Dear Friends of the Embassy of Haiti,
Join us and take a tour of the French-speaking and French-inspired world!
Celebrating the creative artistry of the French-speaking world, the Francophonie Cultural Festival is a voyage of exploration, discovery, and cultural sharing that emphasizes the diversity of the French language and cultures. Events include literary salons, concerts, films, and of course La Grande Fête!
The events take place throughout the Washington area at the Festival partner institutions. Click on the link below to view more upcoming programs of the 2014 Francophonie Cultural Festival, and visit the official website to discover the full schedule of exciting and diverse cultural activities – www.FrancophonieDC.org.
We look forward to seeing you at the many events scheduled throughout the next five weeks!
Warm regards,
The Embassy of Haiti
UPCOMING EVENTS…
TUE. MAR 11 AT 7:00 PM: Cycle Emmanuelle Riva: LIBERTE LA NUIT – Film Series
Embassy of France / 4101 Reservoir Rd, NW
Screened in French with English subtitles
Liberté, la nuit: a title with a comma in the middle for a film divided into two parts. A film in black and white with a dark side and a jovial side. The first part of the title evokes politics, as the story recalls the days of the Algerian War of Independence; the second part represents the mood that hovers over the eminently painful images. There isn’t even a hint of daylight in the freedom of the title. It only lives metaphorically in the darkness and languor of the night.
WED. MAR 12 AT 7:15 PM: KEN BUGUL – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Ken Bugul is the pseudonym of a Senegalese writer who now lives in Benin. In the Wolof language, the two words mean: “one who is unwanted.” This Swiss production directed by Silvia Voser is an encounter with Marietou Mbaye Bileoma, an unusual woman who, with her intelligence, charm and generosity, encourages us to reflect, think and act. She takes us on a quest for awareness and appreciation of intercultural identity and respect for one another.
THU. MAR 13 AT 7:30 PM:JEAN PORTANTE – Literature Series
Embassy of Luxembourg / 2200 Massachusetts Ave, NW
In French
Free Event – reservations required
Jean Portante was born in an Italian family in Differdange, Luxembourg, and now lives in Paris. He has written novels, stories, plays, journalism and poetry, and has been widely translated, including in English Point/Erasing, translated by Anne Marie Glasheen (Daedalus, 2003) and In Reality, translated by Zoë Skoulding (Seren Press, 2013). He is a translator of poetry into French from Spanish, Italian, English and German.
THU. MAR 13 AT 9:30 PM:BURN IT UP DJASSA – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French and Nouchi with English subtitles
Twenty-five-year-old Tony and his younger sister Ange live together in a one-room apartment ever since the death of their mother. One night, hawking cigarettes to eke out a living, Tony joins a game of poker, starts winning and discovers a fast way of making cash. But his lucky streak can’t last forever and he quickly descends into the violent world of the “djassa” (ghetto in Abidjan street slang). An urban legend set to the rhythm of slam poetry and the beat of street dance, this vérité noir from filmmaker Lonesome Solo announces an exciting new talent and emerging vision from the Ivory Coast. Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Film Festival, 2013 Berlin Film Festival.
FRI. MAR 14 AT 6:00 PM:LE PRÉSIDENT – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French with English subtitles
The director uses split-screens to present a fake documentary in which “the president” has disappeared; talk-show hosts, rivals, politicians and even rappers chime in on what may have occurred, and what their president for life has—or has not—done for Cameroon. “Being president means living the Hollywood dream,” wryly notes one commentator; this film, mixing reality, fiction, interviews and staged scenes, finds life and reason not in Hollywood, but in its own homeland. “We shouldn’t just be making movies, we should be changing reality,” charges Bekolo. This formally inventive, angry and at times humorous work begins the process.
FRI. MAR 14 AT 2:00 PM:Why Switzerland is not Sweden? – Literature Series
Alliance Française / 2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW
In French, English
A unique lecture that will shed light on such questions as why Switzerland is not Sweden, what kind of function should be added to your Swiss army knife, and everything else you always wanted to know about Swiss chocolate.
