Bay Area Francophile List This Week!

Bay Area
Francophile List

Published by Suzanne Toczyski, Sonoma State University
January 24-31, 2008

To return to the Bay Area Francophile List Homepage,
please click here.

January Events | Job & Volunteeer Opportunities | Cinema |
Art | Other Media | Television & Radio
Announcements | Restaurants | Music | Conversation Opportunities
Home Exchanges/Apartments for Rent | Classes | Events Coming Soon!

Send contributions to suzanne.toczyski@sonoma.edu.

*JANUARY EVENTS*

January 24, 2008. SILICONFRENCH presents GOOGLE ADWORDS, ADSENSE & ANALYTICS. Pillsbury Winthrop 2475 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304. Registration: Members: $15 Non-members: $20. For details: http://www.siliconfrench.com/eventsnews_events.shtml

January 24, 2008. CERCLE DE LECTURE, animée par Bernadette Theisen. Lecture: LES CIGALES SONT DE RETOUR, de JEAN-PIERRE FOUCAULT (2006). Courriel : theisen@netzero.net Au Boulanger de Los Gatos à 16 heures.

January 24, 2008. NORTON & FRIENDS BENEFIT CONCERT FOR OWEN DAVIS WITH HELENE ATTIA, MWANZA FURAHA and others. Plymouth United Church of Christ, 424 Monte Vista Ave. (at Oakland Ave.), Oakland. 510.654.5300. 7:00 p.m. Suggested Donation: $20-$50. Tickets available at the door.
January 24, 2008. L’ACHAT (OU REFINANCEMENT) D’UNE MAISON PAR UN EXPATRIE DANS LE CADRE D’UN MARCHE EN CRISE. 2083 Old Middlefield Way, Suite 206, Mountain View, CA 94043 a partir de 18h30. Thierry Gabadou, President, Financial Advisor, CA Insurance Lic# 0E38712, TG Financial Advisory Services, "The International Specialist", 49 Meritage Common # 203, Livermore, CA 94551. Direct: 925. 366.9983. Email: tgabadou@psfin.com
January 24-27, 2008. SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY performs MESSIAEN’s L’ASCENSION, and more, led by Myung-Whun Chung. $25-$125. Free Inside Music talk one hour prior to every performance. 415.864.6000 or http://sfsymphony.org for details.

January 24-February 28, 2008. AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL at the Pacific Film Archive, in Berkeley.   In its fourteenth year, the New York–based African Film Festival is more important than ever. While Africa may get glancing treatment in Western news, images made and fashioned by Africans are still shut out of our television screens, movie theaters (since 2000, only two African films on average per year have been released in the United States), and even major film festivals. PFA is proud to present a selection of films from this year’s festival, representing not only established industries in Cameroon and Senegal, but also emerging visions from Ethiopia, Guinea, and the Congo. These works may lack budgets or name-brand stars, but they’re outraged and insightful enough to open the blind eye that has been turned to African ideas and ideals. While most of the festival focuses on new, up-and-coming directors, we’ve also organized a mini-retrospective of arguably the most successful African filmmaker in recent years, the Malian director Abderrahmane Sissako (Bamako; Waiting for Happiness). And, in tribute to Ousmane Sembène, the pioneer of African cinema who passed away last year, we offer a free screening of two of his short films, including one of his first, Borom Sarret. Over forty years old, it’s a reminder of how humble beginnings can harbor greatness. Website: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries/africanfilm_2008 Schedule:

Thursday, January 24, 2008 6:30 p.m. Bamako Set in the Malian capital of its title, Abderrahmane Sissako’s passionate polemic centers on a show trial in which the plaintiff, “African society,” argues against exploitation by the defendant, the World Bank. Repeated on Saturday, January 26. Saturday, January 26, 2008 6:30 p.m. Waiting for Happiness Abderrahmane Sissako’s tale of life in a Mauritanian seaside village unfolds in a series of arresting images. “A poignant, poetic reflection on themes of exile, travel, home, and displacement.”—Variety Saturday, January 26, 2008 8:30 p.m. Bamako See Thursday, January 24. Thursday, February 7, 2008 5:30 p.m. Two by Ousmane Sembène, plus Menged (Free Screening!) Free First Thursday Screening! Introduced by Paap Alsaan Sow.Two influential early films by African cinema’s spiritual father, Ousmane Sembène: Borom Sarret and Tauw. With Menged, an award-winning new film from Ethiopia, featuring music by Tlahoun Gessesse. Saturday, February 9, 2008 8:30 p.m. Clouds over Conakry Hip-hop and laptops collide with religious edicts and traditional demands in this lively romantic drama from Guinea. “An impressive debut.”—Variety Wednesday, February 13, 2008 6:30 p.m. Young Rebels: New Visions from Africa An eclectic, electric program offers magic realism from Lesotho, documentary from Zimbabwe, and social commentary from Nigeria. Wednesday, February 13, 2008 8:10 p.m. Life on Earth Sissako’s rapturous portrait of his father’s village in Mali as it waits for the 21st century. With Sissako’s Rostov-Luanda. Sunday, February 17, 2008 5:30 p.m. The Forgotten Man Osvalde Lewat-Hallade’s thoughtful documentary on the Cameroonian prison system “shows you what a camera can do.”—Village Voice. With Lewat-Hallade’s A Love During the War. Thursday, February 28, 2008 7:30 p.m. Juju Factory A Congolese intellectual in Brussels struggles to keep his new book from being exoticized in this dazzling cinematic essay on exile, colonialism, and history, a combination of the challenging theatrics of Brecht and the intellectual savvy of Frantz Fanon.

January 25, 2008. KALBASS KREYOL celebrates MARDI GRAS! Get your beads and masks out early this year. This Friday KALBASS is inviting you to join them at Mojito in North Beach for a high-spirited Mardi-Gras Party. They are bringing the magic beat and sunshine of Haiti to heat up your winter. Dress light. Beads and maks, that is all you need and $5 to get in. The show starts at 10PM. www.kalbasskreyol.com or www.mojitosf.com

January 25, 2008. GINO DELAFOSSE AND FRENCH ROCKIN’ BOOGIE perform at Eagles Hall, 2305 Alameda, Alameda. 415.285.6285. $18. 9pm.

January 25, 2008. VALENTIN SURIF, piano, performs RAVEL and more. Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento, SF. 415.474.1608 for details. 8pm. $12-$15.

January 25 & 26, 2008. AUDITIONS for the school edition of LES MISERABLES, directed by Marily Izdebski. 3:30-5:30pm for 8-11 year olds; 5:30pm-7:30pm for 12-18 year olds, and Saturday, January 26, 11am-3pm for all; everyone needs to come both days. Marilyn Izdebski Studio, 100 Shaw Dr., San Anselmo (Red Hill Shopping Center). Workshop fee: $375. For information, call 415.453.0199.

January 26, 2008. RUBENS, MAITRE DU BAROQUE FLAMAND. Conférence, illustree de 80 diapositives et presentee par Renee Morel - en francais, naturellement! $10 (One and a half hours each. Includes handouts.   Rubens (1577-1640), maitre du baroque flamand celebre pour ses nus a la sensualite exuberante, a peint non seulement des mythes et des allegories, mais aussi les grands de son temps et les gens ordinaires. Mettant son art au service de la Contre-Reforme, il a fonde son style sur une exaltation de l'energie et le culte passionne du mouvement. Diplomate connu dans toutes les cours d'Europe, grand erudit, feru de litterature classique, collectionneur d'art et d'antiquites, c'etait aussi un homme d'affaires avise, a la tete d'un vaste atelier. Venez explorer les techniques de Rubens, le role des femmes dans sa vie, ses diverses poursuites, et le contenu iconographique de ses oeuvres intensement vivantes et vibrantes. 10:30 AM -12:00 PM. IMPORTANT! Comme pour le TGV, il est necessaire de reserver. SVP, contactez directement The French Class par telephone au 415-362-3666, et donnez-leur votre numero de carte bancaire pour reserver. Merci! THE FRENCH CLASS 500 Sutter Street (at Powell), Suite 310 San Francisco TEL: (415) 362.3666 FAX: (415) 362.4334 info@frenchclass.com

January 26, 2008. MALIAN MAESTRO TOUMANI DIABATE’S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA performs in the SF Jazz Spring Season, ombining traditional West African sounds with pop, Afro-Cuban music, and Diabate’s stunning work on the kora. 866.920.5299 or http://www.sfjazz.org for details.

