Festival de la Francophonie
Alliance Française de Chicago - March 2012
Get your Passeport pour le Monde and take part in our month-long celebration of the French-speaking culture!
Qu’est-ce que c’est, la Francophonie ?
La Francophonie, it’s more than 220 million French-speaking people from over 50 different countries representing a carnival of cultures spanning the continents from Marrakesh to Montréal and from Toulouse to Tahiti.
The French language and culture unites people from 33 countries on 5 continents and the month of March is when Chicago celebrates la francophonie at the Alliance Française.
Get your passport and travel around the world without having to leave the tarmac… or go through airport security!
Don’t miss our popular Kick Off Evening on Friday March 9th, and here’s an avant-goût of what will be going on at the Alliance in March:
Jacques Brel remembered in photos and songs; film directors Daoud Aoulad-Syad from Morocco, Maxime Giroux from Québec and Hami Ratovoarivony from Madagascar in person at our Festival du Film francophone, also featuring a symphony orchestra from Kinshasa and zombies from Haïti; La Foire du Livre Francophone/The International Book Fair pour les petits et les grands —with book sale, storytelling, and authors on-site; followed by a round table on Le Citoyen Francophone with experts from the Midwest; Chicago’s actress Barbara Robertson in a theater premiere by Québec author Olivier Kemeid directed by Olivier Coyette from Belgium and produced by Le Théâtre du Rêve of Atlanta, the only professional French-language theater in the United States… and much more.
Most programs are free, with food and refreshments offered by the French-speaking consulates, governments and associations of Chicago.
Bienvenue à tous, et que la fête commence !
This program is made possible thanks to the generous support of Dish
Network. Watch TiVi5MONDE (channel 9858), the new children's channel that
is now available in our French Bouquet package.
Soirée Commune
Kick-Off Evening
Friday, March 9th
6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Children $5, Adults $15
Banh mi, gauffre, terrine, raclette, sarmale…
Don’t know what these words mean… or taste like? Come and find out!
On the Kick-Off Evening to our month-long festival, sample delicacies from Belgique, Canada, France, Québec, Romania, Switzerland, and Vietnam offered by our partners, the French-speaking consulates, governments and associations of Chicago; enjoy our Cabaret with singer/comedian Noemi Schlosser from Belgium and the amazing French Jazz Trio Flon Flon et Musette. And… pourquoi pas? Belt out your own version of La Vie en Rose and release your inner Céline Dion during the Karaoke de la Francophonie, back by popular demand. Prizes for the brave!
Pre-register early. Places are limited and this program sells out every year.
To register for this program: http://www.af-chicago.org/app/Calendar.php?event=863&type=
Soirée FRANCE-BELGIQUE – Vernissage-Récital:
Thursday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m.
Free Admission
“Le Grand Jacques: un hommage à Jacques Brel”
Ne me quitte pas/ Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier/ Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps…
Tout peut s'oublier/ Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps…
Opening of an exhibition of photos by Mechtilde Op Gen Oorth inspired by Belgian-born singer Jacques Brel timeless words, followed by a recital of Brel's songs with Cabaret Duo Marick & Elaine. The photographer will be present, a vin d’honneur will be served and the exhibition will be on display until March 30th.
To register for this program: http://www.af-chicago.org/app/Calendar.php?event=860&type=
Saturday, March 3 at 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
French book sale from around the world for les petits et les grands and café et croissants will be served. Authors on-site for book signing, storytelling, cartoon contest…This event is sponsored
in part by MEP/Europa Books. No registration needed, just come on in. Authors’ schedule:
11:00-12:00: Noemi Kopp-Tanaka, Les Matriochkas, Contes russes
12:00-1:00: Aimee Laberge, Les Femmes du Fleuve, novel, Québec
1:00-2:00: Delphine de Pontvieux, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrest)Thriller, Basque Country
2:00-3:00: Dr. Mohamed A. Toihiri, Le République des Imberbes, novel, Commores
Followed by….
Table Ronde (en français) at 3:30 p.m.