FRI. MAR 14 AT 9:30 PM: UNDER THE STARRY SKY – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French, Wolof, English, and Italian with English subtitles
Set under the skies of three cities—Turin, New York and Dakar—the film follows the fates of three characters connected by destiny. Sophie, a young bride from Senegal, travels to Turin in search of her husband Abdoulaye, who left Dakar without papers to seek work in the Italian city. Abdoulaye has already left Turin for New York, lured by his cousin and promises of a better future. Meanwhile, Sophie’s aunt in New York returns to Dakar to bury the husband she left 20 years before. With a careful eye and quiet intensity, Gaye fills each frame with the anxieties and interior struggles of her uncertain and undocumented travelers. A beautifully crafted meditation on place and belonging in an ever-globalizing, yet often unwelcoming, world.
SAT. MAR 15 AT 2:00 PM:Oh Françoise, may I get more of that delicious foie gras à la Française? – Literature Series
Alliance Française / 2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW
In French, English / Age limit: 16+
Looking for an opportunity to practice and improve your command of written French? AJAR, the Association of Young French-speaking Authors, will hold an editing workshops for adults and children. Creativity, collective writing and humor, among other topics, will be taught by the six young authors.
SAT. MAR 15 AT 3:00 PM:AYA OF YOP CITY – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French with English subtitles
Based on the hugely popular series of graphic novels by husband-and-wife team Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, this feature adaptation follows 19-year-old Aya of Yop City (a.k.a. Abidjan, Ivory Coast) during the mid-1970s. Surrounded by a loving family, Aya must balance her ambitions to study medicine with her family’s wish that she drop everything and get married. Her two best friends aren’t making it easier, more concerned with hairdos, hot fashions and husband-hunting than getting set on a career path.
SAT. MAR 15 AT 8:00 PM:THE FLIGHT AND LIGHTNESS: Poetry and contemporary music – Literature Series
The Residence of the Embassy of Gabonese Republic / 7318 Arrowood Rd, Bethesda, MD
Free Event – reservations required
This event is a unique creation where poetry and contemporary music converge. The poems are drawn from Sylviane Le Pollès Experton’s published work “Entre deux rives, une larme hésite” (In between the shores a tear hesitates). The original music is composed by Patrick Defossez and Anne-Gabriel Debaecker. The poetry performers are Sylviane Le Pollès Eperton and Georges Collinet.
SAT. MAR 15 AT 10:00 PM:DJ Series with VALENTIN STIP – Music Series
Malmaison / 3401 K street, NW
“The only thing that makes sound into music is the mind, arranging it.” So says producer Valentin Stip, whose full-length debut titled Sigh organizes classical piano, lightly sputtering grooves and intimate found sounds into an album of compositional grace and emotional honesty. With eight songs clocking in at nearly an hour and sequenced as a continuous piece of music, Valentin Stip’s Sigh charts a winding path through its creator’s psyche.
SUN. MAR 16 AT 12:00 PM:Museum of African Art: guided tour in French – Special Event
National Museum of African Art / 950 Independence Ave, SW
Free Event – reservations required
The National Museum of African Art and the Francophonie Festival have teamed up to offer French-language guided tours of the permanent collections (African Mosaic and the Walt-Disney Tishman Collection) and the ongoing exhibition (Africa Re-viewed: the Photography of Eliot Elisofon) at the Museum of African Art during the first weeks of the month of March to celebrate francophone Africa.
SUN. MAR 16 AT 9:30 PM:IMBABAZI: THE PARDON – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in English
In Rwanda in 1994, Manzi and Karemera are best friends who seem to be inseparable, until the inexorable forces of history and violence tear them apart. After the death of Rwanda’s Hutu president plunges the country into ethnic civil war, Manzi must choose between friendship and family, and Karemera pays the horrific price. Fifteen years later, news of Manzi’s release from prison throws Karemera’s life into chaos. Karemera attempts to return his childhood friend to prison, while Manzi struggles with his own guilt. As the former friends search for justice and absolution, they both find themselves at odds with a society eager to forget the trauma of the past. Can Manzi and Karemera remain true to themselves and also come to terms with their past?
