Francophone Week revamped

The commemorations kicked  off on Monday and instead of the traditional week-long event,  the event will be a two-week  affair.
An official from the Alliance Française de Bulawayo, Gilmore Moyo, said Francophone Week was a celebration of different French          culture and basically a celebration of French speaking nationals across the world.
He said this year “we are proud to introduce the film festival that will run for six days at the Rainbow Cinemas”.

“Also, we have three competitions lined up to make up the two weeks celebrations and a photographic exhibition by Samuel Fosso,” he said.
The film festival started on Monday and there will be a number of French films to be shown at the Rainbow Cinemas.
They will also hold a human rights competition, which will be held at the Alliance Francaise de Bulawayo on Thursday next week.

The competition is in the form of impromptu speech with a list of 10 human rights that one will pick randomly and talk about in French for two minutes. Questions will be asked after the presentation and the second part will involve presenting on any other issue that each individual thinks is important to them.
“The winner from Bulawayo will win a trip to France and attend a conference in Paris, June 2012,” Moyo said.

A performance by a French artiste Médéric  Collignon and his quartet Jus de Bocse, on Saturday next week, will wrap up the two Francophone Week commemorations.
Médéric Collignon, born on 6 July 1970 in Villers-Semeuse, Ardennes, is a French jazz vocalist, cornettist and saxhorn player.

He learnt to play the trumpet at the age of five, became a pupil at the Conservatoire de Charleville-Mézières in 1984, and gained his diploma at the Conservatoire de Nancy in 1989. In 2009 he was awarded the Django Reinhardt prize by the Académie du Jazz. He has been influenced by various genres, including funk, hard rock, jazz-rock and the music of Olivier Messiaen.

Collignon is a grand master of improvisation. He is recognised as much for his often amazing vocals as for his mastery of the cornet, an instrument he now prefers to the trumpet. The man  is a brilliant instrumentalist who possesses a wildly fertile imagination.
“Don’t miss this unique live Jazz performance by French cornet player Médéric  Collignon and his dynamic quartet Jus de Bocse,” Moyo said.