Bulletin Culturel December 2008
Le Ballet Créole
Editorial Contents The European Film Festival Lights dim and so do the Cinema Halls. We enjoyed so many beautiful moving feature films, meetings and new friendships while speaking all the European different languages. With age, such a great age, Dance - PAGE 3 is a shared wisdom over ruling us, Europeans? The Museum Cinema - PAGE 4 landscape in Toronto is changing dramatically with the spectacular openings of the Gardiner Museum, the Crystal Conference - PAGE 9 ROM and the AGO which will be soon followed by the Aga Exhibitions - PAGE 11 Khan Foundation for Islamic Art. Beyond the beauty of Architecture, how will those object collections shine in their Music - PAGE 11 new jewel cases ? The Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the Television - PAGE 13 University of Toronto partnering with AGO, invites you to get a fresh look on those treasures – whatever object or objects you crave for. May that period of the year be the time for you to adjust to Winter and the Light coming from a Happy New Year.
Joël Savary, Attaché Culturel Cultural Calendar - December 2008 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cinema Cinema Cinema Conference Dance Dance A Chris - The Killer Cinema Images of From Le Ballet Le Ballet Créole Créole mas Tale Le Diable life - Jurassic Park to probable - Smokefree Television Cinema - - ment Rothko’s Chapel La femme Céline et Fly by Max mon - d’à côté Julie vont Rossinant Amour Front Lines Also on Dec. 6 en bateau
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Television Cinema Television Dance Television Quai des Vivement Les temps Television The Candi - Vive la changent Orfèvres dimanche La religieuse date DIF’FRANCE Conference Cinema (see on Conference French Wine The Dog, Stree : Product of page 6) Also Dec. 13 the General corner ad - and the a Civilisation ventures Birds 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Conference Television Exhibition Mallarmé Week-end Faces, Places Until January 9 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31
2 DDaannccee
Le Ballet Créole December 5, 6 and 7
Ballet Creole presents this wonder - ful rendition of Handel’s holiday classic. Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Patti Austin and Gladys Knight lend their soulful Le Ballet Créole voices to this festive mix of popular contemporary dance and African- Caribbean forms. Glorious Soulful Messiah
History of Ballet Creole Active on Dec. 5 and 6 at 8:00 pm the Canadian dance scene since Dec 7 at 3:00 pm August 1990, Ballet Creole com - prises both a professional ensemble Harbourfront Centre of dancers and musicians and a School of Performing Arts. While fo - Fleck Dance Theatre cusing on the traditional and con - (formerly Premiere Dance temporary performing arts of the Theatre) Caribbean and Africa, Ballet Creole 207 Queens Quay West , aims to establish a dynamic new Toronto ON artistic tradition in Canada through "creolization" or fusion of diverse dance and music traditions.
Vive la DIF’FRANCE ! December 12 and 13
A unique program of dance and French music featuring the chore - The Art of Time ography of Doug Varone and the Ensemble presents: music of Claude Debussy, César Franck, Jacques Brel & Olivier Mes - saien’s Quartet for the End of Time. Vive la DIF’FRANCE!
