French

School Stories: Diversity and Adversity in New French Film

French Film Festival, Williams College

Over 3 consecutive Mondays at 7PM, on February 13, 20 and 27 (2017), the Williams Department of Romance Languages will screen 3 recent French films at Images Cinema: ✣ February 13 @7PM: Julie Bertucelli’s La Cour de Babel (The School of Babel) (2013) ✣ February 20 @7PM: Catherine Corsini’s La Belle saison (Summertime) (2015) ✣ February 27 @7PM: Abd Al Malik’s Qu’Allah bénisse la France! (May Allah Bless France!) (2015) ✽ All films are in French with English subtitles, and are free and open to the public. Continue reading »

Teaching Assistant Program in France (Deadline: Jan. 15, 2017)

The Teaching Assistant Program in France offers you the opportunity to work in France for 7 months, teaching English to French students of all ages. Each year, over 1,100 American citizens and permanent residents teach in public schools across all regions of metropolitan France and in the overseas departments of French such as Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion. Continue reading »

The Missing Picture (L’image manquante)

The Missing Picture (L’image manquante)

Join us for the Berkshires' first screening of Cambodian writer, documentarian, and director Rithy Panh's critically acclaimed "L'Image manquante / The Missing Picture." Winner of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival category, "Un certain regard," the documentary mixes news footage, ephemera, and clay figurines to tell the story of Pol Pot's rise to power. The film will be followed by a question and answer period with specialist Leslie Barnes, author of Vietnam and the Colonial Condition of French Literature (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). ✽ Wednesday, November 2, 2016 | Paresky Auditorium, 7-9 P.M. Sponsors: The Department of Romance Languages, Asian Studies, Comparative Literature, the Lecture Committee, and the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Continue reading »

“Cinema as Archive: The Cambodian Genocide in the Documentaries of Rithy Panh”

Rithy Panh is one of the most important chroniclers of Cambodian history, and his documentary films reveal a commitment to the work of memory at the individual, national, and transnational levels. This paper will examine a set of his films that tell the story of the Khmer Rouge from various perspectives, including most recently that of his own experiences, in order to map out how the filmmaker differentiates among archival documents, archival footage, and his own documentary films as archive. ✽ Thursday, November 3, 2016 | Sawyer Library, Mabie Room, 5-6 P.M. Sponsors: The Department of Romance Languages, Asian Studies, Comparative Literature, the Lecture Committee, and the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. Continue reading »

Gisèle Pineau Visit

Gisèle Pineau

This semester students across all levels of French at Williams have been reading French Caribbean author Gisèle Pineau. We are thrilled to welcome her to campus for a series of conversations on November 9, 2016. ✽ Tea 1-2PM, Class of 66 Environmental Center, Matt Cole Reading Room: Gisèle Pineau in conversation about her award-winning novel, Un Papillon dans la cité. Open to all, especially students in RLFR 103 and RLFR 105. Conducted in French. Refreshments served. ✽ Talk 6PM-7PM, : Pineau will discuss images and representations of Creole women from today and the past. Conducted in French. ✽ Dinner, 7:15-8:30PM: Dinner conversation with Pineau and advanced students from Sophie Saint-Just’s RLFR 203, Introduction to Francophone Literature, and RLFR 261 Haitian and French Caribbean Literatures and Film. Continue reading »

Meghan Collins ‘17 turns philosophe

Meghan Collins in Paris

I think I really found what I was looking for when I started frequenting a small, technically boring café in my neighborhood called Chez Renée. I spent lots of time there reading and writing in its one-room, high-ceilinged space with tall, full bookshelves lining all four walls. (The owner) accepted my accent without derision, and we had good conversations about living in Paris. This turned out to be my personal version of café philosophizing, and it will always remain as important to me as Café de Flore was to Sartre and Beauvoir. Continue reading »