Month: May 2020

As a visual medium, accessible to wide audiences, graphic non-fiction can be linked to journalistic objectivity at its best. It can also draw on politically subversive traditions to raise awareness about human rights abuses. In Guantanamo Kid, a graphic novel written in collaboration with Mohammed El-Gharani, Jérôme Tubiana and Alexandre Franc tell the heart-wrenching story of one of the Bay’s youngest detainees.

Jérôme Tubiana and Alexandre Franc on Graphic Novels and Human Rights:

Video review by critic Jeremy Harding:

Related / Latest Publication:

Guantanamo Kid. The True Story of Mohammed El-Gharani, translated by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero)

Roland Barthes was a central figure in the thought of his time, but he was also something of an outsider. Forty years after his death, Brian Dillon will explain why he, who « didn’t bother to be modern » can now and maybe more than ever speak to us, readers of the 21st century. 

Related / Latest Publication:

Essayism (Fitzcarraldo)

2020 is the Year or the French comics in France. Why not extend it to the UK? French and British do share a common love for comics. Let’s follow young Rachel Cohen who had to hide under the name of Catherine Colin during WWII in Julia Billet's heart-wrenching story or embark on an environmentalist ego-trip to the countryside with Henry David Thoreau and Cédric Taling – both journeys happening under the patronage of critic Paul Gravett, who will share his reviews of their books. 

Cédric Taling on Thoreau and Me:

Thoreau and Me: Video Review by Paul Gravett:

Catherine’s War Reviewed by Paul Gravett:

Related / Latest Publications:

	Catherine’s War translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger (Harper Collins, 2020)
	Thoreau and me (SelfMadeHero, 2020)

FRA | 1990 | dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau, with Gérard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez, Jacques Weber | 4K digital restoration / 138 mins in French with EN subs

Gérard Depardieu excels as the seventeenth century Gascon swordsman and braggart whose unsightly nose prevents him from confessing his love to his cousin Roxane. Showered with awards throughout the world and celebrating its 30th anniversary, Rappeneau’s film is a genuine cinematic triumph, as visually as it is verbally dazzling: the grace and pace of Rostand’s text is matched by the energetic camerawork and elegant mise-en-scène.

Listen to director Jean-Paul Rappeneau's unique Q&A at Ciné Lumière in 2018 on Culturethèque.

This classic of French cinema has also been remastered and released for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray, and simultaneously on iTunes and Amazon.

Calling all comic books fans, drawing dilettantes and budding artists to celebrate #BD2020! Join us for an online Drink & Draw Live Session with graphic novel illustrator Sébastien Vassant and drown your lockdown sorrows with pens, paper and a drink on the side. Known primarily for his non-fiction comic books, Sébastien will give a brief presentation of his work then will ask participants to draw on three subjects of his choice, with the best drawings published on our social networks. All welcome.

£7, conc. £5 | 1h | In English
To get the link, send an e-mail to : library@institutfrancais.org.uk

Related / Latest Publications:

	Les heures passées à contempler la mère (Futuropolis, 2019)
	Mai 68: la veille du grand soir (Seuil Delcourt, 2018)
	Histoire dessinée de la Guerre d'Algérie (Seuil, 2016)