Events

To whom it may concern,

Our brilliant theatre production, GODOT ACTE 3 just closed at the Glicker-Milstein Theatre, Barnard College in New York, on February 16th. As its title suggests, it is a thought-provoking continuation of Samuel Beckett's masterwork /Waiting for Godot/, written by contemporary Swiss playwright and scholar Sylviane Dupuis. It is directed by Noemie NDiaye (PhD candidate in theatre at Columbia University), and translated and produced by Pascale Crépon (Lecturer in the Department of French at Columbia University).

This production was a critical success, and, since the show is ready and fully produced, we are now looking for cultural institutions and venues that would be interested in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the creation of /En attendant Godot/ (1953-2013) by inviting us to perform our homage. We are a non-profit group, which means that we would perform for free, as long as we don't have to pay for the rental of theatre. The performance runs in French (with

Inspired by the true story of the first giraffe to visit France, Zarafa is a sumptuously hand-animated and stirring adventure set among sweeping vistas of parched desert, windswept mountains and open skies. Under the cover of night a small boy, Maki, loosens the shackles that bind him and escapes into the desert night. Pursued by slavers across the moon-lit savannah, Maki meets Zarafa, a baby giraffe – and an orphan, just like him - and he vows to protect the giraffe. Wandering alone in the desert, the two are taken under the protection of the Bedouin prince Hassan. Hassan brings them to Alexandria for an audience with the Pasha of Egypt, who promptly orders them to deliver the exotic animal as a gift to King Charles of France. 

And so Maki, Zarafa and Hassan take off with the aerialist Malaterre in a hot-air balloon across the Mediterranean – an unbelievably beautiful ride through the pink-skied, honey-hued expanses of Northern Africa, the bustling port of Marseilles, and over the sn

WORLD PREMIERE - ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION
Jean-François Laguionie’s inventive and breathlessly beautiful tale has received unanimous critical praise since it made its US premiere at NYICFF 2012 (under the French title, Le Tableau) and we are thrilled to present the first-ever screening of the new English language version. 

In this wry parable, a kingdom is divided into the three castes: the impeccably painted Alldunns who reside in a majestic palace; the Halfies who the Painter has left incomplete; and the untouchable Sketchies, simple charcoal outlines who are banished to the cursed forest. Chastised for her forbidden love for an Alldunn and shamed by her unadorned face, Halfie Claire runs away into the forest. Her beloved Ramo and best friend Lola journey after her, passing between the forbidden Death Flowers that guard the boundaries of the forest (in one of the film’s most radiantly gorgeous scenes), and arriving finally at the very edge of the painting – where they tumble through

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE - The pint-sized child hero Kirikou returns in the new feature from world-renowned animator/director/storyteller Michel Ocelot, who NYICFF audiences should be well familiar with fromKirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar, and Tales of the Night. 

This third film in the Kirikou trilogy weaves together a collection of short-form fables, mixing traditional storytelling and mythology with bits of humor and wit, backed by an upbeat musical score from Malian, Togolese and French artists. Ocelot’s vibrant use of color is everywhere on display – a black panther creeps into the village at night against impossibly deep blue skies, firelight sets off shadows against thatched huts, a Bedouin boy wrapped from head to toe in azure robes blazes like a sapphire against the tawny desert sand – while a village elder introducing each story lends an Arabian Nights quality to the film. Throughout, Kirikou is called upon to save his village from perils both supernatural and human,

US PREMIERE - NYICFF is thrilled to kick off our 2013 festival with the extraordinary new film from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress, Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells. Fresh from standing ovations at Toronto and Cannes, Ernest & Celestine joyfully leaps across genres and influences to capture the kinetic, limitless possibilities of animated storytelling. Rarely has so much charm, warmth, intelligence, and wit been packed into a film that audiences of all ages can enjoy. Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets and tucked away amongst winding tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer – and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for grumpy troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond and are soon living together as outcasts, creating la vie boheme in a winter cottage. But it isn’t long before their friendship is put on trial by their respective bear-f

EAST COAST PREMIERE - Deep in the woods, among towering trees and dense meadows, lives Pumpkin, a burly, ogre-like man, who towers like a giant over the tiny boy who is his only child. Raised like an animal since birth and knowing only he ways of the wild, the boy has been forbidden to venture beyond the edge of the forest to the place his father calls “The World Beyond.” So the nameless boy spends his days in isolation, honing his slingshot skills, eating small creatures, and confiding in his only friends: the half-human, half-animal spirits that occupy the strange forest that is his home. 