Citoyens du monde: Les enjeux politiques et culturels de la Francophonie.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
Come and discuss “la francophonie dans tous ses états” with our specialists from
across the Midwest: Claude Berberat, Consul at the Consulate General of Switzerland; Ludovic Comeau, Associate Professor of Business Economics, De Paul University, and president of Groupe de Réflexion et d’Action pour une Haïti Nouvelle (GRAHN); Eric Marquis, Québec Government Representative in Chicago; Oana Panaïté, Associate professor of French and Director of Gradute Studies (French Literature), Indiana University-Bloomington; Thomas Pavel, Gordon J. Laing, Distinguished Service Professor in Romance Languages and Literature, University of Chicago;
Moderated by Jack McCord, executive director at the Alliance française de Chicago.
Refreshments will be served after the panel…
To register for this program: http://www.af-chicago.org/app/Calendar.php?event=861&type=
Soirée FRANCE-HAITI– Littérature:
Monday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m.
Monday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
Haïti, une traversée littéraire -In French-
A panel discussion with Goncourt-nominated author Lyonel Trouillot and fellow Haitian writer Yanick Lahens, moderated by Ludovic Comeau. Supported by the Institut Français and the Cultural Services of the Consulate General of France in Chicago. A vin d’honneur will be served after the talk.
To register for this program: http://www.af-chicago.org/app/Calendar.php?event=862&type=
Supported by the Institut Français and the Cultural Services of the Consulate General of France in Chicago
Soirée FRANCE– Lecture
Wednesday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free for members/$10 non-members
- In English –
Chambord ou la Vie de Château
With Jean d'Haussonville, Director General of the National Domaine of Chambord
An exclusive tour of the the royal apartment of François I and Louis XIV at the château de Chambord, a masterpiece of the French Renaissance and a look at the fascinating world of the royal hunting traditions.
Thursday, March 15 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
- In French with English subtitles-
Jo pour Jonathan introduced by Québec director Maxime Giroux. Winner of the Québec’s film critics association, best film prize at Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinema.
A movie about the true nature of a suburban teenager, filled with cars, street chases and exhaust smoke—but don’t expect The Fast and the Furious. Director Maxime Giroux treats a certain obsession with speed with subdued tones and poetic accent. –– Normand Provencher, Le Soleil
Maxime Giroux directed videoclips before winning the best short film award at theToronto International Film festival in 2006. Jo For Jonathan places Giroux at the forefront of Canadian cinema.
Soirée MAROC– Film Screening –
US PREMIERE!
Friday, March 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Friday, March 16 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
- In Arabic with English subtitles-
A Jamaâ / The Mosque introduced by Moroccan director Daoud Aoulad-Syad.
To make Aoulad-Syad’s previous film, Waiting for Pasolini, sets were built on plots rented from those living in the village. A mosque was erected on the plot belonging to Moha, a local appearing in the film. Upon completion of the shoot, the film team left the village. The neighbors demolished all of the sets, except for the mosque, which has become a real place of worship for those who live there. A complete disaster for Moha, who used to grow vegetables to feed his family on the land.
Born in Marrakesh in 1953, Daoud Aoulad-Syad studied at the La Fémis Film Workshop in Paris, starting a prestigious career as a photographer before going on to make short films and documentaries. His movie Tarfaya (2003) was a contender in the Official Selection at San Sebastian 2004, and En attendant Pasolini (2007) was the Best Arab Film at the Cairo Festival.
A physics professor at Rabat University, Daoud Aoulad-Syad looks like a Moroccan Bob Marley.
CHICAGO PREMIERE!
FESTIVAL DU FILM FRANCOPHONE…
Saturday, March 17 starting at 1:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
$10 for 3 movies, $7 for 1 movie at the door
-In French with English subtitles-
An all-day celebration of francophone filmmaking from around the world — three movies never seen before in Chicago! Randy Williams, past President of the Alliance Française de Chicago, long-time Board Member, film aficionado, and Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters and the National Order of Merit, will introduce and lead post-screening discussion.
1:30 p.m.: Les Amours d’un Zombie (2008, 90 min) - HAITI
A film by Arnold Antonin about Zephirin, a zombi giving
a press conference and clashing with Baron Samedi…
a satire and an acerbic critic of political power.
