Every year, the BBC National Short Story Award contains some real gems of short fiction — and you can download the audio versions to listen to at leisure. Previous awards have been given to both unknown authors and well-established ones. This year, all five authors on the shortlist are women. Their stories have protagonists ranging … Continue reading “National Short Story Award to Listen to and Keep”
The Deauville American Film Festival’s 42nd edition ended Saturday night September 10th. A total of 14 films were in competition for this prizes. Little Men (Brooklyn Village), by Ira Sachs won the Grand Prize. Little Men is a drama which tells the story of a family that inherits a house in Brooklyn. The ground floor … Continue reading “Deauville American Film Festival’s awards 2016”
What do our pets do alone in our homes all day? That is the question The Secret Life of Pets sets out to answer. Be prepared to be surprised! Max has a dream life. Katie has rescued him from an animal shelter and now he lives with her in a New York apartment. As soon … Continue reading “Look Out: Animals Home Alone”
For its eighth edition (8-11 September), Festival America offers a plethora of activities around literature in the Americas. There is a day for school groups on Friday 9th. This year’s Festival America has something for everyone. Readings, talks, workshops, beautiful exhibitions and translation “jousts” are all part of the programme. Look out for several events … Continue reading “Festival America Literary Celebration in Vincennes”
The Dinard British Film Festival will take place from 28 September to 2 October. But put your requests in now for the schools festival from 19 to 27 September! The schools festival gives class groups a chance to see some recent British film productions suited to their age groups, and some great teaching themes. The … Continue reading “Dinard British Film Festival for Schools”
Take the real attempted assassination of Bob Marley and a vast cast of fiction characters. Mix together and you get the 2015 winner of the Man Booker, Britain’s most prestigious prize for fiction, by Marlon James, who will be a star guest at the 2016 Festival America in Vincennes from 8 to 11 September. Marlon … Continue reading “Marlon James Man Booker Winner at America Festival”
This year’s Deauville American Film Festival is going less for the Hollywood glitz and more for subversive, independent voices with tributes to documentary maker extraordinaire Michael Moore and actor-director-producer James Franco. There are of course lots of stars on the red carpet at Deauville, but Moore and Franco show another side of American cinema. Michael … Continue reading “Michael Moore and James Franco at Deauville”
Rebels, hedonists, social critics… eternal outsiders who have influenced generations of writers and artists that followed. The Beat Generation exhibition at the Paris Pompidou Centre looks at the legacy of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and many more. The Beat poetry movement was born in the wake of World War Two. But its influence … Continue reading “The Beat Generation: On the Road”
A film about life on a Native American reservation is part of an afternoon of events exploring life for Native Americans today at the America Festival in Vincennes on Saturday 10 September. Songs My Brothers Taught Me takes place on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (South Dakota). For her first movie, Chloe Zhao, a young … Continue reading “Songs and Stories of an Indian Reservation”
If there was a prize for the best film title of the year, it would definitely go to Race, the story of Jesse Owens’ victories at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That single word manages to embody the many facets of a story which encompasses sport, politics and the triumph of the human spirit. The film … Continue reading “Race”