January 26, 2008. GRAND CRAB CIOPPINO, organized by ILE-DE-FRANCE.   Si vous desirez aller au prochain Grand Crab Cioppino le 26 Janvier 2008 pour un diner [All you can eat crab + salad+ garlic bread + Wine - No dance this time.]    Adults $45.00, Children 6 to 12 years old $22.50   faites vos reservations de suite et avant le 19 Janvier 2008 , en appelant Chantal au 408-732-3420 , ou bien faites lui un message e-mail Chantal@ilefr.com avec le nombre de personnes, [si vous ne recevez pas par e-mail de confirmation pour vos reservations appelez Chantal SVP !]   Et n'oubliez pas de faire parvenir votre payment avant le 19 Janvier en faisant un cheque au nom de IFES et en l'envoyant a L'Ile de France P.O. Box 2836 Sunnyvale, Ca 94087. Notez: nous prevoyons d'y aller pour le deuxieme service et le rdv sera avec Chantal devant IFES a 18 heures (6pm).

January 26, 2008. GATOR BEAT performs at a MARDI GRAS DINNER DANCE. Knights Valley Volunteer Fire Department’s annual fete with deep-fried turkey dinner and dancing to GATOR BEAT for ages 21 and up. Napa County Fairgrounds, 1435 N. Oak St., Calistoga. $25. 6pm. kvvfd@mchsi.com for more information.

January 26, 2008. WORLD BEAT PARTY. Family night of music and dance starts with AFRICAN DANCE CLASS and includes drumming demo and dancing to DJ/VJ Robert Werner’s collection of African music and video. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Rd., San Rafael. 415.444.8000. $10-$15. 7pm.

January 27, 2008. CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR, piano, performs OLIVIER MESSAIEN’S VINGT REGARDS SUR L’ENFANT JESUS, some of the most demanding and complex piano music ever written. http://www.calperformances.net or 510.642.9988 for details.

January 27, 2008. ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA OF AMSTERDAM perform DEBUSSY’s LA MER and BERLIOZ’s SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE under the auspices of the San Francisco Symphony. $25-$95. 415.864.6000 or http://sfsymphony.org for details.

January 27, 2008. SWISS MUSICIANS EVA MARIA ZIMMERMANN & LARA BRUCKMANN in concert at Old First Church, SF. 20th and 21st Century music specialists "Chamber Bridge" invite you to an afternoon of freshly considered art song. Using their respective homes of Switzerland and Danbury, CT as points of departure, Zimmermann and Bruckmann have built a program starting with the works of the rarely performed Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck and Yankee rebel Charles Ives. They also branch into the first taste of their year-long in-depth exploration of the work and influence of Olivier Messiaen, whose birth centenary is this year. The newly formed duo of well known and very talented Swiss pianist Eva Maria Zimmermann and Soprano Lara Bruckmann will perform their first public full-length recital in a concert on Sunday, January 27, 4pm Old First Church 1751 Sacramento Street San Francisco tickets $15, $12 students and seniors www.oldfirstconcerts.org

January 29, 2008. PASCALE CASANOVA LECTURE AT UC BERKELEY. 5 pm. Lecture by the author of The World Republic of Letters , and of Samuel Beckett: Anatomy of a Literary Revolution. http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article597

January 29, 2008. FRENCH BIO BAY. We are ready to get together again for our next event on Tuesday January 29th where a couple of local associations/groups of interest will introduce themselves (further details soon). The networking dinner for a prix fixe of $30 (all included price: food, glass of wine, tips and taxes) will start at 6:30 PM at: Bistro 9 Grill & Rotisserie 1224 9th Avenue (between Lincoln & Irving) San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 753-3919. Menu: humus, shrimps and scallops, mozzarella pizza skewers (chicken, beef vegi); Yukon gratin; taboule; Greek salad; chocolate brownies, lemon bars, cafe, Sangiovese wine. To RSVP and book by Friday January 25th 2008, go to http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=150735 using FBB0108 as your password (note that there is an additional $1.00 credit card processing fee, and Acteva charges $1.81 for the reservation processing). Walk-ins will be accepted but will have to pay $40.00 at the door. Again French Bio Bay does not make any profit from the events and the organizers/volunteers pay just like everyone else. As a reminder, our group is now on LinkedIn (the online network of more than 15 million experienced professionals). To join us there, go to   http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/31811/240C0D303AFF   Any questions or suggestions, email us at frenchbiobay@gmail.com We look forward to seeing many of you at Archipelago. L'équipe de French Bio Bay "Creating the right connections for the Franco-American Bio Pharma community"

January 30, 2008. FRENCH MUSIC FESTIVAL features the Russian Chamber Orchestra performing GABRIEL FAURE’s PAVANE and JULES MASSENAT’s MEDITATION FROM THAIS. Last concert at St. Patrick’s Church, 756 Mission St., between 3rd & 4th, SF, at Yerba Buena Gardens. http://www.NoontimeConcerts.org for details. 12:30pm.

January 30, 2008. GATOR BEAT performs CAJUN/ZYDECO at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo (at Gilman), SF. 8pm Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson with Cheryl McBride; performance at 8:30. $10. 510.525.5054 or http://www.ashkenaz.com for details.

January 31, 2007. WOMEN IN BUSINESS LUNCHEON WITH IRMA HERRERA. The French-American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco, Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Accueil and La Table Noire cordially invite you to join us for a : Women in Business Luncheon With Irma Herrera : Do women have equal opportunity in the work world? The road to equality for working women in the US and France Thursday, January 31st at Garibaldi's 12:00- 2:00 pm The French American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco (FACCSF) invites regularly the Francophile Women in Business to a professional network to promote their career, broaden their professional horizon and enhance their financial acumen. Since 1996, Irma D. Herrera has served as Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates, a civil rights organization dedicated to advancing equal opportunity for women and girls through impact litigation and advocacy. http://www.faccsf.com for details. Carole Granade - Executive Director - carole@faccsf.com French American Chamber of Commerce 703 Market Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: (415) 442 4717 - Fax: (415) 442 4621 www.faccsf.com

January 31, 2008. DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS FOR JOURNEE DE LA FRANCOPHONIE at the ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE SACRAMENTO. We will be launching a new event - Journée de la Francophonie - on Saturday, March 15, 2008 from 10am-4pm at the Alliance Française de Sacramento.   We are soliciting proposals (in English and French) from professors, teachers, independent scholars, journalists, businesses and/or community members for 20-minute presentations on any aspect of Francophone culture and French language.   We also seek participants for our Cabaret Show. We hope to attract faculty, students, and community members who can perform as musicians, dancers or singers.   Proposals are due by January 31. Send proposals/inquiries to Dr. Vanessa Arnaud: arnaud@saclink.csus.edu

January 31-February 24, 2008. said SAÏD by KENNETH LIN. A provocative political thriller set simultaneously in Algiers in 1954 during the infamous BATTLE OF ALGIERS and in present day Vermont, this is the story of Kasbah doctor/poet turned U.S. Poet Laureate André Saïd and his French interrogator, Major Michel Garcet. The play jumps between the two time periods as the two old combatants seek the truth about the mysterious and indecipherable writing that lined Saïd’s prison cell. Will the code reveal that Saïd was a terrorist? A patriotic freedom fighter? Or a pawn in one of the world’s first urban terrorist wars? Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. 415.388.5208 or http://www.marintheatre.org for details.

Through February 10, 2008. TERRITORIES by BETTY SHAMIEH. In this historic thriller set during the Crusades, a French knight captures the sharp-tongued sister of Saladdin, the legendary Arab ruler. A ruthless chess game of power and love ensues as two cultures collide. Palestinian-American writer Betty Shamieh explores the roots of religious tensions and gender politics in the Middle East. Magic Theatre, Bldg D., Fort Mason, San Francisco. 415.441.8822 or http://magictheatre.org for details. Reviewed in the January 23, 2008 SF Weekly, p.27.

