Film Festival: Images de France, Feb 6-11 2012 @ Alliance Francaise

by with No Comment festivalmovies


6th-11th Feb. at 5.30 & 7.30pm weekdays
Except Mon. 6th Feb at 6pm
Sat: 11am, 2pm & 4pm

All screenings are FREE

For the first time since its launch in 2004, the ‘Images de France’ Festival takes on a national outlook, with the Festival taking place in the Alliance Française institutions across the country: Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret and Kisumu, from 6th to 12th February. The Festival aims to expose the latest trends in French cinema to a large and diverse audience.

6th Feb. at 6pm
‘Le Concert’ by Radu Mihaileanu, 2009, 2h00
starring: Mélanie Laurent, Aleksei Guskov
At the time of Brezhnev, Andrei Filipov was the most celebrated conductor in the USSR. But when he refused to part company with his Jewish musicians, he was dismissed without ceremony. Thirty years on, Andrei is once again employed by the Bolshoi Orchestra, but as a cleaner.
Winner of the Best Original Score and Best Sound at the 2010 César Awards

7th Feb. at 5.30pm
‘Tout ce qui brille’ by Géraldine Nakache & Hervé Mimran, 2010, 1h40
starring: Leila Bekhti, Géraldine Nakache
Ely and Lila are like two sisters, sharing everything and dreaming together of another life. From minor muddles to major lies, they’ll do everything in their power to try to enter a world that isn’t theirs but where everything seems possible.
Winner of the 2011 César for the Most Promising Actress

7th Feb. at 7.30pm
‘La Conquête’ by Xavier Durringer, 2011, 1h45
starring: Denis Podalydès, Florence Pernel
The film chronicles the volatile right-leaning Sarkozy’s startling rise to become President of France. On the day the diminutive Sarkozy conquered his ultimate ambition, his wife walked out on him for another man.

8th Feb. at 5.30pm
‘Hadewijch’ by Bruno Dumont, 2009, 1h45
starring: Julie Sikolowski, Karl Sarafidis
Shocked by the ecstatic and blind faith of Hadewijch, a novice, the Mother Superior casts her out from the convent. Hadewijch’s loving passion for God, her anger, and her encounter with Yassine and Nassir lead her, between grace and madness, to dangerous territory.
International Critics Award, 2009 Toronto Film Festival

8th Feb. at 7.30pm
‘Les Femmes du 6ème étage’ by Philippe le Guay, 2010, 1h45
starring: Fabrice Lucchini, Sandrine Kiberlain
Paris in 1960. Jean-Louis lives a quiet, middle-class existence in an elegant tenement building. The arrival of guest workers from Spain, six women of different ages from Burgos, is going to change his life.
Audience Award at the 2011 COL-COA (City of Lights, City of Angels) Film Festival in Los Angeles

9th Feb. at 5.30pm
‘Nikita’ by Luc Besson, 1996, 1h57
starring: Anne Parillaud, Tchéky Karyo
From celebrated French director Luc Besson comes this “slick, stylish and tremendously entertaining” (The New York Times) thriller about a cop-killing junkie turned lethally dangerous assassin.
Winner of the 1991 César for Best Actress

9th Feb. at 7.30pm
‘Un air de famille’ by Cédric Klapish, 1996, 1h50
starring: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Catherine Frot
A very ordinary French family: coexisting “peacefully” in forced politeness, unvoiced opinions and endless compromises. But this Friday evening is to be like no other, for the family’s fragile unity is about to be blown sky high.
Winner of 3 Césars in 1997 for the Best Supporting Actor and Actress & the Best Scenario

10th Feb. at 5.30pm
‘Louise-Michel’ by Gustave Kervern & Benoît Delépine, 2008, 1h30
starring: Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners
When the workers of a factory are laid off, they pool together their compensation to hire a professional killer to get rid of their rogue boss.
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Originality at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival

10th Feb. at 7.30pm
‘Ma part du gâteau’ by Cédric Klapish, 2011, 1h49
starring: Karine Viard, Gilles Lellouche
France has just lost her job. She manages to get hired as a cleaner at the home of a successful trader whose world is radically different from her own. She soon discovers that this attractive man is partly responsible for the closure of the factory where she used to work…
(City of Lights, City of Angels) Film Festival in Los Angeles

11th Feb. at 11am
‘Vipère au Poing’ by Philippe de Broca, 2011, 1h49
starring: Catherine Frot, Jacques Villeret
Two brothers had enjoyed a happy life in the family’s country estate until the day their parents returned from Indochina. Then it was a constant battle between the mother and one of the boys…

11th Feb. at 2pm
‘Neuilly sa mère’ by Gabriel Julien-Lafferrière, 2010, 1h30
starring: Samy Seghir, Jérémy Denisty
14-year-old Sami Benboudaoud lives happily in a poor neighbourhood. Suddenly destiny puts him in the hands of a noble French family in the chic and bourgeois Neuilly-sur-Seine!

11th Feb. at 4pm
‘Le fils à Jo’ by Philippe Guillard, 2011, 1h35
starring: Gérard Lanvin, Olivier Marchal
Son and grandson of rugby legends, Tom is as good at maths as he is bad at rugby. But for the father, the family’s sporting prowess has to continue…
Début Film Award at the2011 Cabourg Film Festival

Lecture: Can technology enhance musical experience and creativity?, Feb 6 2012 @ Michael Joseph Centre

by with No Comment lectures & readings

What to expect: Roger Dannenberg, Fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry will speak about his experience in using software engineering to create products that make music more accessible and interactive.
Roger’s research work in music and technology has earned him three patents.

Date: Feb 6
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Venue: Michael Joseph Centre
Entrance: FREE

Seminar: Latest archaeological investigations in the Lower Omo Valley, Feb 9 2012 @ BIEA

by with No Comment lectures & readings

The British Institute in East Africa (BIEA) invites you to our upcoming seminar scheduled for 9 Thursday February 2012 at 11.30am-12.30pm. The seminar, based on a collaborative
project between Dr Timothy Clack and Dr Marcus Brittain will focus on the team’s latest archaeological investigations in the Lower Omo Valley.

Dr Clack is a lecturer in archaeology and anthropology at the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. His research interests include archaeological mediation, syncretism and religious fusion, anthropology of conflict, as well as memory and cultural landscapes. Dr Brittain, a researcher with the University of Cambridge is interested in the interaction of landscape, memory, and identity within indigenous communities in the UK and in E. Africa. He is also interested in the socio-politics of cultural heritage and archaeological interpretation and is currently in the process of developing a historiography of the role of the archaeological discourse in post conflict situations.

The Lower Omo Valley is well known as a rich resource for anthropological and ecological studies, and of course for its fossilised record of the evolution of hominin species. However, the archaeological potential for exploring the later prehistory of the region has gone unrecognised. It was therefore the focus of the current project, initiated in 2008, to intensively survey an area of the Mursi tribal-ethnic territory in conjunction with a targeted scheme of excavation. The results have been surprising, revealing a unique landscape of megalithic architecture and lithic assemblages, together spanning a time period from the Middle Stone Age to the later Iron Age. This presentation will provide an overview of these results and a preliminary consideration of their implications.

This seminar is FREE and open to all those interested in the topic.
If you plan on attending, please RSVP by emailing office@biea.ac.uk