MON. MAR 17 AT 7:00 PM:Cycle Emmanuelle Riva: LÉON MORIN, PRIEST – Film Series
Embassy of France / 4101 Reservoir Rd, NW
Screened in French with English subtitles
Jean-Paul Belmondo delivers a subtly sensual performance in the hot-under-the-collar Léon Morin, Priest , directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The French superstar plays a devoted man of the cloth who is desired by all the women of a small village in Nazi-occupied France. He finds himself most drawn to a sexually frustrated widow – played by Emmanuelle Riva – a religious skeptic whose relationship with her confessor turns into a confrontation with both God and her own repressed desire. A triumph of mood, setting, and innuendo, Léon Morin, Priest is an irreverent pleasure from one of French cinema’s towering virtuosos.
MON. MAR 17 AT 9:30 PM:UNDER THE STARRY SKY – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French, Wolof, English, and Italian with English subtitles
Set under the skies of three cities – Turin, New York and Dakar – the film follows the fates of three characters connected by destiny. Sophie, a young bride from Senegal, travels to Turin in search of her husband Abdoulaye, who left Dakar without papers to seek work in the Italian city. Abdoulaye has already left Turin for New York, lured by his cousin and promises of a better future. Meanwhile, Sophie’s aunt in New York returns to Dakar to bury the husband she left 20 years before. With a careful eye and quiet intensity, Gaye fills each frame with the anxieties and interior struggles of her uncertain and undocumented travelers. A beautifully crafted meditation on place and belonging in an ever-globalizing, yet often unwelcoming, world.
MON. MAR 17 AT 7:20 PM: GRIGRIS – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French and Arabic with English subtitles
Despite a bum leg, 25-year-old Grigris has hopes of becoming a professional dancer, making some extra cash putting his killer moves to good use on the dance floor of his local club every weekend. His dreams are tested when his stepfather falls critically ill and he’s forced to risk his future by smuggling oil to pay the hospital bills… Vulcan Award for technical achievement, 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Official Selection, BFI London, Chicago, Philadelphia, Karlovy Vary Film Festivals.
TUE. MAR 18 AT 5:15 PM:IMBABAZI: THE PARDON – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in English
In Rwanda in 1994, Manzi and Karemera are best friends who seem to be inseparable, until the inexorable forces of history and violence tear them apart. After the death of Rwanda’s Hutu president plunges the country into ethnic civil war, Manzi must choose between friendship and family, and Karemera pays the horrific price… Official Selection, 2013 Chicago and Seattle Film Festivals.
TUE. MAR 18 AT 6 :45 PM: Atelier Francophonie des Ameriques: MAINE – Special Event
Alliance Française / 2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW
James Myall will present a history of the Franco-American community in Maine, with a particular focus on the French-Canadian immigration of the 19th and 20th centuries. This influx created one of the most vibrant French-speaking communities in the United States, centered on the New England textile industry which flourished from the end of the Civil War to the mid-20th century. Maine’s Franco-Americans created self-contained communities, “Petits Canadas,” within the mill cities, and created an infrastructure of Francophone schools, newspapers, businesses and societies to preserve the language and culture…
WED. MAR 19 AT 7:15 PM:MONSIEUR LAZHAR – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant, is hired to replace an elementary school teacher who died tragically. While the class goes through a long healing process, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir’s painful former life; nor that he is at risk of being deported at any moment. Adapted from Evelyne de la Cheneliere’s play, Bachir Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. Using great sensitivity and humor, Philippe Falardeau follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death.
WED. MAR 19 AT 9:30 PM:NINAH’S DOWRY – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in English
At 20, Ninah is a veteran wife of seven years and a mother of three who is stuck in an abusive relationship with no hope of change. When news of her gravely ill father reaches her, she disobeys her husband’s orders not to go so she can speak her piece to the man who put her in bondage. After her father’s death, Ninah refuses to return home and stays instead to run a small restaurant. When news reaches her husband that Ninah is pregnant, he comes to recover the dowry he paid or take home the woman he owns – by any means necessary. Best Film, 2012 Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival. Official Selection, 2013 Rotterdam Film Festival.