December 12 and 13 At 8:00 pm Choreography of Doug Varone Harbourfront Centre Martin Tielli Vocals Fleck Dance Theatre Rob Piltch Guitar (formerly Premiere Dance Jonathan Goldsmith Piano Theatre) George Koller Bass Steven Sitarski Violin 207 Queens Quay West , Yegor Dyachkov Cello Toronto ON James Campbell Clarinet Andrew Burashko Piano Tickets $25-$39 Peggy Baker Dancer
3 CCiinneemmaa
The Killer Since November 28
The Killer Christmas Eve in Paris. Leo Zim - killer face to face and to broker a By Cédric Anger merman is a businessman who strange deal. With Gilbert Melki, Grégoire lives for his beloved little Colin, Mélanie Laurent daughter’s smile. Outwardly, his Running time: 91 min. life is exemplary. However, when Dimitri Kopas walks into his office, The Killer pretending to be a normal client, Leo understands that a contract is By Cédric Anger out on his head and that the young man has come to town to Since November 28 kill him. Overcome with anxiety and paranoia, no longer able to sleep, Leo decides to meet the
A Christmas Tale Since November 28
A Christmas Tale Years ago, Abel (Jean-Paul Rous - a donor? What follows is a scato - By Arnaud Desplechin sillon) and Junon (Catherine logical romp through the dysfunc - With Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Deneuve) had a child, Joseph, tion of this middle-class family. As Amalric, Jean-Paul Roussillon who died of a rare genetic condi - they attempt to reconcile the past Comedy drama tion. Junon has just discovered and plan the future, their own pri - Running time : 143 min. she is suffering from the same vate tragedies silently fester be - disease. Her only hope is to find tween them. a bone-marrow donor among the members of her family. Arnaud Desplechin gives more Her surviving children lead sepa - than a nod to Charles Dickens's rate lives from one another, but A Christmas Story in his new film, each is scarred by Joseph's Un Conte de Noël. In this master - death. The eldest, Elizabeth fully articulated drama, simmering (Anne Consigny), is a reclusive tensions threaten to turn the holi - playwright. Henri (Mathieu Amal - day season into a vitriolic Grand ric) is a raging alcoholic who Guignol for the Vuillard family. relishes confrontation. Elizabeth effectively banished him from the family years ago and has not spo - ken to him since. Ivan (Melvil A Christmas Tale Poupaud), the youngest, is the By Arnaud most unaffected of the three. Desplechin On Christmas Day, the family will The Vuillards are a complicated reunite, and Junon will reveal the Since November 28 family, touched by an old tragedy details of her future. Will she un - that casts a pall over their lives. dergo chemotherapy or search for 4 Fly By Rossinant December 1st Fly by Rossinant The Bulgarian Grand Opera com - ships of the company –a twisted Directed by Georgi Stoev pany is on a European tour. Lack puzzle of the past love affairs and With: Vasil Denev, Itsko Fintsi, of funds means they travel on an present envy. Music by Goran Bregovic old dilapidated bus. During their Bulgaria journey the newest member of the 2007 Running time: 90 mins. Fly By Rossinant Directed by Georgi Stoev
Monday, December 1st At 7:00 pm
A the Toronto French School orchestra –the harebrained tim - 318 Lawrence Avenue panist Teddy- gradually falls for East the young Maria, who is conduc - tor’s lover. The whole company watches their budding love affair. Free admission These two young people in the first stages of falling in love are drawn into the complex relation - Max mon Amour December 2 Max mon Amour diplomat posted to France with ape's presence. When she is Directed by Nagisa Oshima their son Nelson. She takes a called away to her ill mother's 1986 lover, a chimpanzee she bought bedside, Max stops eating. Wor - France/USA/Japan from a zoo and installed in a flat. ried, Peter takes Max and Nelson With: Charlotte Rampling, Peter asks that she bring the to the countryside so Max can be Anthony Higgins, Victoria Abril chimp, Max, to live with them. He with Margaret; once there, Nature Running time: 98 mins. obsesses about Margaret and beckons. Is Max lost? Max's relationship, hiring a prosti - tute so he can watch Max perform (Max declines) and peering through the keyhole as Margaret Max mon Amour
Tuesday, December 2 At 7:00 pm
At the Cinematheque Ontario Jackman Hall Art Gallery of Ontario 317 Dundas Street West Reserved and cool, Margaret is and Max sleep. He tries to kill the French wife of Peter, a British Max, then finally accepts the 5 Le Diable probablement Wednesday, December 3
LE DIABLE PROBABLEMENT leased in France, it was prohibited Church. He says, “My sickness is By Robert Bresson to viewers under eighteen as an that I see clearly.” With Antoine Monnier, Tina incitement to suicide. A work that Irissari in many ways seems more rele - Running time: 90 min vant now than when it was made, 1977 Le diable probablement By Robert Bresson
Wednesday, December 3 At 8: 45
At the Cinematheque Ontario Jackman Hall Art Gallery of Ontario Le Diable traces the last six 317 Dundas Street West months in the life of a young Parisian in search of his own Le Diable probablement proved death, who rejects the conven - to be the most controversial film tional solutions offered by various of Bresson’s career. When first re - political factions and by the
Images of Life – Smokefree Thursday, December 4
Images of Life - Smokefree Testimonials on the effects of The director, producer and some nicotine addiction. of the people who participated in A documentary by Joseph the documentary will be present Bitamba. at this informal screening.
