Press Release
2016
FRENCH
CULTURE IN
CHINA
2017
PRE-PROGRAM
Press Contact
BA Yingxuan
Tel: (010) 8531 2427
yingxuan.ba@institutfra
ncais-chine.com
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PRESS RELEASE – CULTURE AND EDUCATION
FRENCH CULTURE IN CHINA: 2017 PREPROGRAM
As 2016 draws to a close, we can look back upon a host of wonderful French
projects in China.
Francophonie Festival
8-28 March 2017
Website
http://francophonie.faguowen
hua.com
Vidéo of 2016 Festival
Lien
And French culture has a few more surprises in store! The French Embassy in
China is unveiling the outline of its 2017 French cultural program in China – in
particular its three highlights.
THE FRANCOPHONIE FESTIVAL: SPOTLIGHT ON THE MAGHREB
The Francophonie Festival will take place from 8 th to 28 th March, beginning
with International Women’s Day! Organised in partnership with 20 embassies
and diplomatic offices, the Francophonie Festival will celebrate its 22n d
Chinese edition. In 2016, the focus was on Africa. In 2017, the Maghreb region
(North Africa) is in the spotlight, notably with the invitation of Algerian
writers Boualem Sansal and Kamel Daoud (published by Sea-Sky and
Shanghai 99). The latter is the author of The Meursault Investigation, a reworking of The Outsider in which the writer gives an identity to the Arab who
remains unnamed in Camus’ celebrated novel. Lets’ point out that French is
the 5th most spoken language and the 2nd most widely learned foreign
language in the world. There are more than 274 million Francophones in the
world, present on each continent.
The French language was revolutionized by the brilliant singer Serge
Gainsbourg, who also wrote music for Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve,
Vanessa Paradis… and of course for his partner, Jane Birkin, with whom he
formed one of the most iconic artistic couples of the twentieth century. The
couple were behind the first pop ‘concept album’, Histoire de Melody Nelson.
The album cover pictures a young woman who would go on to become an
seminal fashion icon, even lending her name to a Hermès bag (the ‘Birkin’).
Both this and several other of Gainsbourg’s album covers were immortalised
by his friend, the photographer Tony Frank, who is coming to China
(Guangzhou, Beijing and Shenyang) to present his exhibition, Portraits of Serge
Gainsbourg, and to share the story of their friendship. Gainsbourg’s songs will
also provide the soundtrack for Phillippe Calvario’s staging of Marivaux’s
famous play, The Game of Love and Chance.
Aimed mainly at young people, the Francophonie is a celebration of the
eclecticism and beauty of the French language. Many competitions are
organised for students and the under-25s, giving them the chance to win
trips to France, Switzerland and Canada:
- The ‘Pivot Dictation’ WeChat game: a game that speaks to everyone,
even beginners, and allows discovering the French language, with
many gifts to be won. The 29 best players will be selected for a final on
March 20th in Beijing, where the dictation will be read by Haitian-
The Algerian writer Kamel
Daoud, author of The
Meursault Investigation
(2015)
Serge Gainsbourg and Jane
Birkin by Tony Frank
Histoire de Melody Nelson
(1971), iconic album of
Gainsbourg (picture by
Tony Frank
The Game of Love and Chance
by Marivaux, directed by
Philippe Calvario
Quebecers writer and academician Haitian Dany Laferrière! ;
- The French song competition, notable winners of which are the singers
Lui Huan and Shang Wenjie. During the festival, participants can
involve themselves in one of 45,000 karaoke competitions featuring
200 French songs;
- Theatre competitions, poetry translation competitions…
A pastry-making residency awaits Francophone and Chinese apprentice
pastry makers as a means to spread the French language via gourmet
creations. The aim is to come up with a final product derived from a blend of
cultures and knowledge, original research and new flavours.
The Francophonie Festival also involves cinema, with films from all over the
world being shown in 20 Chinese cities as part of the Encounters with
Francophone Cinema cycle. Michel Ocelot, one of France’s leading animated
film directors, and the recipient of several international prizes (Kirikou and
the Sorceress, Princes and Princesses, Azur & Azmar: The Princes’ Quest), will
come to China to present his latest film, Ivan Tsarevich and the Moody Princess,
from 24th to 31st March in Beijing, Shanghai and Changchun.
