La Lettre de l’ Learn French, Live French
OCTOBRE, NOVEMBRE & DECEMBRE 2017 Chers amis francophones et francophiles, L’équipe de l’Alliance Française de Greenwich est heureuse de vous retrouver pour sa nouvelle rentrée (La Rentrée !). Cette année est riche en activités et en nouveautés ! Nous étions tous ravies de vous voir si nombreux à notre Cocktail de Rentrée. Une soirée bien agréable. Merci à tous ceux qui ont aidé à l’organiser. Notre délicieux déjeuner au Bistro 47 le 27 septembre était très sympathique aussi ! Le Bruce Museum vous offre une belle exposition des œuvres de Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Beth Gersh-Nesic fera une conférence à ce sujet le 14 octobre et Claire Negrin vous offrira le 5 décembre une visite guidée en français de l’exposition. Cette visite sera suivie par une discussion au Bistro V. Le 11 novembre Mickaella Perina nous fera une présentation sur la littérature martiniquaise. N’oubliez pas d’assister aux films qui vous seront offerts cet automne que ce soit lors des soirées French Cinémathèque au Avon Theatre (10 octobre « La mort de Louis XIV ») ou Ciné-Critique à la bibliothèque de Cos Cob ou encore les film internationaux au Ciné-Club à la bibliothèque Byram Schubert. La session d’automne des classes de français a bien démarré. L’Alliance Française continue de promouvoir l’apprentissage de la langue française à travers la création de différents programmes. Nous sommes ravies de vous annoncer des journées d’immersion sur différents sujets. Nous sommes heureuses de vous offrir une année pleine d’activités intéressantes et enrichissantes et nous vous remercions encore de la confiance dont vous nous témoignez.
Renée Ketcham & Gail Covney
Dear friends of the French-speaking world and all things French, We are delighted to welcome you all to a new year of activities and new events. We were happy to see so many of you at our Cocktail de Rentree. Thank you to all who helped organize this evening. Our delicious luncheon at Perfect Provenance was a lovely event too! One of our first cultural events of the season will be a lecture by Professor Beth Gersh-Nesic about Henri de Toulouse Lautrec on Oct 14th in conjunction with the new exhibit at the Bruce Museum. There will also be a guided lecture on December 5th in French given by Claire Negrin on the exposition Toulouse Lautrec at the Bruce Museum followed by a discussion in French at Bistro V. On November 11th a conference on the writers and literature of Martinique will be given by Professor Mickaella Perina. This will be a fascinating subject! This autumn we continue our French Cinematheque at the Avon Theatre in Stamford. On October 10th we will screen “The Death of Louis XIV” and on November 7th we will be screening the film “The Paris Opera” preceded by Wine and Cheese. Our French classes are off to a good start. We are happy to announce new immersion days on various subjects. We are delighted to offer you a year filled with interesting and enriching activities and we thank you for your continued support.
Renée Ketcham & Gail Covney
Sommaire Pages 2: Lecture - Conférence Page 3-4-5: Cinema Page 6: Proust Corner Page 7: Book Clubs Page 8: Bastille Day Page 9: Table Française - Conférence Page 10: Education Page 11: Bibliothèque Page 12: Membership
299 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830 Tel: (203) 629-1340
[email protected] www.afgreenwich.org
ART LECTURE Around the exhibition at the Bruce Museum: « In the Limelight : Toulouse-Lautrec Portraits from the Herakleidon Museum »
Saturday October 14 | 2 pm Byram Schubert Library Lecture in English Toulouse -Lautrec with Beth S. Gersh-Nešic Director and owner New York Arts Exchange, LLC RSVP
[email protected]
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Context: Preparation for the Exhibition at the Bruce Museum The Bruce Museum’s Fall exhibition on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) emphasizes “the relationship between portraiture, caricature, and rise of the cult of celebrity in Belle Époque Paris.” Art historian Beth S. Gersh-Nešić, Ph.D., director of the New York Arts Exchange and faculty member at Purchase College, will contextualize Toulouse-Lautrec’s work as part of the burgeoning Modernist movement that celebrated popular culture.
CONFÉRENCE - VISITE GUIDÉE Mardi 5 décembre | 2 pm Autour de l’exposition sur Toulouse-Lautrec Visite guidée & discussion en français Par Claire Negrin 2pm - 3pm Visite guidée au Bruce Museum 3:30 - 4:30 Café / Vin / Dessert / Discussion au Bistro V.
