50th anniversary year, RFI's Rosslyn Hyams looks at one the documentaries from the first Quinzaine in 1969, a documentary which harks back to the origins of the parallel programme.

Political posters with slogans like "It's forbidden to forbid" or "Under the paving stones, the beach" were a driving force in the May 68 Paris uprisings. The vast majority were designed and printed at Paris's Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts school) by the Atelier Populaire collective. Fifty years on, the school is showing that art work at the Images en Lutte exhibition. This exhibition on the visual culture of the far left from 1968 to 1974 includes posters, painting, sculptures, films, photos, tracts. It begins with the major demonstrations against the war in Vietnam and ends in 1974 following the coup d'Etat in Chile and the dissolution of the Maoist Proletarian Left party in France.But, while it is still unclear whether there will be any official recognition of the 50th anniversary of massive protests and strikes that nearly brought down President Charles de Gaulle and his government, it's the political art work done by the Atelier populaire that's grabbing headlines.From 5 May to 28 June, students and teachers fro

The Good Chance Theatre builds temporary theatres of hope promoting freedom of expression, creativity and dignity for everyone. It gives people the opportunity to express and empower themselves, to engage in dialogue and debate, and to experience the enriching and transformative power of art. They first set up in the Jungle in Calais in 2015. And now they've come to the French capital. Sophie Gorman has this report. 

The Prisoner is a play co-written and directed by 93 year-old Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne. It's on until 24 March at the Bouffes du Nord Brook's old theatre where he also housed a theatre laboratory. In this week's Culture in France RFI's Rosslyn Hyams speaks to Brook about his play, and to Ery Nzaramba, who plays one of the main parts.

The Georges Pompidou Centre this spring is hosting three photographers from South Africa. David Goldblatt's critical work during apartheid and emigré South African photographers Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg, in their conceptual work. RFI's Rosslyn Hyams has this report.