Monday, April 26, 2010

Ciné Club - Mon Oncle by Jacques Tati



Cinéclub

JACQUES TATI's MON ONCLE
Thursday 29 April - 7.30pm
On the occasion of the Franco-Irish Literary Festival whose theme this year is The City, the Ciné-Club suggests that you see or see once again Mon Oncle by Jacques Tati, which was first shown in 1958. The first film in colour by the director this absolute masterpiece received the Oscar for the Best Foreign Film that year.
M. and Mme Arpel live in a very modern house in a lethargic neighbourhood. Game, chance and humour have no place in this too-well designed universe. Their son, Gérard, is bored. But that's where his uncle M. Hulot makes his appearance, an idiosynchratic misfit...


French version with French subtitles, 110 min.

Information and booking: library@alliance-francaise.ie
Admission Free. Seats are limited to 15 and restricted to Members.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

French Film Club "La Danse" by Frederick Wiseman



Monday 26 April at 8pm
Talk 15minutes before the screening

At the IFI (8 Eustace street, Dublin 2)

Ticket on sale at the box office
€7 AF members / €9.50 Non-members

From the talent and application of individual dancers and choreographers to the infrastructure of a venerable Parisian institution, La Danse, The Paris Opera Ballet is an expansive portrait that surveys the totality of presenting world-class ballet to an adoring public.

For the past four decades, Fred Wiseman, the dean of American documentarists, has specialised in allowing the audience the status of invisible observer watching the process of others going about their lives, and here as usual he forgoes captioning and direct-to-camera interviews to give reality to us straight up. The result is compellingly immersive, detailing the day-to-day micro-crises inevitably shaping the fortunes of any large ballet company, yet also encouraging our appreciation of the sheer toil involved in honing physical grace to a fine point of finesse.

The screening of the film will be preceded by a brief introduction by a representative from the Dublin Dance Festival.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Ciné Kid - La Ballon Rouge by Albert Lamorisse



Saturday 24 April 12.15
French version
with French subtitles

Le Ballon rouge is a 1956 fantasy short film (40 minutes)directed by Albert Lamorisse (who also shot Crin Blanc).

The film, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris.

It won numerous awards, including an Oscar for best original screenplay in 1956 and the Palme d'Or for short films at Cannes. Many international directors and critics are still considering this film amongst the most influential. It also became popular with children educators.

Free for AF Members only
RSVP: info@alliance-francaise.ie

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Photographic exhibition "Beckett's Paris" by John Minihan



"Beckett's Paris" by John Minihan
14 April - 25 June
At the Alliance Française in Dublin (1 Kildare Street, Dublin 2)

The Irish photographer John Minihan first met Samuel Beckett in May 1980, and was to photograph him many times thereafter, in both Paris and London, a privilege afforded to very few. Impossible to interview and famously camera-shy, Samuel Beckett was nevertheless a remarkable subject, with his wise, eagle-like face which reflected his greatness and profundity as a writer.

This exhibition presents some impressive portraits of Beckett and of his surroundings in Paris together with portraits of the famous, like Jean-Louis Barrault or Nathalie Sarraute, who worked and spent time with Beckett in Paris at that time.

This exhibition is kindly sponsored by www.parisbynumbers.ie