RSVP
[email protected] Venez découvrir avec Claire Négrin, au Bruce Museum, l’exposition de Toulouse-Lautrec, portraitiste de génie, intitulée « In the Limelight : Toulouse-Lautrec Portraits from the Herakleidon Museum » Cette visite guidée est l’occasion de nous plonger dans l’effervescence de la Belle Epoque à Paris. Nous allons prendre le temps d’apprécier l’art qui nous entoure, d’observer attentivement les œuvres exposées et d’exprimer nos impressions et nos émotions en français ! Claire Négrin est soucieuse de partager avec vous sa passion pour l’ Art et la Conversation . 2
Ciné-Club - Movies From Around The w orld Byram Shubert Library | 7:00pm on Thursdays Lonesome Dove (Part 1) | Thursday October 26 An American epic Western adventure miniseries starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones that won two Golden Globes. Two famous former Texas Rangers, run a livery in the small dusty Texas border town of Lonesome Dove. Gus loves women, but he's twice a widower, and Call is somewhat of a workaholic.
9 Months Stretch | Thursday November 30 The French satire “9 mois ferme” by Albert Dupontel starring Sandrine Kimberlain was featured at Focus On French Cinema FFC 2014. Ariane Felder is pregnant! The situation is quite surprising as Ariane is a young judge and confirmed single woan with very strict morals. Based on the paternity tet the father is Bob, a criminal. Read more online. http://focusonfrenchcinema.com/calbum/9-month-stretch/
The Dressmaker | Thursday December 14 The Dressmaker is a 2015 Australian comedy-drama film by Jocelyn Moorhouse, based on a novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham. It stars Kate Winslet as a femme fatale as the dressmaker, Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage, who returns to a small Australian town to take care of her ailing mother. The film explores the themes of revenge and creativity.
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French Cinématheque Co-presented by Focus on French Cinema & Avon Theatre Stamford | 7:30pm on Tuesdays Pre-screening Wine and Cheese at 7pm Details on films www.avontheatre.org www.focusonfrenchcinema.org
Tuesday October 10 | 7pm
Hot Yoga / Rive Gauche Yoga c l a s s i n Fre nc h S unda y O c tobe r 2 9 | 4 pm - 5 pm S unda y No ve m be r 1 2 | 4 pm - 5 pm RS V P yoga c e nt e rgre e nw i c h@ gma i l . c om 4
Ciné-Critique
DVDs
Film & discussion en français Cos Cob Library | 1 pm on Thursdays
Alliance Française Of Greenwich
Thursday October 12 Les Diaboliques Un succès à sa sortie en 1955 et aujourd’hui un des plus célèbres films de Henri-Georges Clouzot . Nous suivons deux femmes, Christine et Nicole respectivement épouse et maîtresse du directeur tyrannique d’une école pour jeunes garçons alors qu’elles envisagent de l’assassiner. Avec Simone Signoret et Vera Clouzot
Thursday November 30 Korkoro Le thème du film est la persécution des Tsiganes par les autorités de la France de Vichy en collaboration avec les occupants Nazis pendant la 2ème guerre mondiale. Ce film a été tourné en 2009 dans la Loire et en Roumanie où un camp de concentration a été reconstruit. Korkoro est la traduction du mot “Liberté “ en Roumain. Réealisateur: Tony Gatlif 5
Proust Corner Misia Sert, A Muse By: Fereshteh Priou
Misia Sert was an astonishingly beautiful woman born in 1872 to a Polish family. She was raised in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Russian Imperial Residence where her sculptor father was working on a project . She lost her mother, who was from a distinguished Belgian musical family, at childbirth and was sent to Brussels to live with her grandparents. She was a musical prodigy who learned to play piano as a child sitting on Franz Liszt knees and was a student of Fauré. She eventually came to Paris as a piano teacher, but found her way into the Belle Époque Paris society through marriage.
Maria Sert, who introduced her to morphine and was responsible for her sexual awakening. The marriage was a tumultuous one, full of infidelity and betrayals. Frequenting society was her way of ignoring her marital issues.
