Bulletin mensuel: novembre 2015

In addition to our monthly meeting, November sees a number of events with a French theme taking place in Belfast including a book launch, a Film Festival and of course Bal Feirste's regular session of French music and dance.

The next meeting of the Cercle Français de Belfast will be …

on Mercredi 11 novembre 2015 à 19h.30

in Dark Horse Coffee House,

30-34, Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LB (Directions attached)

Verdun: Devoir de mémoire Nos ADHÉRENTS

It is almost 100 years since the battle of Verdun. In this exploration of War and Memory members of the cercle share their reflections of this devastating event.

New Novel Links Belfast and France

'Snugville Street' by Angeline Kelly is a novel about a French exchange set in the Shankill.

Angeline studied French at university and when she took a career break in January to try to do some writing, her experiences of France were immediately put at the heart of her novel. 'Snugville Street' is a family drama that revolves around a French exchange. It's happy and sad, and layered with themes of identity and language as it moves from Snugville Street in the Shankill to Paimpol in Brittany. So far, the book has had great reviews. 'Snugville Street' will have its Belfast book launch in the Shankill Road Library on Thursday 19th November at 6.30pm.

A Feast of French Films at QFT.

This month QFT welcomes the 23^rd French Film Festival – the only festival of Francophone Films in the UK. QFT will be screening seven films ….

Fri 6 Nov, 9.10pm

Un Homme idéal

A Perfect Man

Dir: Yann Gozlan • France • 2015 • 1 Hr 37 Mins

Subtitled • Age: 15+

Sun 8 Nov, 7.30pm

Comme un avion

The Sweet Escape

Dir: Bruno Podalydès • France • 2015 • 1 Hr 45 Mins

Subtitled • Age: 12+

Fri 13 Nov, 6.30pm

La Tête haute

Standing Tall

Dir: Emmanuelle Bercot • France • 2015 • 1 Hr 58 Mins

Subtitled • Age: 15+

Sat 14 Nov, 8.10pm

Journal d’une femme de chambre

Diary Of A Chambermaid

Dir: Benoît Jacquot • France/Belgium • 2015 • 1 Hr 36 Mins

Subtitled • Age: 18+

Thurs 19 Nov, 6.30pm

Microbe et Gasoil

Microbe & Gasoline

Dir: Michel Gondry • France • 2015 • 1 Hr 43 Mins

Subtitled

Sat 21 Nov, 3.40pm

Le Grand Bleu

The Big Blue

Dir: Luc Besson • France/Usa/Italy • 1988

2 Hrs 18 Mins • Subtitled

Thurs 26 Nov, 8.35pm

Mon Roi

My King

Dir: Maïwenn • France • 2015 • 2 Hrs 8 Mins • Subtitled • Age: 18+

In addition as part of their normal programme Qft is showing …

Belle De Jour

Tues 10 Nov, 8.30pm

Dir: Luis Buñuel • Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel • France/Italy • 1967

1 Hr 40 Mins • Subtitled

For full details of these and QFT's programme for November click here.

The monthly Bal organised by Bal Feirste will take place …

on Saturday 14^th November 2015

Upstairs in Maddens Bar, Berry St, Belfast.

Following the new formate there will be a 30 minute dance workshop at 5.30pm (a chance to learn the steps) followed by dancing from 6-8pm.

Looking forward to seeing you in the Dark Horse Café on Wednesday 11^thNovember.

À bientôt, Philip

Caféfrancophilo Les objets qui vous tiennent à cœur 14 octobre 2015

Please note:

The caféfrancophilo on the theme of: Le Luxe, c’est quoi?

with Isabelle CHABOUD will now take place on Wednesday 16 December 2015 in The Dark Horse Coffee House at 7.30pm

La Nouvelle Vague: Solène GUICHARD: 7 octobre 2015

This evening's presentation on La Nouvelle Vague, given by Solène GUICHARD, drew a large attendance of around 40 people with many new faces at this the first talk of the cercle's new season.

Solène prefaced her presentation with a slide of an important building in Paris inviting her audience to say where it was.  Having been there back in 2012 for a memorable exhibition of Tim Burton's work I ventured La cinemathèque française. Yes it was, but what I didn't know was that it was so influential an institution among film makers that without it there would have been no Nouvelle Vague.

As a concession to her large audience that included francophile as well as francophone participants, Solène switched effortlessly between French and English to introduce key directors and artists associated with the genre.

Next she engaged in an étude comparative between two films (Renoir, 1939 and Resnais, 1959) showing very effectively how the cinematic styles differed from one another: inside/outside; large crew/small crew; much/little equipment; famous/unknown lead actors and the differing reliance on character and text.  In a most interesting segment on the Resnais film, Hiroshima Mon Amour, she talked about le cinèma littéraire highlighting the screenplay for the film which had been written by Marguerite Duras.

Solène's talk moved to focus on what for her were les deux plus grands films de la Nouvelle Vague: François Truffaut's Les 400 Coups (1959) and Jean-Luc Godard's À Bout de Souffle (1959).  It was clear from audience comments that many listening considered these to be among their favourite films also.  Solène concluded with a quote from Jean-Luc Godard, "All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl !"  which provoked a lively exchange of questions and answers that probably could have gone on for quite some time, and certainly beyond our appointed finishing time, had our own film enthusiast, Philip, not stepped into director mode with his Lumières ! Caméra ! On tourne ! and brought proceedings to a close with rounds of audience appreciation for an excellent talk.

Solène. Un très grand merci !