The ‘Pivot Dictation’ is
back on WeChat in 2017
The residency of young
pastry makers
Finally, the rock band La Femme will be touring Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan,
Guangzhou and Shenzhen. After opening for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in
autumn 2016, the release last September of their second album, Mystery, made
big waves on the international rock scene. The Francophonie Festival also
welcomes the famous Malian kora player, Ballaké Sissoko, who will be
performing in Poly theatres in Henan, Changsha, Wuhan, Shanxi, Jiangsu and
Shenyang.
Michel Ocelot, film
director, guest of honor of
the Encounters with
Francophone Cinema (Princes
and Princesses)
La Femme, the new rock band
revelation
Malian kora player, Ballaké
Sissoko
THE CROISEMENTS FESTIVAL IS BACK
Does the Croisements Festival still need an introduction? Each spring, it brings
China the French creativity, as well as showcasing Franco-Chinese artistic
intersections – or ‘croisements’. In 2016, the festival drew over four million
spectators in 29 cities and via the livestreaming channels LeLive and PPTV.
Croisements Festival
May-June 2017
Website
http://croisements.faguowenh
ua.com
Video 2016
Lien
In the spotlight for some astonishingly modern stage productions are the great
playwright, Molière, and the baroque music repertoire.
The Baroque Carnival by Le Poème Harmonique is a magical show
conceived by Vincent Dumestre, who recreates an atmosphere charged with
pleasure and passion. Acrobats, jugglers, mime artists, and of course singers
and musicians use the stage to re-live the performances and intrigues of the
17th and 18th centuries.
Molière’s play, The Miser, has been performed over 2,000 times by the
Comédie Française since 1680. Its leaping plotline, whimsical
misunderstandings and moments of hilarious bravura make for an enchanting
piece of entertainment. As for all great plays, however, it also functions as a
comment on our present condition. The director, Ludovic Lagarde (director
of the Comédie de Reims, National Centre for Dramatic Art), has come up with
an contemporary version that highlights a prominent and controversial issue
of our times: hidden money.
Prestigious orchestras such as the Champs-Elysées Orchestra (devoted to
the interpretation of the repertoire from Haydn to Debussy with ancient
instruments) and the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra (which was
refounded in 1976 by Pierre Boulez and is characterized by its great flexibility
to approach all music repertoires), and great soloists including the pianists
Vanessa Wagner and François Dumont, offer moments of magic to all
classical music lovers by breathing new life into the repertoires of Beethoven,
Mozart, Debussy, Rachmaninov, and others.
Three large-scale modern and contemporary art projects are planned:
- an exhibition of modern artworks from the collections of the Saint-Etienne
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art – France’s second-largest
collection after that of the Pompidou Centre (Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu,
Wuhan);
- a presentation of works by winners of the Marcel Duchamp Prize – a
coveted contemporary art award – organised in collaboration with the ADIAF
(Association for the International Diffusion of French Art) under the
curatorship of Alfred Pacquement (former director of the Pompidou Centre)
and Guo Xiaoyan (20 years of experience in the field of contemporary art);
- A look at Chinese youth through the lens of the photographer MaïLucas,
following a residency in Kunming and Guangzhou.
The Fête de la Musique remains one of the Croisements Festival’s unmissable
events. This year saw close to 200 concerts attracting 224,000 spectators and
The Baroque Carnival by
Le Poème Harmonique
Molière’s play, The
Miser, directed by
Ludivic Lagarde
The pianist Vanessa
Wagner
Miro, from the Museum of
Modern and Contemporary
Art in Saint-Étienne
a further 1.8 million via livestreaming, thanks to PPTV. In the week of 21s t
June, the Fête de la Musique is returning to China in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan,
Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenyang, Shanghai, Ningbo and Shunde, with six
representative French groups drawn from the current music scene: Las Aves,
Bon Voyage Organisation (having come to China in 2016, they will return for
a creativity residency in 2017), Gush, Fishbach and Colours in the Street.
The electro scene will be in the spotlight for the Midi and Strawberry festivals
with the return of French Miracle Tour (the best of Rennes’ young musical
talent) and French Waves – a project that pays homage to ‘French Touch’,
the movement that revolutionised the musical landscape in the 1990s (Daft
Punk, Air, Laurent Garnier, Cassius, etc.) and which continues to produce
young talent in France (Justice, Superpoze, Rone, etc.). A trans-media project
celebrating electronic music, French Waves includes concerts, web series and
documentaries.
In term of books, Fête des Bulles is back! Following a successful first edition
in 2016 launched by the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), next year will
see eight French, Belgian and Chinese comic book authors proving that comic
books are not merely a form of children’s entertainment; rather, that they
involve some stringent artistic and narrative requirements.