THU. MAR 20 AT 6:00 PM:BURN IT UP DJASSA – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French and Nouchi with English subtitles
Twenty-five-year-old Tony and his younger sister Ange live together in a one-room apartment ever since the death of their mother. One night, hawking cigarettes to eke out a living, Tony joins a game of poker, starts winning and discovers a fast way of making cash. But his lucky streak can’t last forever and he quickly descends into the violent world of the “djassa” (ghetto in Abidjan street slang). An urban legend set to the rhythm of slam poetry and the beat of street dance, this vérité noir from filmmaker Lonesome Solo announces an exciting new talent and emerging vision from the Ivory Coast. Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Film Festival, 2013 Berlin Film Festival.
THU. MAR 20 AT 9:30 PM:LE PRÉSIDENT – Film Series
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center / 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Screened in French with English subtitles
Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo is one of the most intriguing directors in Africa, unafraid to challenge either political or conceptual boundaries. His newest work uses split-screens (at times, up to four images simultaneously) to present a fake documentary in which “the president” has disappeared; talk-show hosts, rivals, politicians and even rappers chime in on what may have occurred, and what their president for life has – or has not – done for Cameroon. “Being president means living the Hollywood dream,” wryly notes one commentator; this film, mixing reality, fiction, interviews and staged scenes, finds life and reason not in Hollywood, but in its own homeland…
THU. MAR 20 AT 7:00 PM:THE NIGHT OF THE BEAR – Film Series
Hillyer Art Space / 9 Hillyer Court, NW
Screened in French with English subtitles
The Eleven times awarded Night of the Bear is a remarkable animated short, with dialogue taken from recordings made in a shelter for homeless in Fribourg, Switzerland. In a city of disconcerting nature, homeless animals are looking for shelter for the night. They take refuge in the Bear’s house, creating an ephemeral community that will dissolve with the first rays of sun. A tale of exclusion as recounted by crossed destinies out of sync.
FRI. MAR 21 AT 7:00 PM:Grande fête de la Francophonie – Special Event
Embassy of France / 4101 Reservoir Rd, NW
The Grande Fête de la Francophonie returns to the Embassy of France! Perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated event during le mois de la francophonie, the Grande Fête is an invitation to travel the continents of the world in one night! Each year, more than 35 embassies unite to present their culture and cuisine, accompanied by music from the French-speaking world. This year’s featured artists include Benin’s Jomion and the Uklos, and France’s post-punk, cold wave, electro, surf rockers La Femme!
SAT. MAR 22 AT 2:00 PM:MAKING OF ANIMATED FILMS & CHILDREN WORKSHOP – Film Series
Embassy of Switzerland / 2900 Catherdral Ave., NW
Family program for all ages
Enjoy a family afternoon watching Swiss animation movies and learning all about their making-of with Director Samuel Guillaume Samuel and Frederic Guillaume are two brothers who created Ciné3D, a film production company and an exchange platform on relief tools for cinema. Various projects include featured films, short films, TV series or interactive installations.
TUE. MAR 25 AT 7:00 PM:MALÉFICE – Film Series
Alliance Française / 2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Screened in French
Solange is convinced that her family is the victim of a curse that caused the death of her first two children. She will therefore, attempt to save the life of her last son KUMI, despite the reluctance of her husband, torn between the love of her family and the fear of her husband’s father MOUNKAL.
SAT. MAR 27 AT 7:00 PM:LES MARCHES DE LA LIBERTE with Rokhaya Diallo – Film Series
Embassy of France / 4101 Reservoir Rd, NW
Screened in French with English subtitles
Linking the French and American histories of civil rights, Les Marches de la Liberté questions the identity of France through the eyes of young American leaders. Their meetings throughout the film highlight the situation of French youth and its pressing issues such as recognition and identity. As the camera follows the young Americans discovering France, it poses the question: What can these participants of the “American Dream” make of the “French Dream”?
The 2014 Francophonie Cultural Festival is co-organized by the Washington Francophonie Committee, more than 35 embassies and The Alliance Française de Washington, AFI Silver, Arthispere, Blues Alley, Hillyer Art Space, Montgomery College. The Smithsonian Associates and the French-American Cultural Foundation. This year’s festival is generously sponsored by TV5 Monde, France, Medias, Monde and the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie.
2014 Francophonie Cultural Festival Sponsors
Francophonie Cultural Festival official website: http://www.francophoniedc.org