Green Book — winner of the 2019 Best Picture Oscar —is a road movie about friendship and race relations in the 1960s American South. The biopic is based on a real story: In 1964, Dr Don Shirley, a virtuoso classical pianist, was booked to play a series of concerts across the Deep South. Dr Shirley … Continue reading “On the Road with the Green Book”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had quite a year. The Supreme Court Justice has been the focus of a biopic and a documentary, which has been nominated for an Oscar. At 85, and despite frail health, Bader Ginsburg seems to have reached greater influence than she ever imagined. The 85-year-old is the doyenne of the Supreme … Continue reading “Myth and Hero”
Grayson Perry is one of the best-known contemporary artists in the U.K, a documentary filmmaker and often a walking work of art. His exhibition “Vanity, Identity, Sexuality” at the Monnaie de Paris gives an overview of his art, which questions British society and politics, and male identity. As well as his original speciality, ceramics, it … Continue reading “One-Man Show”
It’s become a cliché to describe a celebrity as an iconic figure but a new exhibition about Michael Jackson takes the word “iconic” in a more literal sense. Michael Jackson: On the Wall looks at how the visual artists depicted and idolised one of the biggest music stars of his, or any, time. Jackson was … Continue reading “Michael Jackson: On the Wall”
The War Horse author is one of Britain’s most popular children’s literature writers, although his books are far from lightweight, tackling difficult emotional themes. Michael Morpurgo will host an evening at the legendary English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Co on Tuesday 18 December. The veteran author, now 75, has written more than 150 books for children and teens. … Continue reading “Michael Morpurgo at Shakespeare and Co”
The British Council in Paris will be hosting a talk by the author of a recent biography of Mary Shelley on 13 December. Originally scheduled for Friday 23 November, the talk was postponed due to illness. Fiona Sampson, poet and writer, will talk about Shelley, the subject of her recent biography In Search of Mary … Continue reading “A Talk About Mary Shelley”
Queen is approaching its fiftieth anniversary, and has had one of the most successful careers in rock history. After a string of hits in the 70s and 80s, brought to a halt by the death of frontman Freddie Mercury, their jukebox musical We Will Rock You gave the band a second career. Now the remaining … Continue reading “We Will Rock You”
An exhibition in Montpellier shows the 1960s civil-rights movement in the U.S.A. through 300 photos, many never exhibited before. The exhibition takes its name, “I am a Man” from the slogan of the sanitation workers’ strike Martin Luther King, Jr was supposed to lead the day he was assassinated 50 years ago. The photos collected … Continue reading “I Am a Man: Civil Rights Photos in Montpellier”
The This is England short films festival is returning to the Omnia cinema in Rouen from 12 to 18 November. Fiction, documentary and animated films running from 2 minutes to half an hour, there’s something for everyone. And special schools screenings every morning with accompanying teaching packs. Short films, like short stories, can pack an … Continue reading “British Short Films Galore in Rouen”
The Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris is hosting an evening on the theme “Into the Wild in the 1930s” in connection with the Dorothea Lange exhibition The Politics of Seeing. How did and does the Far West reflect American culture? The evening will be an exchange in English between Ken Sanders, American bookseller and … Continue reading “Wide Open Spaces: American Wilderness”