Through February 16, 2008. THE MEDIEVAL REMAKE. “It seems that people like the Middle Ages.”—Umberto Eco “People started dreaming of the Middle Ages from the very beginning of the modern era,” Umberto Eco once claimed. It’s only natural, then, that the medieval would find many expressions in the cinema, a modern medium of collective dreams. The films in this series make and remake the Middle Ages in diverse forms and with diverse motivations, from political imperative to personal obsession. In the hands of Eisenstein or Lang, the medieval is an epic theater of national identity; viewed by Dreyer or Bresson, the spiritual intensity of the past mirrors a quest for aesthetic purity. Bergman makes the Middle Ages echo with the anxieties of a post-nuclear age, while in the world of Saint Francis, Rossellini finds a studied simplicity. For all these filmmakers and still others, the medieval is a rich and tactile field for the imagination. Our series was inspired by The Contagious Middle Ages in Post-Communist East Central Europe, an exhibition on view at the Townsend Center for the Humanities on the UC Berkeley campus through January. Films in the series by Tarkovsky, Paradjanov, Vlácil, and Majewski illuminate the exhibition’s themes in compelling images, while masterworks from Western Europe provide an expanded view of how films make the past present, and refract the concerns of the present through the prism of the past. Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ for details. Film calendar includes:

Sunday, January 27, 2008, THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC. 3:00 p.m. In an austere, transcendent dramatization of the trial transcripts, Robert Bresson conveys the mystery of the woman and the reality of the saint.

Sunday, January 27, 2008, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC. 4:30 p.m. Judith Rosenberg on Piano. Carl Dreyer’s 1928 film focuses on the face as landscape of the soul. “One of the greatest of all movies.”—Pauline Kael

Friday, February 1, 2008, LANCELOT OF THE LAKE. 7:00 p.m. Bresson gives us Lancelot and Guinevere and the end of the Arthurian era, a brave experiment in sound, image, and souls.

Through February 29, 2008. JEAN-PIERRE LEAUD: THE NEW WAVE AND AFTER. If the French New Wave has a face, it might be the beaky, piercing-eyed visage of Jean-Pierre Léaud. In 1959, at age fifteen, Léaud made his debut as Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut’s The400 Blows; over the next two decades, he would play alter ego not only to Truffaut, but to a generation that grew up (or failed to) in parallel with him. For Jean-Luc Godard, he was one of the “children of Marx and Coca-Cola” in films like Masculine Feminine (1966) and La Chinoise (1967). Later, Léaud worked with Jacques Rivette in the epic Out 1 (1972) and stalked through the wreckage of the late-sixties dream in Jean Eustache’s anti-epic The Mother and the Whore (1973), a film and a performance that obliterate sentimentality. The effect of all these collaborations is cumulative: when Léaud appears in a film by Aki Kaurismäki or Olivier Assayas, his history appears with him. “Léaud is an anti-documentary actor,” Truffaut said. “He has only to say ‘good morning’ and we find ourselves tipping over into fiction.” Or, in Godardian terms, a Léaud film is Léaud, twenty-four frames per second. Not one to disappear into a role, Léaud brings a defining set of gestures to each performance; Manny Farber wrote, “Léaud’s acting trademark is a passionate decision that peaks his frenzied exasperation, physical compulsiveness.” Declaiming his lines with solemn clarity or demented enthusiasm, Léaud can be compelling or brilliantly comic, sometimes strange, always iconic. . Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ for details.    Films include:

Friday, January 25, 2008 7:00 p.m. Love on the Run In 1979, Truffaut and Léaud return for a final look at Antoine Doinel, now thirty-something, but perennially adolescent.

Friday, January 25, 2008 9:00 p.m.Day for Night Léaud joins an ensemble cast for a behind-the-scenes romantic comedy in which the love interest is cinema itself. “Truffaut’s droll and generous celebration of filmmaking remains an enchanting experience.”—N.Y. Times

Thursday, January 31, 2008 6:30 p.m. Two English Girls Léaud is a French writer entangled with two English sisters at the turn of the 20th century. “One of Truffaut’s most tantalizing romances. . . . Simultaneously introspective and passionate.”—Time Out. From a story by the author of Jules and Jim. Friday,

February 8, 2008 7:00 p.m. The Mother and the Whore Léaud gives perhaps his greatest performance as a castaway from the sixties and the sexual revolution, waffling between two women, in Jean Eustache’s chronicle of disenchantment in post-1968 Paris.

Thursday, February 14, 2008 8:50 p.m. Masculine Feminine Léaud stars as one of Godard’s “children of Marx and Coca-Cola”—the young people of Paris in 1965, choosing between la tendresse and politics.

Friday, February 15, 2008 7:00 p.m. Weekend “Godard’s vision of bourgeois cataclysm. . . . A savage Swiftian satire, it traces a new Gulliver’s travels through the collapsing consumer society as a married couple set out for a weekend jaunt.”—Time Out. Léaud has a revolutionary cameo.

Sunday, February 17, 2008 1:00 p.m. Out 1: Spectre The 240-minute “short” version of Jacques Rivette’s legendary epic, with Léaud as a self-styled detective.

Friday, February 29, 2008 7:00 p.m. La vie de Bohème Aki Kaurismäki’s update of Henri Murger’s novel is “a fine, deceptively querulous comedy that mocks the conventions of art and romantic love while . . . exalting them as the only means of salvation.”—N.Y. Times. Léaud puts in a brief but pivotal appearance. Friday,

February 29, 2008 9:00 p.m. Irma Vep Olivier Assayas casts Hong Kong icon Maggie Cheung as an actress suffering through ego battles and other disasters on a French indie film shoot, with a classically irascible Léaud as director.

SILICONFRENCH EVENTS. For an on-going list of events offered by SiliconFrench, see http://www.siliconfrench.com/eventsnews_events.shtml

[top]
*CINEMA*
See "This Month's Events," above, for details on special screenings!
All titles listed in alphabetical order, with special dates given in red.

DAYS OF DARKNESS (Arcand, 2007). Rafael, San Rafael, 415.454.1222.

JEAN-PIERRE LEAUD: THE NEW WAVE AND AFTER. If the French New Wave has a face, it might be the beaky, piercing-eyed visage of Jean-Pierre Léaud. In 1959, at age fifteen, Léaud made his debut as Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut’s The400 Blows; over the next two decades, he would play alter ego not only to Truffaut, but to a generation that grew up (or failed to) in parallel with him. For Jean-Luc Godard, he was one of the “children of Marx and Coca-Cola” in films like Masculine Feminine (1966) and La Chinoise (1967). Later, Léaud worked with Jacques Rivette in the epic Out 1 (1972) and stalked through the wreckage of the late-sixties dream in Jean Eustache’s anti-epic The Mother and the Whore (1973), a film and a performance that obliterate sentimentality. The effect of all these collaborations is cumulative: when Léaud appears in a film by Aki Kaurismäki or Olivier Assayas, his history appears with him. “Léaud is an anti-documentary actor,” Truffaut said. “He has only to say ‘good morning’ and we find ourselves tipping over into fiction.” Or, in Godardian terms, a Léaud film is Léaud, twenty-four frames per second. Not one to disappear into a role, Léaud brings a defining set of gestures to each performance; Manny Farber wrote, “Léaud’s acting trademark is a passionate decision that peaks his frenzied exasperation, physical compulsiveness.” Declaiming his lines with solemn clarity or demented enthusiasm, Léaud can be compelling or brilliantly comic, sometimes strange, always iconic. . Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ for details. January 18-February 29, 2008. Reviewed in the January 16, 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian, p.56 Films include:

Friday, January 25, 2008 7:00 p.m. Love on the Run In 1979, Truffaut and Léaud return for a final look at Antoine Doinel, now thirty-something, but perennially adolescent.

Friday, January 25, 2008 9:00 p.m.Day for Night Léaud joins an ensemble cast for a behind-the-scenes romantic comedy in which the love interest is cinema itself. “Truffaut’s droll and generous celebration of filmmaking remains an enchanting experience.”—N.Y. Times

Thursday, January 31, 2008 6:30 p.m. Two English Girls Léaud is a French writer entangled with two English sisters at the turn of the 20th century. “One of Truffaut’s most tantalizing romances. . . . Simultaneously introspective and passionate.”—Time Out. From a story by the author of Jules and Jim. Friday,

February 8, 2008 7:00 p.m. The Mother and the Whore Léaud gives perhaps his greatest performance as a castaway from the sixties and the sexual revolution, waffling between two women, in Jean Eustache’s chronicle of disenchantment in post-1968 Paris.

Thursday, February 14, 2008 8:50 p.m. Masculine Feminine Léaud stars as one of Godard’s “children of Marx and Coca-Cola”—the young people of Paris in 1965, choosing between la tendresse and politics.

Friday, February 15, 2008 7:00 p.m. Weekend “Godard’s vision of bourgeois cataclysm. . . . A savage Swiftian satire, it traces a new Gulliver’s travels through the collapsing consumer society as a married couple set out for a weekend jaunt.”—Time Out. Léaud has a revolutionary cameo.