A series of documentary testimo - nials on tobacco use in Ontario, Images of Life – Images of life grew out of a de - Smokefree sire to communicate in a simple and frank way about this sensitive Thursday, December 4 topic. – nicotine addiction. Each testi - At 6: 30 monial has a strength of its own Each taking a turn in front of the that has a major impact and en - At the Alliance Française de camera, the participants tell about courages us to reflect deeply on Toronto their experiences with nicotine ad - this issue. 24 Spadina Road diction and their struggles not to smoke or, in many instances, the Presenting authentic stories with Free admission ways in which cigarettes took over genuine feelings, this documen - In French their lives. Young, middle-aged, tary neither preaches nor shows man, woman, immigrant or ”old any contempt for people’s habits stock”, each participant takes us and behaviours. directly to the heart of the matter
6 Front Lines Thursday, December 4 FRONT LINES that we experience the human Followed by a Q&A with Claude By Claude Guilmain face and heart of the conflict. Guilman, filmmaker, Major Michel 2008 Litalien, historian and author and Canada Normand Marion, grandson of Running Time: 33 minutes Sergeant Major Napoléon Marion.
A tribute to the combatants in the First World War, this film traces Thursday, December 4 the conflict through the war diary At 7: 30 and private letters of five Cana - dian soldiers and a nurse. Hear - At the NFB Cinema ing them, the listener detects 150 John Street, Toronto between the lines an unspoken horror censored by war and pro - For the educational sector, five $6 adults priety. documentary vignettes have been $4 students, seniors, drawn from the film: Nurses at the NFB and AFT members. The film mingles war footage, his - Front, The Officer's Role, The Life torical photos and readings of ex - of the Soldier, Faith and Hope and In French, with English cerpts from the diary and letters. The Trenches, each with further subtitles The directorial talent of Claude information on its particular sub - Guilmain breathes life into these ject. 90-year-old documents and ac - companying archival images so
Céline et Julie vont en bateau Sunday, December 7
Céline et Julie vont en bateau The women of the title, a librarian three hours with one astonish - By Jacques Rivette and a magician, meet in Mont - ment after another. Imperative for With Juliet Berto, Dominique martre and stumble upon a cinephiles! Labourier, Bulle Ogier haunted house, where they soon Comedy drama find themselves involved in a Running time: 192 min. Gothic melodrama. Céline et Julie vont en 1974 bateau.
By Jacques Rivette
Sunday, December 7 At 5:00 pm
At the Cinematheque Ontario Jackman Hall Art Gallery of Ontario Rivette’s fun house approach to 317 Dundas Street West narrative fills the film’s more than
7 The Dog, the General and the Birds Saturday, December 13 The Dog, the General and the companion. Both friends decide to Birds break the curse plaguing the gen - A film by Francis Nielsen eral's life : they start militating for Adapted from Tonino Guerra’s all the caged birds of Russia to be tale. set free. Starring Philippe Noiret 2003 Running time: 75 min. CINESAMEDI PRESENTS: In French, with English The Dog, the General subtitles. A long time ago, a young Russian and the Birds general chose to sacrifice hun - dreds of birds to burn Moscow An animated film by and save his motherland from the Francis Nielsen troops of Napoleon. For this feat, he was hailed as a hero by the Saturday, December 13 people of Russia but regarded an A 2:00 pm executioner by the winged crea - At the ONF Cinema tures. Now fifty years older the 150 John Street aging general leads a drab life. To make matters worse, the descen - Free for children dants of the sacrificed birds keep Adults: 5$ attacking him. One day however he meets an engaging little dog who soon becomes his faithful
The Candidate
