French Institute Alliance Française Announces Fall Programming

This fall the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) New York's premier French-language center, continues to present a variety of thought-provoking cross-cultural online programming, spanning current events, film, art, and performance.

With the 2020 election upon us, political insiders Paul Begala and Célia Belin discuss the campaigns through a Franco-American lens on September 16. Belgian-American actor Ronald Guttman presents a devastating one-man performance of Albert Camus's The Fall, the first live-streamed performance back in FIAF on October 1. Artists Steven and William Ladd will guide viewers through an online tour of their exhibition examining the prison system, The Other Side at the Invisible Dog Art Center, on September 23. And FIAF's popular Virtual CinéSalon continues through September with a series honoring actor Michel Piccoli, who died in May.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 6:30pm

FIAF TALKS:
Franco-American Perspectives on the 2020 Elections
Paul Begala in conversation with Célia Belin
LIVE on Zoom

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 caused a political earthquake within the United States that left the Democratic Party stunned and rudderless. After a tumultuous presidency that has faced global conflicts, a health pandemic, and racial unrest, the Democrats are gearing up to defeat Donald Trump. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A.

Paul Begala, former advisor to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's reelection campaign, offers the best political strategies to ensure a victory for Vice President Joe Biden in November, which he details in his new book You're Fired.

Célia Belin, a French political scientist who spent months following Democratic candidates for her critically acclaimed book Des Démocrates en Amérique, will offer a unique French perspective on this critical election followed closely around the world.

Co-presented with the French-American Foundation.

More information and RSVP here.

Wednesday, September 23, 2020 at 6:30pm

FIAF:TALKS
Virtual tour and discussion of The Other Side exhibition with artists Steven and William Ladd
LIVE on Zoom

For the past nine years, brothers Steven and William Ladd have been working with inmates in the NYC Department of Corrections as part of their art practice. The Other Side, an exhibition on view at The Invisible Dog Art Center (September 12-October 17, 2020), is a culmination of their experience within the prison system and collaborations with inmates. On September 23, the duo will take viewers on a virtual tour of the show, providing insight into the personal stories behind paintings, drawings, and sculpture that depict the aesthetics and architecture of correctional facilities. The tour will be followed by a conversation with the artists and Lucien Zayan, curator and director of The Invisible Dog. The Ladds will detail their first-hand exposure to the criminal justice system and engagement with inmates and answer questions from the audience.

The Other Side is co-presented by The Invisible Dog Art Center, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), and Cristina Grajales Gallery.

More information and RSVP here.

Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 7pm

PERFORMANCE: The Fall
Adapted for stage by Alexis Lloyd
Directed by Didier Flamand
Performance by Ronald Guttman
Based on La Chute by Albert Camus, copyright 1956, Editions Gallimard
LIVE on Vimeo

"You can never really prove anybody's innocence, but you can be sure we're all guilty. Every man bears witness to the crimes of all the others." - Jean-Baptiste Clamence, The Fall by Albert Camus.

New York-based, Belgian-born actor Ronald Guttman inhabits the role of anguished, exiled Parisian lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clamence, in Alexis Lloyd's solo theatrical adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning French author Albert Camus's The Fall.

In this elegant production, Clamence transports the audience to Mexico City, a bar in Amsterdam's seamy Red Light district, circa 1956. Positioned within the city's concentric rings of canals-paralleling Dante's circles of Hell-Clamence confesses his own descent that transformed him into a judge-repentant and postmodern prophet of the human condition. Set against the backdrop of post-Second World War Europe, this adaptation of Camus's last complete work of fiction invokes the fall of man from the Garden of Eden as it explores themes of culpability, shame and regret.

Presented in partnership with the Lycée Français de New York.

More information and RSVP here.

Virtual CinéSalon Presents
Michel Piccoli ... Tenderly, Tragically, Totally

One of the most esteemed and versatile actors of his generation, Michel Piccoli inhabited a wide range of memorable characters etching an indelible impression across his seven decades in cinema in France and beyond. Over the course of his career, he imbued tenderness, passion, and dedication in roles as varied as popes, cops, artists, and ordinary men. To commemorate Piccoli who died in May at the age of 94, FIAF will present a small retrospective of his work, showcasing the gravity and humor, cynicism and humanity he brought to roles in films by Claude Sautet, Alain Resnais, Leos Carax, and Jacques Rivette.

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Max and the Junkmen (Max et les Ferrailleurs)
Dir. Claude Sautet, 1971, 112 min.
With Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, Georges Wilson, François Périer
In French with English subtitles
Available on Kino Marquee

Frustrated by a gang of robbers he has failed to catch time and time again, the aloof Parisian detective Max (Michel Piccoli) decides to save face by enlisting an Old Acquaintance to entice the petty thieves into robbing a bank. Max poses as a rich banker and lures the lead criminal's girlfriend, Lilly, with promises of the enormous amounts of cash transferred through his bank. The gang of thieves takes the bait, unaware that the cops are lying in wait for them. But with Max's plan is coming to fruition, he realizes that he hasn't fully considered all of its consequences. More information and streaming link here.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet (Vous n'avez encore rien vu)
Dir. Alain Resnais, 2012, 115 min
With Mathieu Amalric, Lambert Wilson, Sabine Azéma, Michel Piccoli
In French with English subtitles
Available on Kino Marquee

Featuring a who's-who of French acting royalty-Mathieu Amalric, Michel Piccoli, and Resnais's frequent muse Sabine Azéma-this film brings together a group of performers who worked together on the stage to hear the reading of the last will and testament of their former colleague. While delivering his message from beyond the grave, the playwright (Denis Podalydès) asks the group to evaluate a recording of his Eurydice-a play they had all performed over the years. But as the video unspools, the seasoned thespians begin acting out the text alongside their youthful avatars. Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Eric Gautier evoking the French poetic realism of the 1930s, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet is an alternately wry and wistful valentine to actors and the art of performance from a director long fascinated by the intersection of life, theater, and cinema. More information and streaming link here.

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Bad Blood (Mauvais sang)
Dir. Leos Carax, 1986, 116 min.
With Michel Piccoli, Juliette Binoche, Denis Lavant, Julie Delpy
In French with English subtitles
Available on Kino Marquee

In a futuristic Paris, people are dying from a mysterious sexually transmitted disease, STBO, contracted by people engaging in emotionless sex. While an antidote exists, it remains locked away. A woman known as the American hires Marc (Michel Piccoli) and his associate Alex (Denis Lavant) to steal it. Nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and three César Awards-Best Actress (Juliette Binoche), Most Promising Actress (July Delpy), Best Cinematography (Jean-Yves Escoffier)-this drama-packed neo-noir explores the grand themes of life and love within a dystopian landscape where sex has been uncoupled from passion. More information and streaming link here.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

La Belle Noiseuse
Dir. Jacques Rivette, 1991, 238 min
With Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart, Marianne Denicourt
In French, Hebrew, and English with English subtitles
Available on Kino Marquee

Winner of the Grand Prix at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker in English) is legendary French New Wave director Jacques Rivette's epic exploration of the convergence between artistry and eroticism. Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) is a reclusive painter living in the French countryside with his wife (French cultural icon Jane Birkin). Their lives are radically upended with the arrival of a younger artist (David Bursztein) and his girlfriend (Emmanuel Béart), who becomes the muse that awakens Edouard's fading passions. This layered character study, based on The Unknown Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac, simultaneously offers one of the most incisive and immersive meditations on the creative process ever produced on film. More information and streaming link here.