One day his father is injured, and the boy has no choice but to leave the woods in search of help. Entering a neighboring village, he befriends a young girl, Manon, and for the first time in his life begins to experience the wonders that human contact and civilization have to offer. Yet village life is not as harmonious as it first appears – and after discovering the truth about his family’s past,

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE - NYICFF proudly presents the North American premiere of this fascinating and remarkable animated autobiography that traces the unconventional upbringing of filmmaker Jung Henin, one of thousands of Korean children adopted into Europe after the end of the Korean War. 

A series of gorgeously animated, sepia-toned vignettes – some humorous and some poetic – track Jung from the day of his adoption as he meets his new (blond) siblings, through elementary school, and into his teenage years, when his emerging sense of identity begins to create fissures at home and to inflame the latent biases of his adoptive parents. Throughout this all, Jung finds release in drawing – and the film we see is really the ultimate expression of what started as the doodles of a boy stranded between two cultures. The filmmaker tells his story using his own animation intercut with snippets of super-8 family footage, archival film, and new footage documenting his first trip to Korea. The re

David W. Whitfield's Paintings Explore the Hidden Thoughts of the Human Psyche

NEW YORK, NY – Chelsea’s Agora Gallery will feature the original work of French artist David W. Whitfield in The Essence of Abstraction. The exhibition is scheduled to run from March 2, 2013 through March 22, 2013.  The opening reception will be held on Thursday night, March 14, 2013 from 6-8 pm.

About the Artist

David Whitfield says that his goal is not to “create a picture,” but to “create a painting within its own right, to stand alone without a great dependency on its subject matter.” His watercolors achieve that goal, existing as both patterns of line and color, and as portraits of a wide range of people. The artist cites Cezanne and Francis Bacon as influences, and while it is easy to see echoes of those masters in Whitfield’s balancing of color for dramatic effect and his ability to peel back the layers of the human body, he moves past his sources to assemble a unique body of work.

Working in watercolor o

Focus on French Cinema 2013 will announce the line-up of 12 French language films from around the Francophone world this weekend. Don't miss the Opening Night Gala hosted by Les Maitres Cuisiniers de France and L'Academie Culinaire de France and the Opening Night film that you can see by vivsiting our website the weekend of February 2-3.

www.focusonfrenchcinema.org

Focus on French Cinema 2013, the 9th annual festival of Francophone film opens the weekend of March 8-10, 2013 at The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, NY. Opening Night will feature a US Premiere French film ( subtitled in English) and a Gala Buffet Dinner hosted by Les Maitres Cuisiniers de Frannce and L'Acadamie Culinaire de France. Not to be missed Silent auction and Red Carpet cocktails with His Excellency Francois Delattre, the French Ambassador to the United States. Meet Directors and Actors during this fabulous weekend of French film!

CONFERENCE

Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9
FRENCH DEPARTMENT GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE

...but is it art?

An exploration of how art is defined, institutionalized, and practiced in the Francophone world, and how the boundaries between the spheres of art and non-art are established and shift.

Friday, March 8, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 9, 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Keynote Address at 5:00 p.m. by Professor Gabriel Rockhill, Villanova University

For full conference details and schedule, visit www.butisitartconference.webs.com

http://africanastudies.as.nyu.edu/object/IAAA-AlgerianFilmFest.html

French Graduate Student Association Annual Conference

A workshop on the present and future uses of training in history.

Most history graduate students are still trained to become traditional research professors.  Meanwhile, there have never been more opportunities for historians to work outside academia or in new roles in the university. In this workshop, graduate students, professors, university administrators, and non-academic professionals take stock of the place of historical thinking in public life and assess the roles and responsibilities of the historian today. 

Focus on French CInema 2013, the  9th annual festival of Francophone film opens the weekend of March 8-10 at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, NY.  Opening Night will feature a US Premiere French film - Therese Desqueroux, ( sub-titled in English) directed by the late Claude Miller and starring Audrey Tautou as well as a gourmet buffet dinner hosted by Les Maitres Cuisiniers de France and L'Academie Culinaire de France. Not to be missed Silent Auction and Red Carpet Cocktails with His Excellency, Francois Delattre,the French Ambassador to the United States. Meet Directors, Actors and celebrity guests at this fabulous weekend of French film.