A cycle of lectures, screenings and performances about individuals in
medicine will features discussions between key players in the fields of law,
history, psychoanalysis, philosophy, literature, IT and art.
Youth by Maï Lucas,
following a residency in
Kunming and Guangzhou
The Fête de la Musique
French Waves
And there wouldn’t be a Croisements Festival without the Franco-Chinese
projects! Following the success of the Chinese version of his play Love’s End, in
co-production with the Penghao Theatre, Pascal Rambert returns with The
Beginning of Love. In collaboration with the Changsha Shadow Theatre,
Doulce Mémoire – a group made up of musicians and singers – is staging a
Franco-Chinese performance for young people that mixes two traditional art
forms: Chinese shadow theatre and Western Renaissance music.
Fête des Bulles, second
edition
The Beginning of Love by
Pascal Rambert
URBAN CHANGE – THE THEME OF THE NEXT FRANCO-CHINESE MONTH
OF THE ENVIRONMENT
In 2016, in the aftermath of the COP21 climate conference in Paris that
marked a turning point in international agreements on environmental
challenges, the Franco-Chinese Month of the Environment increased in size
with an ambitious program bringing together not only the fields of science and
technology but also art, cinema and even literature. With 70 events organised
in 20 Chinese cities, the Franco-Chinese Month of the Environment saw
increased public recognition and this year will have drawn close to 450,000
spectators.
In 2016, the festival addressed the protection of biodiversity. The 2017
edition (September-October) will broach the theme of urban change – one of
the most topical and pertinent topics in both France and China. In 2008, the
portion of the world’s population living in cities passed 50% – a figure that is
set to reach 60% by 2030. Urbanisation is hence one of the key challenges
facing mankind in the 21s t century. What will the cities of tomorrow look
like? How will their inhabitants live?
The Franco-Chinese Month of
the Environment
September-October 2017
Website
http://mfce.faguowenhua.com
Video 2016
Lien
Exhibition of the Cité
des Sciences: Urban
Changes
Among the projects planned for the 4th edition are: Urban Changes, a major
exhibition currently on display at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie
in Paris; an invitation to the artist Tim Franco to show his work on the city of
Chongqing. The Cardboard City – a workshop-performance by the artist
Olivier Grossetête involving a city-scale construction build by thousands of
people, whose only energy source is that of the inhabitants themselves – will
also feature in China next autumn.
AND FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR….
Metamorpolis by Tim
Franco
Finally, throughout the year, the monthly ‘Encounter with French Jazz’ will
allow the Chinese public to hear a different French jazz group touring in nine
Chinese cities. Twelve groups will seek to build a circuit and a following for
French jazz in China.
In May and June, the French Cinema Panorama will take place in six Chinese
cities. The films on show will also feature prominently at the International
Film Festivals in Beijing (13th to 23rd April) and Shanghai (11th to 19th June).
Dany Boon, actor and but also director of the film Welcome to the Sticks, has
been invited to the Beijing International Festival to present A French Comedy
Retrospective – from Louis de Funès to Dany Boon.
From 13th January to 31st March the largest museum in the world will be
coming to meet the Chinese on Tiananmen Square! The Invention of the
Louvre – an exhibition which returns to the origins of the museum, with a
selection drawn from the range of its collections – will take place at the
National Museum of China in Beijing.
The Cardboard City by
Olivier Grossetête
Following the Pompidou Centre’s large exhibition (until 15th January 2017),
Shanghai is opening its doors in 2017 to exhibitions by major French
contemporary artists including Philippe Parreno (in May at the Rockbund
Museum), Céleste Boursier-Mougenot (at the Minsheng Museum) and
Christian Boltanski (at the Power Station of Art). An exhibition on
academicism in painting and sculpture from the Fine Arts collections in Paris
and the National Center for Plastic Arts (CNAP) will take place at the National
Museum of China (Beijing) and Kunming in the autumn.
Dany Boon invited to the
French Cinema Panorama
Throughout the year, you can find out about French culture and receive
information about events near to you on Faguowenhua – a website
(www.faguowenhua.com), WeChat account and Weibo account
administered by the French Embassy.
Outside of the large festivals, the spotlight will be on certain areas of the
French higher education system, as France – one of the top five preferred
destinations for Chinese students (35,000 in 2016) – offers excellent
educational programs in art, the environment, science and research!
QR account code for Faguowenhua WeChat:
French Jazz Rendez-vous
The French Embassy would like to thank its partners for their support in 2016!