Sunday, February 17, 2008 1:00 p.m. Out 1: Spectre The 240-minute “short” version of Jacques Rivette’s legendary epic, with Léaud as a self-styled detective.

Friday, February 29, 2008 7:00 p.m. La vie de Bohème Aki Kaurismäki’s update of Henri Murger’s novel is “a fine, deceptively querulous comedy that mocks the conventions of art and romantic love while . . . exalting them as the only means of salvation.”—N.Y. Times. Léaud puts in a brief but pivotal appearance. Friday,

February 29, 2008 9:00 p.m. Irma Vep Olivier Assayas casts Hong Kong icon Maggie Cheung as an actress suffering through ego battles and other disasters on a French indie film shoot, with a classically irascible Léaud as director.

THE MAGIC OF GEORGES MELIES. With Judith Rosenberg on piano. Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 510.642.1412 or http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/pfa for details. January 19, 2008.

THE MEDIEVAL REMAKE. “It seems that people like the Middle Ages.” — Umberto Eco “People started dreaming of the Middle Ages from the very beginning of the modern era,” Umberto Eco once claimed. It’s only natural, then, that the medieval would find many expressions in the cinema, a modern medium of collective dreams. The films in this series make and remake the Middle Ages in diverse forms and with diverse motivations, from political imperative to personal obsession. In the hands of Eisenstein or Lang, the medieval is an epic theater of national identity; viewed by Dreyer or Bresson, the spiritual intensity of the past mirrors a quest for aesthetic purity. Bergman makes the Middle Ages echo with the anxieties of a post-nuclear age, while in the world of Saint Francis, Rossellini finds a studied simplicity. For all these filmmakers and still others, the medieval is a rich and tactile field for the imagination. Our series was inspired by The Contagious Middle Ages in Post-Communist East Central Europe, an exhibition on view at the Townsend Center for the Humanities on the UC Berkeley campus through January. Films in the series by Tarkovsky, Paradjanov, Vlácil, and Majewski illuminate the exhibition’s themes in compelling images, while masterworks from Western Europe provide an expanded view of how films make the past present, and refract the concerns of the present through the prism of the past. Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ for details. January 11-February 16, 2008. Film calendar includes:

Sunday, January 27, 2008, THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC. 3:00 p.m. In an austere, transcendent dramatization of the trial transcripts, Robert Bresson conveys the mystery of the woman and the reality of the saint.

Sunday, January 27, 2008, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC. 4:30 p.m. Judith Rosenberg on Piano. Carl Dreyer’s 1928 film focuses on the face as landscape of the soul. “One of the greatest of all movies.”—Pauline Kael

Friday, February 1, 2008, LANCELOT OF THE LAKE. 7:00 p.m. Bresson gives us Lancelot and Guinevere and the end of the Arthurian era, a brave experiment in sound, image, and souls.

PERSEPOLIS, made by French directors MARJANE SATRAPI and VINCENT PARONNAUD, and set during Iran’s Islamic Revolution.   In French. Rafael, San Rafael, 415.454.1222; Embarcadero Center Cinema, SF; Shattuck, Berkeley; Camera 7, Campbell; Aquarius, Palo Alto. Reviewed in the January 23, 2008 Bohemian, p.26.

LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON / THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (dir. Julien Schnabel; starring Mathieu Amalric), based on the story of JEAN-DOMINIQUE BAUBY, former editor of the French fashion magazine Elle who suffered a stroke and wrote his book by blinking his eyes. Winner of the Best Director prize at Cannes. Rialto, Santa Rosa, 707.525.4840; Rafael, San Rafael, 415.454.1222; Embarcadero Center Cinema, SF; Kabuki, SF; Stonestown.

TERROR’S ADVOCATE. Lawyer to the dangerously deranged Frenchman Jacques Vergès, profiled in a documentary by BARBET SCHROEDER. Red Vic, SF, 415.668.3994 or http://www.rredvicmoviehouse.com

LA VIE EN ROSE. Rialto, Santa Rosa, 707.525.4840.

CINE CLUB of the ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE SACRAMENTO. Join other cinephiles at the monthly movie presentations of the Cine Club at the Alliance Francaise in Midtown Sacramento (1723 25th Street). Films are shown at 7pm on the second Friday of each month except in July. The featured films for January and February are: Pas Sur la Bouche (Not on the Lips) by Alain Resnais and Cesar et Rosalie by Claude Sautet. To learn more : http://cl.exct.net/?ffcb10-fe2a15707d620379761478-fdf21775756d02787c157674-fefe167170640d-fe9915707467017872-fdef15777d61057a72177874

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*ART*
Through January 25, 2008. SIMULACRA. Nineteenth-century photographs taken of famous works of art and architecture, including Reims Cathedral and more. Masterworks Institute for Works on Paper, 251 Post St., 5th Floor, SF. 415.362.3906 or http://www.sfmasterworks.com for details.

Through January 26, 2008. INOUT DESIGNERS EXHIBIT AT AIA SF.  12 designers from the ECOLE CANTONALE D’ART DE LAUSANNE (reception Thursday, 11/1, 6pm). The young Swiss design group INOUT, based in Lausanne, brings an exhibit of their work that (re)designs urban landscapes. INOUT designers have partnered with the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects along with swissnex San Francisco to bring this unique exhibit to the West Coast. AIA San Francisco 130 Sutter St, Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94104 Thursday, November 1, 2007 5:30pm.

Through January 26, 2008. SYLVIE SEREX BONNET and THE ART OF COLLAGE. Join us for a benefit exhibition for the Community School of Music and Arts at the Finn Center www.arts4all.org Sylvie Serex-Bonnet is from Geneva, Switzerland and lives in the Bay Area. She has a Masters Degree in Psychopedagogy from the University of Geneva with a specialization in Psychoanalysis for children. During several years Sylvie Serex-Bonnet has been involved professionally as well as personally in helping children. She spent five years in the hospital for children in Geneva and was in charge of the psychological support of children having fatal illnesses as well as abused and neglected kids. Sylvie Serex-Bonnet comes from a family of artists and started to paint as a self-taught person and then took some classes at the "Beaux Arts of Geneva". These past few years have awoken in her a need to share her paintings and to donate proceeds from sales to various good causes. Community School of Music and Arts Finn Center - Mohr Gallery 230 San Antonio Circle Mountain View CA. Hours: M - F 9am - 7pm, Sat 9am - 3pm Opening Reception and Recital by Suzanna Perez Friday, December 14 from 6-8pm Reception will feature a short concert by award-winning pianist, Suzanna Perez All proceeds from the sale of artwork will be donated to support programs at the Community School of Music and Arts at the Finn Center.

Through January 31, 2008. NEW ACQUISITIONS IN OUR NEW SPACE. Prints by a variety of European artists, including MARC CHAGALL, JEAN DUFY, RENE MAGRITTE, PAUL GAUGUIN and others. Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, 565 Sutter St., SF. 415.433.2771 or http://www.pasqualeart.com for details.

Through February 9, 2008. WORKS BY VALERY GRANCHER AND JOHN BUCKLIN. Lincart Gallery, 1632-C Market St., SF. 415.503.1981 or http://www.lincart.com for details.

Through February 17, 2008. MARIE-ANTOINETTE AND THE PETIT TRIANON AT VERSAILLES. Many believe her obsession with supreme style sparked a revolution. But there’s more to Marie Antoinette’s story – brilliantly revealed through the contents of her private residence, the Petit Trianon. California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 34th & Clement, SF. 415.750.3600 or http://www.legionofhonor.org for details.http://www.famsf.org for details.

Through February 24, 2008. ARTSF SAN FRANCISCO presents Swiss artist MONICA SCHMID’s work as part of 500 PENDANTS (Metal Art). Velvet da Vinci Gallery San Francisco. Info: 415.441.0109.

Through March 1, 2008. THE ZINKY COLLECTION OF RARE 17TH- TO 20TH-CENTURY AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN FINE ART PRINTS. Engravings, lithographs, etchings, and more. Thos. Moser Gallery – San Francisco, 3395 Sacramento St., SF. 415.931.8131 or http://www.thosmoser.com for details.

Through March 2, 2008. BUTABU: ADOBE ARCHITECTURE OF WEST AFRICA. Photographs by JAMES MORRIS. Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, 551 Broadway, Sonoma. 707.939.7862 or http://www.svma.org for details.

