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Festival de Cinéma Européen

Image:  Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs
Text:  Susie Kahlich

“Something is wrong with this picture,” says Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin.  “There are excellent films being made across Europe right now, but only Hollywood films dominate what’s released in theatres.”

Fleurantin is the Director General and CEO of the Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs (10-17 December).  Hailed by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety as “the Sundance of Europe,” the alpine festival is only in the third year of its mission to topple the mighty Hollywood.

Paradoxically, Fleurantin talks fast and slick like a Hollywood dealmaker, but he sports the quintessential French uniform: velvet jacket, jeans and mild bemusement that the world would prefer bigger-louder-faster rather than restrained, refined and slow.  Fleurantin throws numbers and percentages at me in such rapid big-loud-fast succession I suspect he’s pulled this part of his speech out every year since the festival’s beginning.  Notably, Fleurantin stresses that European cinema represents only 3.2% of movie theatre entries in France (excluding British film), while American film accounts for almost 50%.

Minuit à Musée d'Orsay ~ The American Friends Gala

Photo: Anastasia Nielsen

Text: Natalie Turturro

At 7 pm sharp on Saturday November twelfth, a group of prompt and elegant patrons stood outside Musée d’Orsay.  Flicking cigarettes and talking gaily in tight circles, they waited for their exclusive entrance inside the museum to mark the launch of the American Friends of Musee d’Orsay (AFMO). 

Cork popping and hors d’oeuvres noshing (pinky out!) was to last until midnight.  I stood alone, hoping that my borrowed Chanel heels wouldn’t turn into soppy pumpkin on the twelfth stroke by those two massive clocks. 

The gala was sold out: 300 well-to-do members of the Franco-American community had come to see what museum president Guy Cogeval dubbed “the crème de la crème of our collection.”  An aura of sophistication danced around the ground floor statues in silver stilettos and polka dotted bow ties.  The night was ripe with celebration to foster American and French artistic relations. 

Les Rencontres Kinoma

Image: Kinoma
Text: Jon Handelman

On an early Thursday evening the vestibule in front of La Cité des Arts, a basement venue located by the Pont Marie, slowly became filled with a cross section of film enthusiasts for the latest Rencontres Kinoma. From young filmmakers, producers, actors, and cinephiles to seasoned professionals, Les Rencontres Kinoma is a place for those with a passion for film to meet and discuss, to watch and to learn.

Les Rencontres Kinoma is a monthly organized forum and meeting place that provides a truly unique evening for both the film industry veteran and novice enthusiast. The night starts out with the Master Class, an Inside the Actors Studio-esque sit-down with a film industry luminary (minus the Bernard Pivot ending Q&A). This past Thursday, the guest of honor was actor-director-writer-producer Patrick Braoudé, best known for his film Neuf Mois (1994), which later became the popular American incarnation Nine Months, starring Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore.  Mr. Braoudé endeared an auditorium filled with eager ears with his multi faceted experience in the film industry.  Speaking of his creative process and what it takes to stay true to a creative vision, Braoudé was both realistic and inspiring. Noting that the slightest sound or change of light can make all the difference in a film, he underlined an often ignored precept in mainstream cinema, that details matter.

The War of Law and Words

Image: Bibliothèque publique d'information

Text: Emily Ruck Keene

Of all of the reasons for which France is known, it is her vibrant contribution to the world of literature that has given her the title of one of the most culturally relevant cities in the world. The French are passionately proud of their nation's active role in cultural history and it seems more pertinent than ever, with the exploding presence of media giving us the ability to learn about history and current events, to take a look back at the crucial moments that have marked the path that literature in this country has taken.

The Pompidou Centre is currently holding an exhibition on the relationship between the editor and the law in France from 1945 onwards. Whilst there are plenty of important events that took place before, this date seems a natural choice: with the end of German occupation, fresh dialogue was able to emerge within the disciplines of economics, politics and ethics amongst others. It is these fields to which the exhibition Editeurs, les lois du métier hopes to opens the floor in an era within which freedom of expression has never been such an international question.

Despite France’s post-war liberation, freedom of the press saw itself threatened by a law in 1949 intended to protect young readers from supposedly dangerous publications. The role and responsibility of the editor as well as the writer was brought into the spotlight as they fought with and against censorship. The exhibition contains examples of legal cases involving the State and publishing houses, often resolved internally due to the importance of reputation for any editor.