Her salon was coveted by the most distinguished personalities of the period, but she selected her guests scrupulously. Many great artists such as Renoir, Lautrec and Vuillard painted her portrait and she influenced musicians such as Satie, Stravinsky and Serge Diaghilev, the founder of Ballets Russes. She was a close friend of Coco Chanel with rumors that they were lovers. She was also loved and respected by many authors, including Gide, MalShe was married three larmé, Cocteau and Proust. times, first to Thadeé Natanson, a Polish emigrant The artists benefited from and radical socialist who her patronage and she was was the founder of La Re- known to help them finanvue Blanche, then to Alfred cially when times were Edwards, the founder of Le hard. They adored her and Matin. Rumor has it that Ed- most considered her beauty wards fell in love with her irresistible. Monet, who was while she was married to an old and arthritic man at Natanson and managed to the time, asked her to bare win her through some finan- her bosom for him to paint cial agreement between the which she refused. Vuillard two men. Her third and last who painted many portraits husband was the Spanish of her and gave them fancipainter and muralist Jose- ful names such as Nape, was known to be vastly am6
orous of her. He once fell into tears at the sight of her beauty when painting her. She later said that Vuillard’s cry was the most beautiful declaration of love she had ever experienced. Picasso was a close friend and she was the godmother to his first son, but theirs was not an amicable relationship. Picasso’s biographer, John Richardson describes her as manipulative, meddling and a liar. One of her more ardent admirers was Marcel Proust who modeled one of his famous characters, Mme. Verdurin, after her. Just like Mme. Verdurin, Misia surrounded herself with the illuminati. The more sought after her salons became, the haughtier she got. One had to be gifted to get access to her receptions. At the opera one evening, she scanned the audience from her box through her lorgnette and not seeing anyone she knew, she declared, “There is no one here!” -- showing that she was even more Mme. Verdurin than the original Mme. Verdurin. Misia Sert died in 1950 and was buried in a pink dress designed by her friend, Coco Chanel. She is the subject of a current show at Musee D’Orsay in Paris,
Proust Group Byram Shubert Library | 5-7pm We are reading the last volume PROUST GROUP WILL RESTART WITH THE FIRST BOOK IN JANUARY 2018
Meeting Dates: Thursday, October 19, November 9 and December 7
In the Proust Group, you don’t choose the book, the book chooses you…
Club de lecture Byram Shubert Library | Wednesdays 1:30pm Me rc re di 4 oc tobr e
Mercredi 6 décembre
LE CONFIDENT de Hélene Grémillon
DIALOGUES DE BETES de Colette
L’histoire d’une famille où les conflits émotionnels se déroulent dans une ambiance qui tient à la fois du mystère, de l’insolite et de la réalité historique de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale.
Un chat racé est amené à devoir s’entretenir avec un chien roturier. Le lecteur y retrouvera des échos de la vie que menait Colette, indépendante, voire scabreuse. A la parution en 1904 elle avait 31 ans.
International Book Club Byram Shubert Library | 5-6pm Tuesday, November 14 THE COUNTERFEITERS by André Gide The 1925 French novel “Les faux-monneyeurs”
Tue s da y, O c tobe r 1 0
Tuesday, December 12
“G r e e nw i c h Re a ds ” NEWS OF THE NEW WORLD by Paulette Jiles
THE LOVER by Marguerite Duras The 1984 French best-seller “L’amant” that won the prestigious Prix Goncourt was Duras’ 48th.
Unlikely companions bond on a perilous journey.
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PAST EVENTS BASTILLE DAY Photo credit: Anne Friday
With Anta Diallo, Digital and Economic Advisor, Deputy Press Attaché for the French Consulate Read her speech here: www.afgreenwich.org/Discours14juilletGreenwich2017.pdf
COCKTAIL DE RENTREE 2017
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Table Française & Holiday Party Thursday October 5 | 12:30pm @ L’Escale Beaujolais Nouveau! Thursday November 16 | 7:30pm @ Saltaire Thursday December 7 | 12:30pm @ La Panetière Holiday Party December 13 | 5:30pm stay tuned!