Through April 6, 2008. ANNA HALPRIN: AT THE ORIGIN OF PERFORMANCE, at YBCA.   Opening Night Party (Performance, video, live music), January 17, 6 pm. Pioneer of postmodern dance and performance, Halprin is known for blurring boundaries: between art forms, professional and amateur, performer and audience. Produced by the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon and curated by Jacqueline Caux. http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article567

Through April 13, 2008. HEARST CASTLE COMES TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. With 40 diverse objects including Renaissance paintings, European furniture and art objects, Gothic tapestry, etc. The California Museum, 1020 O Street, Sacramento. 916.653.7524 or http://www.californiamuseum.org for details.

Through May 25, 2008. KAHNWEILER, EDITEUR. Twelve books published between 1909 and 1928 by French art dealer DANIEL-HENRY KAHNWEILER. California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 34th & Clement, SF. 415.863.3330 or http://www.legionofhonor.org for details.

June 21-September 21, 2008. LES FEMMES IMPRESSIONNISTES: MARY CASSATT, BERTHE MORISOT, EVA GONZALES, MARIE BRAQUEMOND. At the time impressionism was born, female artists were starting to come to the forefront of the art world. This exhibition breaks new ground in feminist art history by looking at the work and contributions of four female Impressionists together for the first time in the United States. California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 34th & Clement, SF. 415.750.3600 or http://www.legionofhonor.org for details.

Through September 2008. PASSENGERS AT CCA WATTIS, SAN FRANCISCO. Passengers is a permanent but constantly transforming exhibition of emerging international contemporary artists (including VALERIE MREJEN), none of whom has ever had a solo presentation in an American public art institution. Supported by the Cultural Services, Consulate General of France in San Francisco. http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article577

Ongoing. AUGUSTE RODIN COLLECTION. Bronze sculptures, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Lomita Dr. & Museum Way, Stanford University, Palo Alto. 650.723.4177 or http://www.museum.stanford.edu for details.

On-going. A NEW 19TH CENTURY : THE MONDAVI FAMILY GALLERY REINSTALLED. Reconfigured 19th century European and American collections. Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Lomita Drive and Museum Way, Stanford University, Palo Alto. 650.723.4177 or http://museum.stanford.edu for details.

On-going. MODERN EUROPEAN MASTERS, including MATISSE, PICASSO, CHAGALL and more. Meyerovich Gallery, 251 Post, SF. 415.421.7171 or http://meyerovich.com for details.

On-going. FOLK ART by French Canadian artists PATRICK AMIOT & BRIGITTE LAURENT. Outdoor exhibits on-going on Florence St. in Sebastopol. http://www.patrickamiot-brigittelaurent.com/ for details.

On-going. MATISSE AND BEYOND: THE PAINTING AND SCULPTURE COLLECTION. SF Museum of Modern Art. Magnificent works of painting and sculpture culled from SFMOMA's own collections provide a quick tour of modern art from Fauvism to Minimalism. Daily. Exhibition tells the story of modern and contemporary art including landmark works by MATISSE, BOURGEOIS and others. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St., San Francisco. 415.357.4000 or www.sfmoma.org

On-going. BETWEEN ART AND LIFE: THE CONTEMPORARY PAINTING AND SCULPTURE COLLECTION, including works by LOUISE BOURGEOIS. SF Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St. (at Mission), SF. 41.357.4000 or http://www.sfmoma.org for details.

On-going. GODOT. Works sy WILLIAM T. WILEY. Arion Press, 1802 Hays ST., the Presidio, SF. 415.668.2542 or http://www.arionpress.com for details. For more on the artist: http://www.arionpress.com/catalog/077.htm

ARTS OF FASHION. Yearly competition brings guest designers from PARIS and BRUXELLES to work with and select prizes for United States fashion students. The grand prizes offered to the US fashion students are internships in high profile fashion design houses as Castelbajac or Anne Valerie Hash or the school of the Chambre syndicale in Paris... Or Brussels for La Cambre or Antwerp for Veronique Branquinho or Vienna for Wendy&Jim... Contact: Nathalie Doucet, President Arts of Fashion Foundation, 635 Tennessee Street Suite # 402, San Francisco CA 94107. Tel 415 252 0734 http://www.af-competition.com or http://www.myspace.com/artsoffashion

FLORENCE DE BRETAGNE. Florence de Bretagne is a French painter and photographer. Her work is full of joy and very colorful. It has always something to do with new life : imaginary plants that are flourishing, blossoms, seeds. It seems that nature is new and beautiful like new-born babies. She took abstract pictures of fruits and vegetables (a very poetic book, "Semence", is still available), she made paintings on trees and imaginary plants, and many others. You can see her work either in the SFMOMA gallery at Fort Mason, or in her atelier (756 Garland drive in Palo Alto), or else on her website : http://www.florencedebretagne.com

ST. LOUIS BLUES ART une galérie permanente qui expose des huiles représentant des scènes de rue ou de club, musique et dance sur le thème du Blues, Flamenco , Tango, peintes par l'artiste français BERNARD E. BENEITO, qui vient d'être reconnu Maître dans le livre d'art international "Maîtres et Epigones" de l'écrivain, historien et critique d'art international Sam Aberg, Laval, Québec, Canada. Le livre a été présenté à la foire du livre de Montréal en octobre 2007. Toutes informations dans le nouveau site http://www.bernardbeneito.com qui remplace www.stlouisbluesart.com . M. BENEITO offre des cours de peinture à Palo Alto, à la Maison des Artistes; voir son site web pour des renseignements supplémentaires.

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*CLASSES*

January-May 2008. FRENCH CLASSES AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY include: Second-Semester French, Oral French, French Literature from the Middle Ages to the Revolution, Senior Seminar on Autobiography, Literature & Film, and French Literatures of the Caribbean. See http://www.sonoma.edu/forlang or ontact suzanne.toczyski@sonoma.edu for details.

January-May 2008. AFRICAN-HAITIAN DANCE, a beginning-level dance class designed to introduce students to the basics of African-Haitian dance. Thursdays, 7pm-10:10pm. College of Marin. http://www.marin.edu for information.

January-May 2008. FRENCH CLASSES AT THE COLLEGE OF MARIN include Elementary French I & II, Intermediate French IV, Advanced French I & II. http://www.marin.edu for information.

January-May 2008. WESTERN CIVILIZATION II: 1350-1815, covers Western Civ during the Renaissance, Enlightenment, French Revolution and Napoleonic era. College of Marin, http://www.marin.edu for information.

January 14-March 6, 2008. FRENCH CLASSES TAUGHT BY ANNE BISHOP AT BOOK PASSAGE: Beginning French; Lower Intermediate French; Intermediate French; Upper Intermediate French; Advanced French. http://www.bookpassage.com for details.

January 14-March 10, 2008. FRENCH CLASSES TAUGHT BY GENEVIEVE BLAISE-SULLIVAN AT BOOK PASSAGE: French for Movie Lovers; French Literature & Grammar. http://www.bookpassage.com for details.

January 16-February 28, 2007. BORDEAUX, JUIN 1940: RESISTANCE OU COLLABORATION? Un cours de 7 semaines a French Class, enseigne - en francais, naturellement - par Renee Morel et illustre de diapositives. Juin 1940: la guerre prend une tournure desastreuse, c'est la debacle, puis l'exode. Fuyant l'avancee des troupes du IIIe Reich, des dizaines de milliers de Parisiens, le coeur serre, quittent leur ville, declaree "ville ouverte". Jusqu'au 14, date de l'entree des Allemands dans la capitale, des familles entieres se retrouvent sur les routes, emportant tant bien que mal quelques affaires, dormant dans des voitures ou dans des fosses. Le gouvernement lui-meme quitte Paris dans la nuit du 9 au 10 juin, mais pas pour Vichy - pas encore. Tandis que le reste du pays est plonge dans le chaos, c'est sur les rives de la Garonne, a Bordeaux, que, du 14 au 22 juin, va se jouer un moment cle du destin de la France. Tous les protagonistes sont la. Les debats seront vifs et les manoeuvres redoutables entre les partisans de la capitulation (souhaitee par Paul Reynaud, president du Conseil) et ceux de l'armistice (favorise par le marechal Petain). Quant a de Gaulle, il tentera, en vain, de negocier un projet d'union franco-britannique avec Churchill. C'est ainsi que dans cette "capitale du desarroi", qui recoit 3 millions de refugies en quelques jours, le sort du pays va se nouer: collaboration... ou bien resistance?   7 weeks (Jan. 16 - Febr. 27, 2008) Wednesday mornings (10:30 AM - 12:00 NOON) THE FRENCH CLASS 500 Sutter Street (at Powell) Suite 310 San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 362.3666 info@frenchclass.com

January 23 – March 19, 2008. FRENCH FOR TRAVELERS AT DRAKE. Taught by Colette Scafani. Drake High School. Wednesdays, 7pm-9pm. $95. http://www.marinlearn.com or 415.945.3730.