November Film Events

Image: Elena Rossini  
Text: Susie Kahlich

On 2 November, independent filmmaker Elena Rossini presents her work-in-progress, The Illusionists, a feature-length documentary that explores the commodification of the body and the marketing of unattainable beauty around the world. From Vogue to Jenny Craig, global companies work hard to market the “Official Body” for women – an idealized, unattainable image that is sold from Los Angeles to Tokyo with very little relation to what real women look like, yet producing a profound effect on real women’s lives. A networking cocktail hosted by European Professional Women’s Network precedes and follows Ms. Rossini’s presentation.  Net proceeds go to the completion of The Illusionists and promoting this important dialog.

European Professional Women's Network
Deloitte (auditorium)
185 av de Charles de Gaulle
92524  Neuilly sur Seine
Métro: Pont de Neuilly (line 1)
Reserve your spot here.

 

From 3-8 November, the 11^th Festival Resonances focuses on the new form of social revolution begun by the Arab Spring.  Cell phones, Twitter, Facebook and the use of digital technology and social networking tools were effectively used as a call to arms, a way to document change as it’s happening and make the world witness.  Yet what is the role of the images and tweets and updates that live on when the revolution is over? A selection of films, roundtable discussions and a preview of Tous au Larzac by director Christian Rouaud and an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

Magic Cinéma de Bobigny
Rue du Chemin Vert 93000 Bobigny
Métro: Bobigny Pablo Picasso (line 5)

 

Guess what?  It’s Documentary Month! The Bibliothèque Centre Pompidou features a retrospective of the work of cool Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann, the BPI opens the month with screenings of Metal and Melancholy, Underground Orchestra, Crazy and El Ovido, as well as a selection of her short films and works made for television.  Begins 5 November.

Centre Georges Pompidou
Place Georges Pompidou, 75004 Paris
Métro: Rambuteau

 

Documentaries and features from Japan are on the menu this month at La Cinémathèque Française. Founded in 1986 by Tetsujiro Yamagami, Productions Siglo produces documentary films and fiction devoted to the social problems of Japan often neglected by mainstream film: pollution, poverty, alcoholism and the environment. 

La Cinémathèque Française
51, rue de Bercy 75012
Métro: Bercy

 

Forum des Images hosts Aprés-midi des Enfants in November, and just to keep it relatable to les petits Parisiens, the Forum leads children through the world’s greatest cities, from Prague to Dakar, Rome to St. Petersburg and all points in between.  Start from home with a screening of the delightful Ratatouille on 2 November.

Forum des Images
Porte St Eustache, 75001
Métro: Chatelet-Les Halles

Performance from far away in Montmartre

Photo: From the video “Déjà Vu” by Filippo Berta After this weeks many contemporary art fairs you may think the Parisian art scene is up for a little, well deserved break. But there's still new art to be explored, and fun openings to go to. One of them is the exhibition PIXELPOPS! featuring performance videos by a large number of international artists.  PIXELPOPS! is an ongoing, traveling series of annual digital art exhibits, founded in 2005 by the artist and web developer Colleen Tully. The series changes with each year's new locale and the creativity each new curator brings. Year after year, the online catalogue continues to grow and provide new resonances and global connections in artistic interpretation. This years curator of PIXELPOPS! is Paris based Philip Tonda from Transient Projects To People. The theme of the exhibit is "Performance from far away": More specifically performance art made distinctly for the video camera. The videos are shown in the miniature-sized, but large-minded gallery space Nouvel Organon, located on an eclectic street in the lower part of Montmartre, creating an intimate setting for an intriguing art experience.  The opening event takes place Friday October 28, 2011 from 7pm. Between 10pm and midnight there'll be music provided by Graham Peel from the Paris/Berlin based WITTY BANTER. The event will be live broadcasted on TPTP's website. Details: TPTP in cooperation with Nouvel Organon : 20 Rue Muller, 75018 Paris. (Metro Chateau Rouge (line 4) and Anvers (line 2). Further information can be found on the website of TPTP.

