It’s that time of year: the cream of Hollywood, and independent U.S. cinema will be crowding the boardwalk at Deauville for the American Film Festival from 2 to 11 September. There are 13 films in the main competition, seven of them first films and a couple by joint directors. Hollywood is famously obsessed with LA … Continue reading “Deauville with an American Accent: Film Festival 2022”
It’s a very overused phrase to say that a series is eagerly awaited, but with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, it’s completely justified. There were more than 250 million views of the teaser trailer in 24 hours after it aired during the Superbowl in February. The 8-part lavish first season of … Continue reading “Back to Middle Earth”
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (94) is delighted to once again welcome dozens of authors from around the world to its festival St Maur en Poche from 24 to 26 June. There will be lots of Anglophone authors present, including the inimitable Maggie O’Farrell, winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction for Hamnet, her imagining of the life … Continue reading “Paperback Festival in St Maur”
Baz Luhrmann’s new film is a biopic of Elvis Presley, the founding father of rock ‘n’ roll. Australian writer-director Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet, The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge) has long been fascinated by Elvis Presley. But to tell his story on film, he decided to focus on the relationship between Elvis and his manager, … Continue reading “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”
A new production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird as a play is now running in London as well as Broadway. Aaron Sorkin has dramatised the classic novel to put the focus on, and give a voice to, Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white woman. To Kill a Mockingbird is … Continue reading “To Kill a Mockingbird: Changing the Point of View”
Britain’s Women’s Prize for Fiction has been awarded to a book narrated by a book. American-Canadian author Ruth Ozeki’s fourth novel has the philosophical title The Book of Form and Emptiness, perhaps no surprise from an author who combines writing, teaching and being a Zen Buddhist priest. The teenage protagonist Benny finds the Book when … Continue reading “Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner 2022”
An evening at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris will provide lots of insights on Northern Ireland, a nation with a still fluctuating identity and status 101 years after its creation. Activist art, thought and song will all combine on 8 June. The Government of Ireland Act that came into force on 3 May 1921, … Continue reading “Everything You Wanted to Know about Northern Ireland”
Everything you need to know about Queen Elizabeth II’s seventy years on the throne in the last of the British Council Paris’s “Talks in English” for this school year: 2 June at 7 p.m. Just in time to kick off the Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend, Amy Brightling will discuss the Queen’s long and eventful … Continue reading “Talk in English: Queen’s Platinum Jubilee”
Anglophone music and musicians from the early and more recent days of rock music are being highlighted at the Cannes Festival this year. Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and David Bowie, are all featured in films playing at the festival. Elvis Elvis is a film about the rise of the “King” directed by Baz Luhrmann … Continue reading “Cannes 2022: A festival on the Rocks!”
After two years of COVID-19, the Cannes Film Festival is back on track and takes place from 17 to 28 May 2022 for its 75th edition. This year, the jury is led by French actor Vincent Lindon and 21 films* are competing for the prestigious Palme d’or. In 2021, the honour went to the French … Continue reading “Cannes 2022 : The Palmes before the Palme”