January 24-March 20, 2008. FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS. Redwood High School. Taught by Dominique Paillet. Thursdays, 7pm-9pm. $95. http://www.marinlearn.com or 415.945.3730.

January 25, February 22, March 28, April 25 & May, 23, 2008. PARIS: THE SETTING FOR MEDIEVAL PASSION & REVOLUTION, TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES. A course taught by Anne Bishop. Paris is brought to life through a biography and novels written by contemporary writeres. The legendary story of Abélard and Héloïse unfolds in 12th century Paris. An enlightened artistocrat from Marie-Antoinette’s court flees the guillotine for the New World, before returning to post-revolutionary Paris. Through the psychological novel and Nouveau Roman, we explore the memories and passions that drive characters in modern Paris from the mid-20th century to today. Texts are: Farewell, My Only One (Antoine Audouard), Bluebird, Or the Invention of Happiness (Sheila Kohler), Bonjour Tristesse (Françoise Sagan), The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein (Marguerite Duras), The Mark of the Angel (Nancy Huston). Five Fridays, 10am-12pm. $95.

Beginning June 2008. COURS D’ETE A LATITUDE. The Latitude Cultural Center is located in the ancient riverside hamlet of La Toulzanie (about 55 km east of Cahors in the Quercy). Nearby are the cave paintings at Pech-Merle, one of France's most beautiful villages (St. Cirq Lapopie), the Chateau of Cenevieres (with its amazing alchemy room), and the pilgrimage site, Rocamadour. ( Founder/director Barbara Phillips is formerly a professor of Sociology and Urban Studies at San Francisco State. She divides her time between La Toulzanie and Berkeley.)      Latitude will be offering a variety of week-long classes in summer, 2008, including a week of Total Immersion in French. Visit http://www.latitude.org/ for details.

June 7-14: 2 classes

(1) Southwest French cuisine will be featured in this cooking class. The teachers: two women who live in the Lot -- Yvette Soursou, in charge of the local hunting feasts, among other triumphs, and Francoise Griffin, an excellent French cook (bilingual) who taught dessert-making at Latitude several years ago. Together, they will conduct a hands-on workshop focusing on local specialties such as cassoulet and pastis (not the drink).

(2) Wine tasting and discovery. This class features wines from southwest France, much less known globally than wines from the Loire, Burgundy, and Bordeaux. Agathe Thullier, bi-lingual oenologist with expertise, degrees, and a good nose, will guide us through tastings and a history of wine plus a look at the future of vines in the area. (There will be an extra charge for tasting fine wines of 30 euros.)

June 14-21, 2 classes:

(1) Music in a Jugular Vein. Facilitator, Bebo White, head, California Jug Band Association

(2) Serge Marc Lazard will lead a painting workshop, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." Serge is bilingual, having lived and taught art in the U.S. for over 20 years. He presently calls Paris home. He can teach in either (or both) languages, depending on what participants prefer.

(3) Creative Loitering in the Lot: A photography workshop with Jeff Berner, who lives in Paris and Marin County

June 21-28, 2 classes:

(1) : Rob O'Brien, who taught at Latitude in 2006, returns to offer another watercolor workshop. Rob has garnered many honors in his home region of New England -- and for good reason!

(2) A Taste of Southwest France, featuring visits to the 20,000 +year-old cave paintings at Pech-Merle, wineries, a goat cheese farm, a local market, and a medieval walkabout, led by Latitude's founder/director, Barbara Phillips

July 12-19: TOTAL IMMERSION IN FRENCH WEEK-- MORNING AND AFTERNOON CLASSES, IN FRENCH, PLUS MEALTIMES RESTRICTED TO THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.

(1) Mornings: Renee Morel will offer a morning class about the history of modern French art (with many slides). This will be Renee's 7th time teaching at Latitude. Students and former students (at Latitude, City College in San Francisco, San Francisco State, and The French Class in San Francisco) all tell us she is a terrific teacher who is very organized, speaks clearly and knowledgeably, and who invites questions.

(2) Afternoons: Potpourri! A variety of speakers, including Jean-Pierre Nouveau, head of Maisons Paysannes de la France in Quercy, Agathe Thullier, oenologist and art gallery proprietor, and Christine DaBlanc, a politically-active mother and grandmother, will lead discussions (and some will show slides) on a variety of topics, ranging from local architecture to child-rearing practices and the future of the wine trade in France. Also, Paul Verdier, Ph.D. in Comp. Literature and an expert in local history. If you have any questions about French customs, this will be a good time to get the informed opinions of various knowledgeable people; most summer in the Lot but live in bigger cities, such as Paris and Clermont-Ferrand

June 20-28, 2008. THE JOY OF SPEAKING FRENCH! 8 days of a Total Immersion Experience, with accommodation - classes - outings and visits to beautiful surroundings - sharing meals (purchasing & preparing) and conversing, all in French! An Intermediate to Advanced level of proficiency is necessary. Nadine Goodban, has been teaching French to adults for 25 years within the San Francisco area. Also conducts workshops - 3 or 6 days (including gourmet vegetarian meals). Her love for the language is truly communicative, as proven by students who come regularly from a 50 mile radius but they come from much farther away for her workshops.   The workshop, near Toulouse, in France, will consist of 3 hours of classes: grammar, exercises, practice, dialogues, reading, discussions. Lunch will be prepared together. In the afternoons we will visit the local markets / artisans / various places of interest. In the evenings we will have the choice of dining together at home under the stars, or in restaurants, with more conversation. And all the while you will be corrected on pronunciation, grammar or syntax. $1,275.00 includes a double-room w/shared bath, breakfasts, classes and visits to various markets (food, antiques, etc.)   Lunch & dinner are the students' responsibility but will be prepared family-style all together. For more information, please contact : Nadine Goodban, (707)644-3421 nadalang@comcast.net

August 2008. SPANISH 1 IN FRENCH, FOR STUDENTS OF FRENCH. The SRJC Dept. of Modern and Classical Langugages is delighted to     announce a new course: Spanish 1 in French! That's right. Next fall (beginning in August), you will have the    opportunity to learn Elementary Spanish at SRJC in a French-language classroom. This course is designed for those of you who have attained an advanced-intermediate level of French (meaning you've completed two years of French) and now are excited at the idea of using your French as you begin to learn Spanish. The elementary Spanish book used in the class is published in France for French learners of Spanish. The language of the classroom (when it isn't Spanish) will be French. Spanish 1 in French will be taught by an instructor who is fluent in and experienced at teaching both languages. This is a unique opportunity. Indeed, I don't think many of my colleagues really believe that there are enough students out there to fill this class, but I know you, the wonderful students who have come through our French classes. Information: Todd Straus, tstraus@santarosa.eduor 707.527.4608.

eLYCEE is pleased to announce the opening of its new Minischool, with weekly French classes for kids aged 9 and 10. Based on our popular Maintien de la Langue classes for French-speaking students in the USA, our Minischool gives younger kids access to our unique virtual classroom. Our native French teachers encourage production and creativity, bringing the language and the culture to life in 90-minute total immersion sessions.   In our relaxed learning environment, students develop their language skills and confidence, they work together, and - best of all - they love it. It's a brand new way to learn French for Life. For more information, visit www.elycee.com

POUR TOUS LES PETITS: NEW CLASS FOR KIDS at the Alliance Française de Santa Rosa. With native speaker EVELYNE WHITMAN. To register, contact the director at herve@afsantarosa.org or call 707.543.8151. Saturdays, 11am-12pm.

eLYCEE "http://www.elycee.com/" eLycée has a new agenda for 2007, with a range of new online courses to choose from, including, for Middle School & High School students: private tutorials, Summer Camp, AP classes; for College students: private tutorials, workshops, French Club, AP classes, online OuLiPo workshops; for Adults: private tutorials, workshops, French Club, online OuLiPo workshops; and OuLiPo’s online ‘Ateliers d’Ecriture’ are available online for the first time ever; ONLY with eLycée. We have a new website, too: http://www.elycee.com/ If you would like to know more about this innovative program of after school classes, please contact Julian Hirst at julian.hirst@elycee.com, or +1 877 624 5330. www.elycee.com

