The Department of French and Francophone Studies invites you to Tournées, a French Film Festival at Vassar College, around the theme of Diversity in/and Europe. All films are free and open to the public and will begin promptly at 6:30pm . All screenings and discussions in Taylor Hall, Room 203.
Wednesday, February 1: Chocolat / Claire Denis / 1988 / 109 min
Thursday, February 2: May Allah Bless France / Abd al Malik / 2014 / 95 min
(Opening Reception 6 p.m.)
Thursday, February 9: Francofonia / Alexander Sokurov / 2015 / 90 min POSTPONED due to SNOWSTORM
Wednesday, February 15: Summertime / Catherine Corsini / 2015 / 106 min
Thursday, February 16: Eastern Boys / Robin Campillo / 2014 / 128 min
Thursday, February 23: Two Days, One Night / Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne / 2015 / 95 min
(Closing Reception 6 p.m.)
Tuesday, February 28: Francofonia / Alexander Sokurov / 2015 / 90 min
(RESCHEDULED from earlier date — Note Venue: Rockefeller Hall 200)
Supported in part by the FACE (French American Cultural Exchange) Foundation of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy of New York and a Humanities New York Action Grant, the Tournées festival at Vassar College will feature recently released, critically renowned French-language films screened throughout the month of February 2017. Each film will be introduced by a faculty member and a discussion will follow. The festival is being organized by the Department of French and Francophone Studies at Vassar College and is cosponsored by the Department of Film, the Women’s Studies Program, and the International Studies Program, the Dean of Faculty and the VSA French Club.
The selection of films this cycle offers an exciting opportunity to reflect on changing identities in France and in Europe in a way that is very relevant to an American audience. These films ask important questions about immigration, integration, religious, ethnic, sexual and linguistic diversity, and the struggle to reconcile difficult histories with an emerging global and plural future. Each film meditates on a question of difference: the complex boundaries of colonial power in Chocolat; homophobia, class divisions and feminism in Summertime; questions of job precarity and social solidarity in Two Days, One Night; same-sex and intergenerational relationships as well as undocumented migrants in Eastern Boys; national patrimony, European politics and cultural branding in Francofonia; religion and la banlieue in May Allah Bless France. We are sure that these themes and their treatment in these films will foster productive discussions among our students, faculty, and staff and within the broader Hudson Valley community. In light of the Paris attacks of November 2015, Nuit debout (the 2016 social movement to protest against labor reforms in France) and increasing social unrest, the migrant crisis in Europe and the contentious American elections, films that consider diversity, plurality, inclusion and solidarity can help us collectively ponder the complex issues that we face.
This Tournées Film Festival is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S., the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), the French American Cultural Fund, Florence Gould Foundation and Highbrow Entertainment. This festival is also supported by a generous Humanities New York Action Grant (humanitiesny.org).
The festival is cosponsored by the Department of Film, the Women’s Studies and International Studies Programs, the Dean of Faculty and the VSA French Club.
