The Lumière Festival in Lyon from 15 to 23 October has a great programme of films in various languages including English. And it will be giving the prestigious Prix Lumière to American writer- director-animator Tim Burton, as well as showing a retrospective of his films like A Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and … Continue reading “Tim Burton and Sidney Lumet Honoured at Lyon’s Lumière Festival”
Colin in Black and White is a new Netflix mini-series directed by Ava Duvernay. It’s ostensibly the story of Kaepernick’s high- school years, before he became an NFL Star and started his “take a knee” protests. In fact it’s a sort of manifesto with the older Kaepernick using his younger self to illustrate how he … Continue reading “Colin Kaepernick: Birth of an Activist”
Dickens’ classic, David Copperfield, is given new life in this movie by Armando Ianucci. Beyond the slightly reinvented plot itself, we are given to experience a new way of telling stories, as boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred if not crossed. What’s more, this brand-new funny version features colour-blind casting and leads us to … Continue reading “David Copperfield”
The Personal History of David Copperfield is far from the first adaptation of Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel. But Armando Iannucci has given the story a very new feel, while keeping Dickens’ humour and playing with that idea of autobiography and the art of inventing oneself through the act of writing. Iannucci is known for … Continue reading “David Copperfield: Dickens for the 21st Century”
San Francisco theatre company Word for Word’s annual French tour is being postponed to the autumn. This year their show is a coming-of-age story by Mexican-American writer Octavio Solis, Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border. They will perform it in Nancy, Paris, Angers and Lyon. For 25 years, Word for Word has … Continue reading “Tales of the US Border in Theatres Around France”
A new film tells the true story of a battle against endemic racism in the American justice system. It’s based on a memoir by Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer in Alabama, and tells the story of his firm’s battle to prove the innocence of Walter McMillian, who was condemned to death for a murder he didn’t … Continue reading “Just Mercy”
Greta Gerwig’s new adaptation of the classic coming-of-age story Little Women retells the story of the novel in parallel with the life of its author, Louisa May Alcott. Alcott wrote the novel in 1868. She had been writing stories commercially for several years when a publisher asked her to write a novel for girls. Alcott … Continue reading “Little Women: Big Film”
Greta Gerwig’s latest movie based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel will take you into a female world in which conventions are defied, questioned and challenged by four sisters. Indeed, these four women on the brink of emancipation shatter the traditional image of upper-middle class young ladies whose role (and even duty) was to get married … Continue reading “Little Women”
Michelle Obama’s memoir of her life up until leaving the White House gives great insight in the U.S. political system and the extent to which the private is considered political, and to which spouses and children are expected to participate in candidates’ campaigns. It is an excellent addition to Shine Bright 1re File 5, “Politically … Continue reading “Michelle Obama Autobiography”
The release of the former First Lady’s memoir and her accompanying conference tour is a great occasion for pupils to learn more about her biography, and about the role of the First Lady, which Patricia Nixon (First Lady from 1969 to 1974) described it as “the hardest unpaid job in the world”. This article gives … Continue reading “Becoming Michelle Obama”