3:30 p.m.: Les Barons (2009, 111 min) – BELGIUM
A film by Nabil Ben Yadir about four Moroccan friends from a working class suburb of Bruxelles who called themselves The Barons in a flagrant denial of their everyday reality.
5:30 p.m.: Kinshasa Symphony (2010, 95 min) - CONGO
A documentary by German directors Claus Wischmann and Martin Baer, Kinshasa Symphony shows how people living in one of the most chaotic cities in the world have managed to forge one of the most complex systems of human cooperation ever invented: a symphony orchestra. It is a film about the Congo, about the people of Kinshasa, and about music.
In partnership with the Festival du Film Francophone de Kalamazoo from Western Michigan University.
The Festival du Film Francophone is dedicated to the presentation of original creative cinema from the Francophone world, focusing on North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Québec and the French Caribbean. It is a unique venue for independent films that are not distributed in the United States, including the works of some of the best foreign film makers in the world.
"As always, we have some wonderful films this year," says Dr. Vincent Desroches, Western Michigan University associate professor of foreign languages and the festival's organizer. "It's a great chance to see some extremely rare and wonderful films. People will not be disappointed."
"As always, we have some wonderful films this year," says Dr. Vincent Desroches, Western Michigan University associate professor of foreign languages and the festival's organizer. "It's a great chance to see some extremely rare and wonderful films. People will not be disappointed."
Soirée BELGIQUE/CANADA/QUEBEC – Theatrical Performance:
Celles d’en Haut/The Women From On High
By playwright Olivier Kemeid (Québec)
Directed by Olivier Coyette (Belgium)
Monday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
-In French and English-
With Chicago-based actress Barbara Robertson,
Park Krausen and Carolyn Cook from Le Théatre du Rêve in Atlanta, and Kevin McCoy, director of Théâtre Humain and collaborator of Robert Lepage’s Ex-Machina company.
Set in a sanatorium and inspired by a Cindy Sherman photograph, this original work by Olivier Kemeid is crazed, colorful, shrewd and full of humor. It is about the question of human choices, the theme of sickness, the power of medicine and our quickness to submit blindly to it. Therein lies the “possibility of an island,” medical or not: beneficial and restorative, set apart from the deafening din of the world.
The work of Québec director Olivier Kemeid has been played at the Festival d’Avignon, the Red Bull Theater in NYC as well as in Québec, Belgium, Germany and Hungary. Olivier was also the artistic director of Théâtre Espace Libre in Montreal from 2006 to 2010.
Théâtre du Rêve is the only professional French-language theatre company in the United States, and is dedicated to the performance of high-quality theatre from across the Francophone world right here on the American stage.
To register for this program: http://www.af-chicago.org/app/Calendar.php?event=867&type=
Soirée MADAGASCAR – TEST SCREENING:
Wednesday, March 21 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
-In Malgasy with English subtitles-
Légendes de Madagascar introduced by director HAMINIAINA RATOVOARIVONY
Take part in the test-screening of Hami’s first feature film! Your input
will count for the final cut of this ménage à trois set in the lush island of Madagascar.
Sponsored by the Groupe Professionnel Francophone.
Soirée ROUMANIE - Film Screening:
Tuesday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
-In Romanian with English subtitles-
This program is made possible thanks to ROCX, the Romanian Cultural
Exchange.
The World According to Ion B. (2009) by Alexander Nanau
Winner International Emmy Award for Arts Programming 2010
A documentary following the dream of a man living on the streets: to one day become famous and leave behind a life of poverty, misery and humiliation. Ion Barladeanu is on his way to becoming an important contemporary artist, but in May 2008 he was still an anonymous tramp on the streets of Bucharest.
Soirée SUISSE - Film Screening:
Thursday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m.
54 W. Chicago Avenue
Free Admission
-In French with English subtitles-
Opération Casablanca (2010) by Laurent Nègre.
Mistaken for a dangerous Islamist, Saadi - a regular guy who happens to be an illegal Arab immigrant - sets out on the most dangerous day of his life. A satirical and thrilling comedy where a wrongly accused suspect gets mixed up in a worldwide terrorist plot.
To register for this program: http://www.af-chicago.org/app/Calendar.php?event=865&type=
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