The Candidate By Niels Arestrup Wednesday, Dec. 10 2007 AFT Spadina 24 Spadina Road With Niels Arestrup, Yvan Attal, 7:30 pm Maurice Bénichou, Stefania Rocca Thursday, Dec. 11 Running time: 95 min. AFT North York 95 Sheppard Avenue W. Shortly before the presidential 7:30 pm election in a European state, Michel Dedieu has had to stand in Wednesday, Dec. 17 at a moment’s notice for his AFT Mississauga party’s candidate, whose rapidly Considered unfavourably by the 4261 Sherwoodtowne progressing cancer has obliged media and public opinion, it’s im - Blvd Mississauga him to withdraw. The day after the perative that he ameliorate his 7:30 pm first round, very little time remains image and hone his arguments. for Michel to prepare with his With this aim in mind, he organ - In French inner circle for the televised de - izes a working weekend at (with English subtitles) bate that will pit him against his home… Free admission opponent. 8 CCoonnffeerreenncceess From Jurassic Park to Rothko’s Chapel December 5 and 6 Current Issues in Exhibition Design
In light of recent transfor - Panelist includes: December 5, mations to the City of Toronto’s mu - Manon Blanchette , Ph.D. Board of 6:00 pm et 7:30 pm seum landscape, with the new ROM Montréal Museum Directors Crystal, Art Gallery of Ontario, Gar - Christophe Clément, Ministry of The Art Gallery of Ontario diner Museum, and the Aga Khan Culture, France 317 Dundas Street West, Foundation For Islamic Art, this in - Philippe Dubé, Ph.D. Laval Toronto ternational symposium will address University | LAMIC Jackman Hall ideas of new museography, the art Jérôme Habersetzer, architect- of designing exhibitions, in the con - museographer temporary museum. Clio Karageorghis, Musée du December 6, The John H. Daniels Faculty Louvre 10:00 am to 6:30 pm of Architecture, Landscape, and De - Kelly McKinley, Art Gallery of John H Daniels Faculty of Ar - sign with the Art Gallery of Ontario Ontario chitecture, Lanscape and Design will host curators, designers, archi - Constantine Petridis , Cleveland 230 College Street Toronto tects, and museographers from Eu - Museum of Art. rope and North America to debate Dennis Reid , Art Gallery of Ontario Room 103 positions on the art of display and François Tremblay, Musée de la the shifting status of its object. Civilisation Free admission
Moderators : Reservation required: Keynote address by: George Baird, Pina Petricone, Michael Govan , Director, Lacma Rodolphe El-Khoury , from [email protected] University of Toronto.
French Wine : Product of a Civilisation Monday, December 8 Alexandre Martin will offer mas derived from these different Russia several times. He was first an introduction to and a historical winemaking processes, followed by hired in Moscow, where he was ap - overview of viticulture and wine - a tasting of different wines selected pointed Head sommelier at Fau - making in France (harvests, prun - for this learning purpose. chon’s first gourmet store and cellar ing, barrel-making). Wine is in Russia; then to Saint-Petersburg introduced as the “product of a civ - where he promoted French wines. ilization,” and as a stimulation of the sense of taste. The introduction Conference in English by is followed by a description of the French wine expert, main winemaking processes, in Alexandre Martin which Martin will reveal the secrets of the making of still (non- Monday, December 8 sparkling) white and red wines and At 6: 30 pm for certain sweet, late harvested wines. He will also discuss the spe - cial process for making rosé wines, Gallery – Pierre Léon the alchemy behind brandies such In 2001 Alexandre Martin started AFT Spadina as Cognac and Armagnac, and of his career at the Paris Wine Mu - 24 Spadina Road course, the complex method for seum, before he traveled to Central creating a very special wine: cham - Europe and the Caucasus, where he Admission: $15 pagne. has been studying the transforma - $ 5 for member and stu - tions of local vineyards in the con - dents of the AFT. Practical application: exercises in text of privatization. Based on his identifying the characteristic aro - expertise, he has been invited to 9 Street corner adventure Thursday, December 11
