« Who owns culture ? – On appreciation, adaptation and appropriation »
Open to everyone interested in discussing philosophical issues in an informal setting, the Institut’s Café Philo meets every Saturday.
Send an email to books@institutfrancais.org.uk if you wish to take part in this philosophical Zoom session, and details will be sent to you.
Timothée de Fombelle has a habit of leaving his readers on the edge of their seats with his vivid portrayal of radically different worlds and characters: from a huge oak inhabited by tiny humans, a zeppelin soaring across the globe, and, about to be published in France, the high seas between Africa and the Caribbean on slave trading boats in the 19th century.
Here he discusses the power of imagination and essential sense of adventure in children’s books with his translator, Sarah Ardizzone.
Watch out for the interview:
Timothée de Fombelle reads an excerpt in French from Alma, Le vent se lève:
Sarah Ardizzone reads an excerpt in English from Alma, Le vent se lève:
In Ravel, un imaginaire musical, a biography yet untranslated into English, pianist Karol Beffa, poet Guillaume Métayer and comic book artist Aleksi Cavaillez take us on an enchanted journey following of the famous French composer, noted for his musical craftsmanship and perfection of form and style.
Karol Beffa unravels Ravel in an exclusive interview:
| Karol Beffa, Guillaume Metayer, Aleksi Cavaillez, Ravel, un imaginaire musical (éditions Delcourt, 2019) |
© Amélie Tcherniak
These days, piano improvisation seems somewhat forgotten about, despite arousing extreme enthusiasm among audiences in the 19th century. Pianist and composer Karol Beffa has been active in the genre’s revival by improvising for silent movie projections for years.
Live piano concert by Karol Beffa on Thursday 14 May, improvising on themes given by the public, such as Smile Over the Rainbow or Debussy in an Octopus'Garden…
| Karol Beffa, Guillaume Metayer, Aleksi Cavaillez, Ravel, un imaginaire musical (éditions Delcourt, 2019) |
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:
| Guantanamo Kid. The True Story of Mohammed El-Gharani, translated by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero) |
© Thibaut de Corday
In Our Lady of the Nile, Scholastique Mukasonga immerses us into an elite Catholic boarding school for young women perched on the ridge of the Nile. Fifteen years before the Rwandan genocide, we watch as these girls replicate their parents’ preconceptions, transforming the lycée into a microcosm of the country’s mounting racial violence.
Scholastique Mukasonga reveals the story behind the story in an exclusive interview:
Enjoy a reading of an excerpt of Our Lady of the Nile by the author herself and in English by David Mildon:
| Our Lady of the Nile, Archipelago (2014) |
FRA/BEL | 2019 | 101 mins | dir. Safy Nebbou, with Juliette Binoche, Nicole Garcia, François Civil | cert. 15 | in French with EN subs
Celle que vous Croyez
To spy on her lover Ludo, fifty-year-old Claire Millaud (Juliette Binoche) creates a fake profile on social media and becomes Clara, a beautiful twenty-year-old. Alex, Ludo's friend, is instantly enamoured. Claire, trapped by her avatar, falls madly in love with him. Although everything is played out in the virtual world, the feelings that blossom are quite real. A beguiling story where lies are entangled with reality.
Interview of director Safy Nebbou:
Watch on Curzon Home Cinema and get a 15% discount (promo code CHCMAY)
FRA/ITA | 2012 | 40 mins | dir. Joël Curtz, with Pippa Bacca | in French with EN subs
La Mariée
Dressed in a wedding gown, artists Pippa Baccaand Silvia Moro hit the road and hitchhike their way towards Jerusalem with the clear aspiration of opening themselves to 'the Other'. As their travel-performance unfolds, the artists decide to take two different paths and Pippa is later found dead in Turkey. The Bride embarks us on a journey in search of her traces.
Now is the time to shed a new light on the work of a major 20th-century thinker, whose powerful thinking about identity, race and activism remains remarkably prescient. A lesser-known Fanon will appear, a much deeper writer, who could be inspired by Paul Claudel or Aimé Césaire, rather than a plain activist, as some might have wanted to showcase him as.
Extracts from an interview conducted and produced by Nasheed Qamar Faruqi, and commissioned by Daniel Pick of the Hidden Persuaders Research Group at Birkbeck University of London.
| Alienation and Freedom, Frantz Fanon’s writings |
© Olivier Roller 2018
In 1173, Eleanor of Aquitaine and three of her sons instigated a rebellion to overthrow the English king, her husband Henry Plantagenet. What prompted this revolt? How does a great queen persuade her children to rise up against their father? In The Revolt, Clara-Dupont-Monod’s latest novel, Richard Lionheart tells the story of his mother, a queen in a man’s world.
Clara-Dupont-Monod lifts the veil over Eleanor of Aquitaine in an exclusive interview:
Enjoy a reading of an excerpt of The Revolt in English by David Mildon:
Enjoy a reading of an excerpt of La révolte in French by David Mildon:
| The Revolt, translated by Ruth Diver (Quercus, 2020) |