CONFÉRENCE Saturday November 11 | 3pm Byram Schubert Library Conférence en français Littérature et philosophie à travers les écrits d’auteurs Martiniquais Par Mickaella L. Perina is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Cette conférence présente les travaux de 4 auteurs Martiniquais (Fanon, Césaire, Ménil et Glissant) qui ont amplement écrits en français et ont considérablement contribué à une meilleure compréhension de l’expérience caribéenne. En tant que poètes, dramaturges, essayistes et philosophes, ils ont analysé comment les Martiniquais en particulier, et les caribéens en général, conçoivent leur réalité et ont démontré que des catégories, comme l’identité, l’être, le territoire, le particulier et l’universel, acquièrent un sens nouveau lorsqu’elles sont analysées à la lumière de cette expérience. Cette conférence examine les outils conceptuels développés par ces auteurs et montre que, par-delà l’expérience caribéenne, leurs contributions permettent aussi de mieux comprendre les expériences migratoires et les contacts entre individus et groups dans le monde contemporain. Perina’s areas of expertise include social and political philosophy, legal philosophy, philosophy of race, contemporary French philosophy and Caribbean Philosophy. She is the author of numerous articles and of a book Citoyenneté et Sujétion aux Antilles Francophones [Citizenship and Subjection in the Francophone Antilles]
Exhibit FLINN GALLERY Memory of Place Thomas Doyle & Frank Poor On view until October 18 9
Education President Emmanuel Macron’s Visit to NYC Information shared by the French Emabassy in he united States: On September 20, 2017, President Emmanuel Macron of the Republic of France inaugurated the French Dual Language Fund in support of Bilingual Education in the U.S. public schools. The ceremony took place at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Photo credit: French Embassy in the united States
Programs
Workshops Saturday October 14 Literature Workshop Petit Pays by Gael Faye Level: Intermediate & Advanced *
Saturday November 4 Immersion Day Terroir & Patrimoine * TV5 Monde & more workshops tbd
For more information contact
[email protected] or call 203-629-1340 www.afgreenwich.org 10
Board of Directors 2017 - 2018 President Co-President Treasurer
Renée Ketcham Gail Covney Fereshteh Priou
Nouveautés à la bibliotheque
Board & Committees Honorary Board Member Board Member Ciné-Club Ciné-Critique Conferences Conferences School Relations Bourses et Prix Education Outreach International Book Club Table Francaise Proust Group Cultural Liaison Education Director/ Office Manager
Jean-Louis Gerin Harry McLachlin Gail Covney Mimi Wind Catherine Ladnier Renée Ketcham Gail Covney Gail Covney Anne Kern Renée Ketcham Sylviane Leibowitz Fereshteh Priou Miguel García-Colón Geraldine Trippitellli
Les activités habituelles de l’Alliance Conférences Round Hill Community Church Parlor Tuesdays |1.30pm 397 Round Hill Road La Causerie Le deuxième lundi du mois à 13h30 à moins d’un avis contraire @ Cos Cob Library Marie Agnès Peters, Tél: (203) 355-1787 Viviane Ponslet, Tél: (914) 630-0654 Reed Lecture Conversation Troisième mardi à 13h30 @ Byram Shubert Library Francis Polizio, Tél: (914) 939-1092 Café franco-américain Tous les deux vendredis à 9h30. Discussion chez un particulier. Une heure en anglais et une heure en français. Susan Benthall, Tél: (203) 322-9219 Club de lecture Discussion dirigée de 5 livres dans l’année. Viviane Ponslet, Tél: (914) 630-0654 Robert Henrey, Tél: (203) 661-8378 Ciné-Club Le dernier jeudi du mois à 19h @ Byram Shubert Lib. Ciné-Critique Le jeudi à 13h00 @ Cos Cob Library Pour les amoureux du cinéma français. Projection vidéo suivie d’une discussion. Mimi Wind, Tél: (203) 355-9499 Proust Group 17h00 See page 7 for dates & location Fereshteh Priou, Tel: (203) 918-1238 La Table Française Le premier jeudi du mois
Thanks to our members for their donation of books in French: La fille de Brooklyn by Guillaume Musso, L’adversaire by Emmanuel Carrere, Des eclairs by Jean Echenoz, Coco Chanel by Henry Gidel, La preuve by Agota Kristof and more...
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Geraldine Trippitelli, a French-American dual citizen, who graduated with a Master of Business Management, is the new Director at Alliance Française of Greenwich. “It is such a pleasure to come back to Alliance Française after years of teaching French and promoting the Festival Focus On French Cinema through my marketing agency Mazette Media. Taking part to the “rayonnement de la culture française” is thrilling. I wish Farah well in her new endeavor. Our team of French teachers is doing a fantastic job helping our students in their journey to French. We can hear on Greenwich Avenue from the youngest child in their Playgroup and Ecole du Samedi to he most passionate Francophiles in their Beginner or Immersion class, all are making amazing progress! I will continue to promote new classes, be it an interactive TV5 Monde workshop or a flexible Tutoring via Facetime video. One of our student was recently on a business trip to Chile and continuing her weekly 1-on-1 class! Stop by to say “bonjour”, borrow a French book, a film or attend our next Table Française! Connect with us on social media:
@afgreenwich
Membership Le Centre de l’Alliance Française: our center, located in the Arts Center, 299 Greenwich Ave., Greenwich, CT is open to the public Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Friday 9:00 AM to noon French Classes: classes are held at the AFG Center, Monday through Saturday. Call Geraldine (203) 629-1340. Become a member and enjoy a co-membership with FIAF / New York as well as take advantage of all our fabulous cultural events throughout the year. For more information on our membership and level of membership, please visit our Website: www.afgreenwich.org or call 203-629-1340 The Alliance Française of Greenwich (AFG) is a member supported, non-profit organization
All donations to the AFG are tax deductible
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