Former diplomat turned filmmaker Antonin Baudry has directed his first feature-length movie, taking audiences aboard a nuclear submarine. Following its success in France, the film has been released on Netflix in the United States this summer. “There are three types of people: Those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea.” This quote from Aristotle...
The first American soldiers entered the recently liberated city of Paris 75 years ago on August 25, 1944. They were accompanied by the renowned war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Ernest Taylor Pyle was 44 when he set foot in liberated Paris, almost twice the age of the soldiers he was with. Originally from Dana, Indiana, he was bald and weighed less...
Every August, a little town in Ohio hosts the world’s biggest reenactment of the Normandy Landings. More than 2,000 armed and uniformed volunteers will be taking part in this year’s edition from August 15 through 17. On the shores of Lake Erie, the sandy beach by the little town of Conneaut is somewhat similar to Omaha Beach. Wooden obstacles painted...
From paragliding and surfing to skateboarding, skiing, and rock climbing, nothing is too extreme for Riding Zone. Broadcast every week on TV5MONDE (and France Ô), this 26-minute show is the French gold standard for big thrills and board sports. Interview with Tiga, the host of the show. France-Amérique: Over the last 12 years, Riding Zone has forged a reputation as the leading...
At Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, a retrospective of the work of Virgil Abloh, artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear, explores his unlikely journey, varied talents, and deep ambitions. “Duchamp is my lawyer,” Virgil Abloh likes to say. Riding the wave that has merged streetwear with high fashion, the boundary-defying designer became artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear in March 2018 — the first African American...
With the recent republication of her hit memoir Life With Picasso and a gallery show opening on August 3 in New Orleans, artist Françoise Gilot remains more current than ever in the seventh decade of her career. “A painter, his model, and an intelligent woman, she is a superb witness to Picasso as an artist and to his views on art.”...
There are now countless musicals inspired by France, including The French Maid, the show to watch in 1897, Les Miz, Amélie, and Moulin Rouge!, which opens on Broadway on July 25. Is this frenzy homage or caricature? Even the critics are out on this one, as France has inspired both Broadway’s greatest successes and its biggest flops. Broadway adapted the English comedy The...
A collection of rings, brooches, coins, and manuscripts, now on display at the Met Cloisters in New York City, offers a rare glimpse at the life of the Jewish community of Colmar, Alsace, during the Middle Ages. In May of 1863, workers came upon a cache of coins, jewelry, and other valuables inside the wall of a house in the Alsatian city of...
The legendary French television show La Carte aux Trésors is making its grand entrance on TV5MONDE USA in August. This month, the larger-than-life adventure show takes viewers to discover four French regions, the Loire Valley and its châteaux, Foix in Southern France, Montpellier, and Normandy. Interview with Cyril Féraud, host of the show. France-Amérique: La Carte aux Trésors is a pillar of...
On July 20, 1969, fifty years ago this week, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. This internationally groundbreaking moment was caught on camera thanks to an invention from a French engineer. At 10:39 pm EST on July 20, 1969, six hours and 22 minutes after landing, Neil Armstrong emerged from the lunar module Eagle. While...
The Brooklyn Museum is celebrating the 70-year career of fashion pioneer, Italian-born French designer Pierre Cardin, in a retrospective from July 20 through January 5, 2020. Like Saturn and its rings, the silhouette’s circular motion reveals looped strips of orange crepe and wool rising up around a short, sleeveless sheath dress. Ethereal, geometric, and dynamic, this 1969 piece known as "Car...
In this film coming out in the U.S. on July 19, French director Stéphane Brizé is back with his go-to actor, Vincent Lindon, portraying a social struggle that gets out of hand. Stéphane Brizé made a name for himself outside of France with The Measure of a Man, which earned its lead Vincent Lindon the Best Actor Award at Cannes...
The Bastille key is a symbol of the French monarchy and the prison that was taken by Parisian revolutionaries on July 14, 1789. Today, it is exhibited in the United States at a museum south of Alexandria in Virginia. Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation located on the banks of the Potomac River, is now a museum home to the final...
Sporting prowess, heroic riders, and big business: Despite doping rumors, the Tour de France, which will be held this year from July 6 through 28, remains a major spectacle enjoyed worldwide. The Tour de France is a paradox. Created in France in 1903, it has long embodied an authentically French competition in its portrayal of a country, a culture, rural...
[Partner Article] From the packed avenues around Time Square to the cobblestone streets of Montmartre, French luggage company Delsey is an expert in user-friendly travel cases and accessories for all your escapades. Elegant, convenient suitcases are the very best travel companions. And they are even better when they are French! Founded near Paris in 1946, the Delsey brand is a...
French-American art dealer Pierre Levai is preparing to hand over the reins of the family empire, the Marlborough Gallery, to his son. The gallery is an international brand with spaces in New York, London, Madrid, and Barcelona and a roster of over 60 world-class artists. On West 25th Street in New York, a stone's throw from a monumental sculpture of...
The Breton striped shirt is a symbol of female emancipation, and is being revisited in the colors of the rainbow for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots which launched the gay rights movement in the United States. Five hundred multicolored striped shirts have been delivered to the MoMA Design Store in New York, where the blue and white version...
Amid doubts about how many people will turn out for the next round of Yellow vests demonstrations, I can make one prediction with absolute certainty: thousands will take to the streets of France on June 21, carrying nothing more than guitars, trumpets, drums, kazoos, and all sorts of music-making paraphernalia. They will be celebrating la Fête de la Musique, an...
Producer Luc Besson’s disaster movie starring Léa Seydoux, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Colin Firth, out on Friday, depicts the tragic accident that cost the lives of 118 Russian sailors in 2000. Based on a true story, the movie is an adaptation of the book A Time to Die: The Kursk Disaster by British investigative journalist and Soviet Union expert Robert Moore....
Daily life is at the center of this exhibition of 18th-century French painting opening on June 14 at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. In the 18th century, France’s powerful Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture dictated a strict hierarchy of subject matter, with historical, mythological, and religious scenes at the top, followed by portraiture, landscape, genre, and still...
With a 30-year career and 20 million albums sold across the world, Lara Fabian is an icon of Francophone music. As part of her 50th birthday celebrations, the Belgian-Canadian artist will be kicking off an international tour with more than 50 dates, beginning in New York on September 16. The tour — christened the “50 World Tour” — follows on...