 

Poésie et Prose

Text: Emily Ruck-Keene

The Irish cultural centre in the 5^th arrondissment is known for a consistently high-quality events programme, celebrating a wealth of Irish culture in all art forms. This month, from October 20-22, it is putting on a packed weekend of free poetry and prose, where readings include works from both contemporary Irish and English language writers. Friday evening will have a memoir theme, Saturday afternoon has been organised to appeal to a younger audience, and Saturday evening will examine the detective novel, or polar (slang for roman policier).

Even before Dublin being crowned the fourth UNESCO City of Literature earlier this year, Ireland has never needed to prove her literary credentials. Amongst other writers, the event will feature familiar faces such as Jennifer Johnston (former Whitbread Book Award winner) and Keith Ridgway (whose next novel Hawthorn & Child is to be published in 2012). Poets will be represented by Enda Wyley and Michael O’Loughlin, whose Widow’s Prayers feels like the brilliant and coarse result of letting Stephen Dedalus wander around The Waste Land while reading Proust. As the publicity for the event proudly states, “his poetry has a marked visual quality”.

For me, it is the soirée polar which presents the biggest attraction during the event. It will be especially fascinating to hear Declan Hughes on the subject, whose novels add a contemporary twist to the hard-boiled American novel. Ireland has so much to contribute to this genre with its history of violent secrets: from the religious to the political, lower to upper class. It is appropriate that this evening should take place in France, where the polar developed a dark and political shade with writers like Didier Daeninckx using crime fiction as a vehicle for crime truths.

Eldorado Music Festival 2011: October

Image: Sarah Bastin via Flickr

Text: Kate Ross

Eldorado is now in its second month, and seasoned visitors to the music festival should now know just what to expect from Café de la Danse. So if Nuit Blanche hasn’t totally knackered you out, then pitch yourself a spot on Passage Louis Philippe, and prepare to remain there almost exclusively for the whole of October: This month, the French musicians are stealing the limelight and there’s plenty to look forward to.

Coming Up

French singers Renan Luce, Alexis HK and Benoît Dorémus play, quite fittingly, a three-night line up, from Monday 10 to Wednesday 12. The boys take a simplistic guitar and vocals approach, veering between solo performances, duets and trios.

And the Frenchmen continue to dominate the stage for the rest of the week. On thursday comes performances from Joli and Laurent Lamarca; and on Friday, rock from Ray Bartok; the Parisian duo comprised of Phil Ray B on drums and Ray Tino on vocals and sampler.

Back over the pond on Tuesday 18, and Joshua Radin plays his beautifully moving acoustic folk, showing just why he’s a film and television soundtrack favourite (he’s amassed over 75 placements). Support comes from fellow American Joseph Arthur, who brings his own poetry with his indie folk sounds.

VINGT Event: Coutume Cafe on October 12

 
Images: Cara Tobe
 
VINGT Paris is holding an event sure to stimulate and alert the senses. 

The location is the Coutume Cafe in the 7th, an establishment that roasts, siphons and serves in their own way. 

The central mission of the Coutume Cafe is to produce and prepare an exceptional coffee experience, and it is not in keeping with the standard Parisian fashion. See, smell and taste for yourself along with VINGT readers and writers. 

Date: October 12

Time:

7:30pm-10:30pm (19h30-22h30)

Location: Coutume Cafe

47 rue de Babylone, 7ème arrondissement
Metro: St-François-Xavier or Sevres-Babylone 

For non coffee-drinkers, Coutume also serves artisanal teas, beer and wine, as well as various foods.

Paris is not black and white..It’s grey!

A conversation between Susie Hollands, Director of Vingt Paris and Philip Tonda, artist and curator.

Image: Kristijan Radakovic

Philip: When did you first get the idea of creating an artist-in-residence program?

Susie: I got the idea when I came to Paris in 2003 or 2004 to pursuit my own artistic ambitions. I met a lot of people and everybody seemed to have something in common - they came because Paris is a good place for creative souls. However, it's really hard to find a place to live and work here!

At this time I was also starting an art gallery with some friends. While this was not necessarily a sustainable undertaking, it did give some insight to the Parisian art scene and the situation for artists: Rents are sky high and there are very few spaces available. But artists need space to work.

Then we developed a community of people who nevertheless lived here, artists, photographers, writers etc. And this community has grown to what Vingt Paris Magazine is today. The idea of a residency project is really an extension of this.