Events

Translating a novel to film is a language in itself – a dialect in discovery. Join Learn French Brooklyn in an exploration of five 19th Century Novels brought to life in full cinematic glory.

Each week includes informed, expert instruction and discourse centering on pivotal aspects of each novel and the corresponding film. The successes, the discrepancies, interpretations, and surprises – we tackle and interpret them all!

Classes may be taken as a series or one workshop at a time. Pre-registration required. This workshop is in English, films subtitled.

Workshop Schedule

• January 24th Les Misérables 6:30 – 8 PM
• January 31st Madame Bovary 6:30 – 8 PM
• February 7th Les Liaisons Dangereuses 6:30 – 8 PM
• February 14th Hiroshima, mon Amour 6:30 – 8 PM
• February 21st La Pirogue 6:30 – 8 PM

Institute of French Studies book presentation and discussion

“Where are you from?” is the question that black French people are asked the most, the question that pops up the most spontaneously in conversation. “Where are you from?” asks the friend of a friend at a party, the person next to you at a dinner, the colleague trying to make friends, the perfect stranger. At the age of 6, Isabelle discovered that she was black. She dreamed of playing Mary in the school nativity play. She would be Balthazar, the Wise Man from Africa. For this little girl raised in an affluent neighborhood of Paris, it was a shock.

In Trop noire pour être française, Isabelle Boni-Claverie tells her story, from Paris to Abidjan, from her private Catholic school to working in television. A black woman from a privileged social background, she nonetheless has to face the obvious: in France, class does not erase race. She weaves her story with her grandfather’s, an African man who became a magistrate of the French Rep

Is America in the process of retreating from its traditional world leadership role?

Tickets Available: http://www.92y.org

Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of the West’s leading intellectuals, takes an informed and provocative look at the state of world politics today, in conversation with historian and author Simon Schama.

How are Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, and Sunni radical Islamism taking steps to assert power and influence?

And what are the ramifications of the steps they are taking to undermine the liberal values that have been a hallmark of Western civilization?

Join him for a clear-eyed look at the world stage, as he talks about his important new book, The Empire and the Five Kings: America's Abdication and the Fate of the World.

Drawing upon lessons from history and the eternal touchstones of human culture, Lévy reveals the stakes facing the West as America retreats from its leadership role, a process that did not begin with Donald Trump's presidency and is not likely to end with him. The cr