With Mireille Messier and ple who are on the look-out for ad - Michèle Laframboise venture on every street corner. The authors will read selections from Aventure au coin de la rue We’ve dubbed this evening an their works, and the conversation Avec Mireille Messier et "Aventure au coin de la rue" and, will then continue in a relaxed at - Michèle Laframboise needless to say, there will be some mosphere with wine and cheese, as surprises in store for you. Two tal - is the custom for the Alliance’s Thursday, December 11 ented young female francophone “Jeudi littéraires”. At 6: 30 pm novelists will tell you about their re - search and discoveries in a wide va - Galerie – Pierre Léon riety of areas “for audiences from AFT Spadina 10 to 110”, to quote novelist and 24 Spadina Road cartoonist Michèle Laframboise. She will explain how to find grip - Free admission ping plots in science fiction … and elsewhere! Mireille Messier, a trained actress, will let you in on her writing secrets for young peo -
Mallarmé: A Portrait of the Poet as a Sociologist of Literary Rituals
With Pascal Durand “universal reporting” and was also (Gallimard, 1998), Crises, Mallarmé interested in the many potentials of via Manet (Peeters/V The Séminaire d’Histoire de France the newspaper medium. Moreover, invites university professors and the author of the most nearly per - historians to present French history fect sonnets in the late 19th cen - lectures at the Alliance Française de tury also designed a work (“Un Toronto on a monthly basis. Coup de dés” [“A Roll of the Dice”] that went beyond all traditional Mallarmé’s works are dense and forms and opened up poetry for the few in number – and generally avant-gardists of the next century. considered abstruse, i.e., en - When examined from this perspec - crypted, and socially impenetrable, tive, Mallarmé’s works appear in - i.e., entirely dedicated to the wor - stead to be imbued with an ship of form and ideas at their astonishing critical reflexivity in purest. Representing Mallarmé in which his most opaque forms echo this fashion is well established but the specific social conditions of lit - does not stand up to scrutiny when erary production. Monday, December 15 we take the trouble not only to read his entire output (rather than just At 3:30 pm selected works) – but also to look attentively at his multi-dimensional Pascal Durand is a professor at the Room 303 works because they reveal a very Université de Liège, specializing in AFT Spadina keen interest in the most ritualized Mallarmé and in the sociology of 24 Spadina Road forms of the literary experience. cultural institutions. He is the au - While he was a poet haunted by the thor of some 15 works, including Absolute, he was likewise a fashion three devoted to Mallarmé: Les Free admission journalist […] who contemplated Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé
10 EExxhhiibbiittiioonnss Faces, Places
An exhibition prepared by the art class students of Monseigneur-de- Charbonnel, with the help of Mme From Wednesday, Lucie Fortin and artist Paul Walty. December 17th to Friday, January 9th “Together, we have decided to study art from another perspective: Pierre Léon Gallery not only as artists but also as spec - AFT Spadina tators. We selected four works from 24 Spadina Road over 100 which were part of an an - nual exhibition the Ministry of Edu - Free admission cation of Ontario. These pieces have been crafted by pupils from We used a variety of media in our grade 7 through 12, and are those explorations: digital processes, In partnership with the that we felt had the most potential. photocopy, paint, pastel and Ontario Arts Council and marker. Sometimes our inspiration the Ministry of Education We chose an exhibition title which came from a detail in the work or a of Ontario. reflects a common theme running technique in its creation.” through the chosen pieces.
MMuussiicc Jacques Brel: The Olympia Farewell Friday, December 5
Produced by Philippe Mourouani Under the patronage of the Con - sulate of Belgium in Toronto and in 1966, 56 minutes, France co-operation with the Wallonie- Brussels Delegation in Quebec.
Recorded on October 28 and 29, 1966, Jacques Brel’s final concert at the Olympia in Paris will forever be etched in the history of this famous Friday, December 5 theatre. This film remains one of At 7:00 pm the few opportunities we have to see the artist performing in his At the Alliance Française de natural artistic milieu. The following Spadina songs are featured: Le Cheval, Fils 24 Spadina Road de…, Jacky, Le Gaz, Les Vieux, Les Bigotes, Mon Enfance, Mathilde, Ces Gens Là, Amsterdam, Les Bon - The screening will be accompanied bons 67, Jef, Au Suivant, Le Plat by a few striking interviews. Free admission Pays, Madeleine.
