Exhibition

India by Magnum_Plural perspectives
A projected photo exhibition produced by the Embassy of France in India.
At Bose Pacia Kolkata
May 6-May 31
Tue-Sun, 11am-7pm

Opening on May 6, 6-8pm, ALL WELCOME
Bose Pacia Kolkata
Stephen Court,
18 Park Street (Lane opposite Saurav's Restaurant, Ground Floor)
Kolkata 700 071

Cinema
As always… French films, English subtitles… and all welcome till hall is full!

Cine-club

May: When Cinema meets political revolts…

In France, not only blossom, heat and relaxing time come along with May … But it is also the very month of the most famous social revolts from the general strikes of the 1936 “Printemps des cerises” (Cherries Spring) to the revolts of May 1968.
To celebrate the anniversary of May 1968, the Alliance Française du Bengale is glad to present you four movies that will focus on the different sides of social rebellion in 2Oth Century France.
Let’s have a trip together, let’s hear the voices of rebels, those of the 1930’s red-collar in A Nous La Liberté, those of the feminist women in Combats de femmes. Let’s see the revolts of the young French people, from the intellectualism of the 1960’s maoist students in La Chinoise, to the desperate anger of the 1990’s suburb-dwelled young people in La Haine.

May 6
A nous la liberté! / Freedom For Us
Directed by René Clair, 1931.

A famous left-wing satirical comedy about two ex-convicts one of whom escaped jail and then worked his way up from salesman to factory owner, where he oversees a highly mechanized operation where the workers are reduced to mere automatons. Fearful of being exposed over his past, at first by his friend and later by another gangster, the owner chooses to give his factory to the workers, and then escapes with his friend to the freedom of the open road. The production company for "A Nous la Liberte" was for more than a decade embroiled in a lawsuit claiming that Charles Chaplin had seen their film and plagiarized many ideas from it as he developed "Modern Times."

May 13
La Chinoise
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, 1967.

Five Parisian students, their political awareness aroused by Chairman Mao's Little Red Book and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, envision an overthrow of Western governmental systems - which they aim to bring about through acts of terrorism. One of Godard's most brilliant films of the 60s', its success lies in the rejection of traditional narrative techniques: it is a dialectical charade which is as disturbing as it is comical. Though criticized in its day as a political manipulation, La Chinoise has proven alarmingly prophetic and its impact on audiences during the late 60s' is echoed amongst viewers today.

May 20
Quand les femmes s’en mêlent
Directed by Paule Zajdermann, 2003.

This documentary film deals with the history of feminism from post-war to the present day through three generations of women. The oldest ones talk about the difficult conditions for women just after the war. Then came the first protests and the latest movement, "Ni putes ni soumises" (Neither whores nor submissive), embodying the struggle of many young women to gain a true status. An account which meaning becomes clear through various accounts of social destiny and individual careers.

May 27
La Haine/The Hatred
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995.

This dark urban thriller explores themes of racism, violence and disaffected youth in modern suburban Paris. The film takes a look at a racially diverse group of young people trapped in harsh and grim housing projects outside of Paris where a riot has broken out after a police “encounter”. Shot in black and white, in a cinéma-vérité style, La Haine depicts one day in the lives of three teenage friends and somehow anticipates the outburst of riots that broke out in France in the fall of 2005, following the death of two young men in the hands of the police.