FRENCH WINE CLASSES. Session 1 begins March 12 The French Wine Society is offering French wine classes in San Francisco. Each class will be an in-depth lecture of a particular region including a tasting of six carefully selected fine wines to illustrate the regions character. These classes should not be missed. They represent a unique opportunity to increase your knowledge and enjoyment of French wine. Eric Lecours, Regional Director of the French Wine Society Bay Area, will be instructing the classes. He is a Certified Wine Educator and holds a Diploma in Wine & Spirits from the WSET. He is also one of only 20 Americans to be certified by the region of Bordeaux as an official instructor, having been sponsored by the Bordeaux Wine Council to attend a weeklong educational program in Bordeaux last year. He continues his studies and is working toward his Masters of Wine, the most respected qualification in the Wine Industry. For more information and registration: http://www.frenchwinesociety.org

CLASSES DE CUISINE. L'alimentation saine, c'est delicieuse! Venez tous chez Janet, infirmière et chef de cuisine, pour des classes de cuisine. Mes classes, à San Rafael, sont petites et vous travaillez dans ma grande cuisine professionelle pour apprendre les recettes qui sont bien pour maigrir et prévenir les maladies. Après, nous dinons en famille. Et bien sur, nous parlons français! Janet Dresser 415.455.8939 ou http://www.cookingforyourlife.com

COOKING CLASSES IN FRANCE OFFERED BY FORMER BAY AREA RESIDENT Philippe Gion. http://www.ArtandCookingClassesinFrance.com Philippe Gion was a resident of San Francisco from 1986 to 2001, then time shared between the US and Provence. Owner & chef of the restaurant "Café Landais" (1986-1990) then, manager of the restaurant of the "Alliance Fançaise,” he was also Executive Chef at Stanford University ("East House Residency", 1997- 2000). He was a member of the Board of Director at the "Lycée Français Lapérouse" (1988-1991) and creator of the first French Ciné-Club in San Francisco ("Alliance Française Ciné-Club" with the partnership of the Lycée Français). In 1996, Philippe Gion founded "Art and Cooking Classes in France" dedicated to bringing to our Anglo-Saxons friends and gourmets the best of the joie de vivre in France and, most of all, an attractive approach of the traditional French gastronomy in Provence.

FRENCH AT CASTRO VALLEY ADULT SCHOOL. Castro Valley Adult School is offering Beginning and Intermediate French on Monday evenings. Beginners 6:30 pm-8:30 pm; Intermediates 5:30 pm-7:30 pm. Come and practice French in a low-key, fun atmosphere. Helpful for travelers looking for survival French.   Heavy emphasis on cultural topics.   The intermediate class offers good practice for those with some experience in French. Additional out-of-class activities such as dinner outings, wine tastings, picnics, etc. will also be offered. Reasonable course fees. Call Castro Valley Adult School for more details: 510.886.1000.

NEW CLASSES AT THE FRENCH CLASS, 500 Sutter Street, Suite 310, San Francisco, CA 94102 - (415) 362-3666. www.frenchclass.com for full details.

TRANSLATION COURSE ON LINE Lancez-vous dans une nouvelle carrière : devenez traducteur ou traductrice. Spécialisez-vous dans le domaine de votre choix, explorez les possibilités. Formation assurée par Dominique Brémond, traductrice certifiée par le Consulat Général de France à San Francisco, 20 ans d’expérience. Pour plus de renseignements, veuillez contacter : Dominiquebremond@aol.com

WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES Please sign up in advance. Call (415) 362-3666 to register. Workshops are in French unless indicated otherwise. We are sorry, we cannot give refunds, credits, discounts or make-ups for missed workshops. 24 hour cancellation policy applies.

SATURDAY PRONUNCIATION INTENSIVE January 26, 2008 - $85 - 4 hours of instruction + snacks Pronunciation Level 1. 10:00 to 11:00 - the 7 basic sounds and nasals    Pronunciation Level 2. 11:00 to 12:00 - combinations and special sounds 30 minute break: wine and cheese provided. Miam! Miam! Pronunciation Level 3. 12:30 to 1:30 - liaisons, intonations and rhythm Pronunciation Level 4. 1:30 to 2:30 - contractions and exceptions Offered again: Saturday, February 23, 2008

Thursday 1/17 - 1:00 to 2:30. $24. What is a tense and what is a mood? La différence entre le présent de l’indicatif, du subjonctif et duconditionnel. And more... (Level 1 to 6)

Thursday 1/31 - 1:00 to 2:30. $24. Passé composé ou imparfait? A clear and easy presentation of the main differences between these 2 tenses. (Level 3 to 7)

CONFERENCES BY RENEE MOREL $10 - (one hour and a half each; includes handouts; Each conference is offered twice). Space is limited. Please reserve early and call (415) 362-3666 to register. (1) “RUBENS, MAITRE DU BAROQUE FLAMAND"Tuesday, January 22 (6:00 to 7:30 pm) or Saturday, January 26 (10:30 am to noon); (2) “LES PIONNIERS DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE” Tuesday, February 12 (6:00 to 7:30 pm) or Saturday, February 16 (10:30 am to noon)

Thursday 2/14 - 1:00 to 2:30. $24. French etiquette: polite form with use of the conditional, how to ask a question or favor. (Level 4 to 8) Thursday 2/28 - 1:00 to 2:30. $24. The expression of time: since, for, ago... and appropriate verb tenses. (Level 3 to 7)

CHEESE WORKSHOP Saturday, March 8, 2008 - From 10 to 12 $45 - 2 hours of instruction + cheese & wine A selection of cheese from the different regions of France, to discover, discuss and, of course, taste! Explore the taste and the flavor of “du terroir.”

WEEKEND INTENSIVE IMMERSION PROGRAMS Level one: Saturday & Sunday, March 1 & 2, 2008. 14 hrs of instruction. $250 9:30 to 12:30. Break (snacks & drinks provided). 1:00 to 5:00 Level 6/7: Saturday & Sunday, March 15 & 16. 10hrs of instruction. $180 10 to 12. Break (snacks & drinks provided). 1 to 4.

Going to France soon and forgot to learn French? ...OOPS! It’s never too late! 6 hours of private instruction for only $199 + book $21.70 Call now (415) 362-3666 to schedule your first level Zero “oops!” class.

5 DAY INTENSIVE IMMERSION PROGRAMS June 23 to 27 and December 15 to 19, 2008 All levels are offered (separately). Classes are 3 hours per day, either in the morning 9 to 12, in the afternoon 1 to 4 or in the evening 6 to 9 for 5 days. $275. $20 off if paid 7 days before the intensive course begins! Sign up now!

FRENCH BY PHONE AND INTERNET It is as simple as A, B, C! A. Try a FREE 15 min. lesson. No obligation. If you like it: B. Pay for FOUR 30 minute Phone Lessons @ $25 per lesson. (or $30 for one) C. Call us on the day of your appointment. (415) 362-3666 For more information, please call The French Class at (415) 362-3666 or contact Dominiquebremond@aol.com The French Class - 500 Sutter Street, Suite 310, San Francisco, CA 94102 - (415) 362-3666. www.frenchclass.com

THE FRENCH CLASS OFFERS OCCASIONS TO LEARN FRENCH FOR ALL TASTES. Members receive discounts on special events and book groups; membership $60 per year. 415.362.3666 to join or contact us at info@class.com The French Class ~ 500 Sutter Street ~ Suite 310 ~ San Francisco, CA 94102. http://www.frenchclass.com Opportunities include:

Beginning October 1, 2005. L'ECOLE DU SAMEDI AT THE FRENCH CLASS IN SAN FRANCISCO. Saturday Classes for Children. The Ecole du Samedi aims to create a comfortable, interesting and engaging atmosphere for children who study French at school and would like to perfect their skills. Activities are conducted in French by experienced French native teachers and include vocabulary, grammar and conversation. 9:30 until 12. The cost is $895 for 25 Saturdays. Books are not included. Register your child now. (415) 362-3666.

JUST CONVERSATION. Talk, talk, talk... Discuss different topics every week according to your own subjects of interest. Improve your vocabulary & oral skills. No homework! Groups are small, "et il y a une bonne ambiance".

CONVERSATION: SUPER FRENCH. For students who wish to improve their oral comprehension and participation when part of a group of French people speaking together.

GRAMMAR AND WRITING CLASSES AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Améliorez votre grammaire et votre français écrit grâce à un cours dynamique, interactif et truffé d'informations linguistiques variées, présenté (cours 607 et 608) par la directrice et fondatrice de "The French Class", Dominique Brémond.