11 TTeelleevviissiioonn PROGRAM of TFO www.tfo.org
Monday, December 1, at 9 pm At the start of World War II, the Bon voyage fate of the free world hangs in the 2003 balance at the posh Hotel Splen - By Jean Paul Rappeneau dide in Bordeaux. Cabinet mem - With Isabelle Adjani, Virginie bers, journalists, physicists, and Ledoyen and Yvan Attal. spies of all persuasions gather in order to escape the Nazi occupa - Running time: 110 min. tion of Paris. High society socialites hobnob with jailbirds. Murderous intrigues, scientific secrets and love affairs flourish.
Tuesday, December 2, at 9 pm Ferdinand Griffon is unhappily married and has been recently Pierrot le fou fired from his job at a TV broad - 1964 casting company. After a boring By Jean-Luc Godard party in Paris, he decides to leave With Jean Paul Belmondo, his wife and children for his baby- Anna Karina, Aicha Abadir and sitter, an ex-girlfriend, Marianne Pascal Aubier Renoir… Running time: 115 min.
Thursday, December 4, at 9 pm In a small town in the French coun - tryside, someone who identifies Le corbeau himself or herself only as "The 1943 Raven" begins to send malicious missives to the locale's inhabitants. By Henri Georges Clouzot These envelopes come by the With Pierre Fresnay, Pierre dozens, leaving their mark on a Larquey and Micheline Françey complete cross section of the popu - Running time: 93 min. lation. While the notes appear in the main not to discriminate by sex or class, they do seem to often focus their attacks on one particular man, Dr. Remy Germain…
Saturday, December 6, at 9 pm Bernard was living happily with his wife Arlette and his son Thomas. La femme d’à côté One day, a couple, Philippe and Mathilde Bauchard, moves into the 1981 next house. This is the accidental By François Truffaut reunion of Bernard and Mathilde, With Gérard Depardieu, Fanny who had a passionate love affair Ardant and Henri Garcin years ago. The relationship re - vives...
12 Monday, December 8, at 9 pm The portray of Cecile, a radio host - ess living in Morocco, and Antoine, Les temps changent an engineer who finds a project in 2004 Tangier in the hopes that he can By André Techiné find her and win her back. Their With Catherine Deneuve, lives are now more complicated than when they first met. She is Gérard Depardieu, Gilbert Melki married to a Moroccan doctor who Running time: 1:35 is unfaithful to her.
Based on a Diderot novel, La Re - Tuesday, December 9, at 9 pm ligieuse is about Suzanne, the teenaged daughter of a once rich La Religieuse family, who is forced into a con - 1966 vent. She finds the atmosphere By Jacques Rivette harsh and punitive, the sisters col - With Anna Karina, Liselotte lusive, conniving, and cruel. A second nunnery to which she ab - Pulver, Micheline Presle sconds is the opposite: permis - Running time: 2:15 siveness trumps piety and the wanton Mother Superior lusts after the cowering novice. Suzanne es - capes over the convent…
Thursday, December 11, at 9pm Jenny Lamour wants to succeed in music hall. Her husband and ac - Quai des Orfèvres companist is Maurice Martineau, a nice but jealous guy. When he knew 1947 Jenny is making eyes at Brignon, an By Henri-Georges Clouzot old businessman, in order to get With Louis Jouvet, Suzy Delair, some engagements, he looses his Simone Renant and Bernard Blier temper and threatens Brignon with Running time: 1: 45 death. But Jenny went anyway to a rendez-vous at the old man's, who is murdered the same evening.
Saturday, December 13, at 9pm Claude Massoulier is murdered while hunting at the same place Vivement dimanche ! than Julien Vercel, an estate agent 1983 that knew him and whose finger - By François Truffaut prints are found on Massoulier's car. With Fanny Ardant, Jean-Louis As the police discovers that Marie- Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Christine Vercel, Julien's wife, was Philippe Laudenbach Massoulier's mistress, Julien is very Running time: 1:51 suspected. But his secretary, Bar - bara Becker, while not quite con - vinced he is innocent, defends him and leads her private investiga - tions...
Tuesday, December 16, at 9pm A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never- Week-end ending nightmare of traffic jams, 1967 revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts By Jean-Luc Godard to collapse under the weight of its Jean Yann, Mireille Darc, Jean- own consumer preoccupations. Pierre Kalfon and Jean-Pierre Léaud 13