James Baldwin Centenary

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 26 September 2024 > Celebrate

2024 marks the centennial of the birth of James Baldwin, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, civil-rights campaigner and social critic, as well as self-proclaimed American “Native Son”. Born in 1924 in Harlem, New York, Baldwin grew up in poverty, the eldest of nine children. Harlem was home to many black families who had moved from the … Continue reading “James Baldwin Centenary”

Celebrate Black History Month in Rennes

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 24 January 2024 > Celebrate

In honour of Black History Month, the Institut Franco-Américain in Rennes has varied events about African-American culture and history. There is music, with a gospel and dance show, Shosholoza, an exhibition and concert on female jazz singers and a bilingual lecture about hip-hop. As well as a conversation with Brooklyn-based Dawnie Walton on her first … Continue reading “Celebrate Black History Month in Rennes”

Asteroid City: Seeing Stars

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 22 June 2023 > What's On

Wes Anderson’s new film is about a 1950s space cadet convention in a tiny desert town famous for its asteroid crater. After an alien sighting, the government puts the town into lockdown with a media blackout. But the ingenious cadets want to get out. Or… it’s about some Actor’s Studio actors on the East Coast … Continue reading “Asteroid City: Seeing Stars”

Love Letter to France

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 26 October 2021 > What's On

Wes Anderson’s latest film The French Dispatch is a homage both to his adopted country and to the amazing writers nurtured by The New Yorker magazine, of which Anderson is an avid reader. As with his earlier films like The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom, he has assembled an amazing cast. The conceit of … Continue reading “Love Letter to France”

Love in Harlem

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 07 February 2019 > What's On

If Beale Street Could Talk,  one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films has impeccable credentials: the first English-language film adapted from one of James Baldwin’s novels, it was both adapted and directed by Barry Jenkins, who won the 2017 Best Picture Oscar for Moonlight. Like Moonlight, and Baldwin’s work, it is centered on a working-class African-American … Continue reading “Love in Harlem”

Black History Month in Rennes

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 30 January 2019 > Celebrate

In honour of the Black History Month, the Institut Franco-Américain in Rennes has two events centered around author James Baldwin, just in time for the release of the Oscar-nominated If Beale Street Could Talk. Born in 1924 in Harlem, New York, Baldwin is remembered as a novelist, poet, playwright, essayist and social critic. From 1948 … Continue reading “Black History Month in Rennes”

“I Am Not Your Negro”

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 09 May 2017 > What's On

In 1987, James Baldwin died without having finished his last book. He left just thirty pages of the manuscript. The book was intended to be a personal account of the assassination of three of his friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.  In the documentary film I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul … Continue reading ““I Am Not Your Negro””