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH GRAMMAR. Review and practice all the basics: pronouns, verb tenses, prepositions, sentence structure, and more....

ADVANCED GRAMMAR AND WRITING COURSE AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Améliorez votre grammaire et votre français écrit grâce à un cours dynamique, interactif et truffé d'informations linguistiques variées, présenté (cours 703 & 705) par la directrice de "The French Class," Dominique Brémond.

GROUPE DE LECTURE DE NOUVELLES INTERNATIONALES AT THE FRENCH CLASS. International News Reading Group. Free for French Club members. Monthly meeting to discuss news around the world.

LONG DISTANCE FRENCH. No time to commute to classes at The French Class? Dominique Bremond, the director of The French Class is San Francisco, is now offering "Long Distance French" to people who can't make it to a class. Call her at (415) 362-3666 or send her an e-mail at http://www.frenchclass.com to get your own personalized French tape according to your level and needs.

FRENCH BOOK CLUB AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Monthly meeting to discuss the French novel we pick together and read at home.

COOKING CLASSES. With Robert Reynolds, former owner of the restaurant Le Trou, in San Francisco, conducted in French and focused on the preparation of delicious yet simple dishes while discussing cultural aspects of taste, food and cuisine.

HISTOIRE, ART ET CIVILISATION. "L'art n'est plus ce qu'il était" Depuis Duchamp et ses ready-made, on a souvent vu, dans l'art moderne, une provocation, voire une imposture. Entre abstraction et installations, minimalisme et accumulations, art haut et art bas, art d'ici et art d'ailleurs, comment s'y reconnaître? Parallèllement à la lecture de la pièce de Yasmina Reza, "Art", nous discuterons des oeuvres qui emblèmatisent l'éclatement esthétique, géographique et social de la notion d'art au 20ème siècle. Un cours passionnant présenté par Renée Morel.

LITTERATURE ET CULTURE AT THE FRENCH CLASS. "Ingrid Caven" de Jean-Jacques Schul. Prix Goncourt 2000, ce roman nous fait traverser plusieurs décades de 1943 à nos jours à travers la vie d'un personnage quasi mythique : une "femme qui, sur scène, a le sand-froid d'un torero, la concentration d'un moine bouddhiste et la vitale fantaisie d'une animatrice de bordel."

OOPS! Going to France in a few weeks and forgot to learn French? Call us now and schedule 4 classes of 90 minutes each 6 hours of instruction.

CONVERSATION and LITERATURE. Conversation on current topics and a short novel in French to read at home and discuss in class. Improve your vocabulary and oral expression. This session: "La Cousine Bette" d'Honoré de Balzac. $10.85. Groups are small "et il y a une bonne ambiance." Various times available.

FRENCH BY PHONE AT THE FRENCH CLASS. Parlez français par téléphone! Our French by phone program is growing. We now have students in 6 states. The flexibility (schedule at your convenience) and price ($25 for a thirty minute lesson) make it very attractive to people who are either too busy to leave their office or too far away to attend our courses.

FRENCH CLASSES FOR LITTLE ONES IN SAN FRANCISCO. Contact: Jean et Marie store & Maisonette Playroom : Coordonnées: 510.759.1224 - ingrid@maisonettesf.com. Jean et Marie is proud to announce to offer its French immersion program for kids in its playroom, Maisonette. Language study is best started when very young, and that's why we decided to offer this opportunity to little ones as young as 2. Activities for each hour-and-a-half class include games, singing and dancing, puppets, drawing, and storytelling, all in French. For more information, come by the store, at 100 Clement Street, see: www.maisonettesf.com or call 510.759.1224.

THE INTERNATIONAL FRENCH CLUB. Going to France soon or you want to speak French like a French person? Join the International French Club. Next session starts the second week of May Savoir faire. Besides text and exercise books, all classes include the use of material that will expose you to the wide variety of the French-speaking world; among others, French news, French movies, novels, songs and cartoons. You will also be invited to participate in team work, games and role-plays that will express what you have learned. Free evaluation. Before signing up for a class, we will schedule a meeting to evaluate your writing and oral level, and to listen to your objectives in order to place you in the appropriate class and level. Contact Nathalie today at: 415.756.2531 info@ifrenchclub.com Beginner Classes :: Intermediate Classes :: Advanced Classes

FRENCH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE. Learn French at your own pace. French for children, adults and corporate in private or small classes. French Language Institut offers flexibility, fun, customized programs, library, newest educative material, CNED, craft sessions, trip to France and much more! Visit us @ http://www.FL-Institut.com or write to frenchteachers@siliconfrench.com.

LANGUAGES INSTITUTE INC. Languages Institute Inc. is comprised of a team of 8 experienced teachers. All our teachers are native French speakers, passionate about the language and earned a Bachelor or Master's degree. They have much experience to make your learning fun, pleasant and efficient! 1100 East Hamilton Avenue, #3, Campbell, CA. 408.377.1113 or 408.833.9620 or Info@Frenchin.Org or http://www.frenchin.org

LIVELY LANGUAGE LEARNING™. French classes for children ages 7-12. Based on famous accelerated learning method. Small classes. Fun and easy. Email info@optimalearning.com or call 415.898.0013. The OptimaLearning Center of Novato, http://www.optimalearning.com or http://www.optimalearningcenter.org

Other courses available. For classes in Santa Rosa, see http://www.afsantarosa.org or contact info@afsantarosa.org. (From the AFSR: Try our French language school with no commitments. Your first lesson is free!) See http://www.afsf.com for Alliance Francaise classes in San Francisco, and http://www.berlitz.com for Berlitz Language Centers. The French Class in San Francisco offers upper level classes in literature and business language, as well as study in various regions of France. See http://www.frenchclass.com. In the East Bay, visit http://www.afberkeley.org/ or write to afberkeley@sbcglobal.net for more class opportunities. In Marin, contact the Alliance Francaise for a schedule of classes at 415.457.4838 or http://www.afmarin.org. For the monthly newsletter of the Alliance Francaise de Napa and a list of French classes offered, go to http://www.afnapa.com.

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*COMING SOON(ER OR LATER)*
February 2008. WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2008 DEBRIEFING EVENT. The most important issues facing modern society are discussed each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Enjoy hearing about the hot topics and top concerns that were discussed at a debriefing event moderated by forecaster and essayist Paul Saffo at swissnex San Francisco. The event will take place in Februrary, please check www.swissnexsanfrancisco.org for a precise date and more details as they become available. swissnex San Francisco 730 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94111.

Opening February 1, 2008. THE WITNESSES, by Andre Techine - Opens February 1st. With Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Sami Bouajila and Julie Depardieu http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article595

February 1, 2008. RENAISSANCE: REVOLUTIONS ET TRADITIONS. The SAN FRANCISCO BAY ACCUEIL invites RENEE MOREL to speak at the Lycee Francais de S.F. (Campus d'Ortega). Conférence animée par Renée Morel, et proposée par le Lycée français La Pérouse et San Francisco Bay Accueil. Âge des explorations, des conquêtes techniques, de l'humanisme et du renouveau dans les arts, la Renaissance extériorise ses croyances avec passion. Au milieu du XVIe siècle, une profonde crise économique et démographique s'abat sur l'Europe, ravagée par la peste noire de 1348, les guerres civiles, les révoltes paysannes et la Guerre de Cent Ans. De plus, en 1453, la Chrétienté perd Constantinople au profit de l'empire ottoman. Cette crise va se résoudre miraculeusement par une série de découvertes - notamment dans les domaines de l'industrie, de la navigation et de l'armement - qui font repartir le monde occidental en avant. C'est l'âge des grandes expéditions vers le “Nouveau Monde”, de l'imprimerie et de nombreuses autres techniques. C'est aussi celui des puissantes dynasties de “princes marchands” qui, tels les Médicis en Italie ou les Fugger en Allemagne, prennent la place des seigneurs dans les états où le pouvoir n'est pas centralisé. C'est également celui d'une révolution dans les arts et les lettres: une philosophie humaniste qui place l'homme au centre de la nature. Le terme “Renaissance” a été inventé au XIXe siècle par des historiens de l'époque romantique, frappés par ce désir de “faire renaître” les oeuvres de l'Antiquité grecque et romaine. Venez revivre les grandes étapes de ce mouvement à la fois novateur et continuateur où logique et raison, passion et superstition s'affrontent pour créer un nouvel ordre social, genèse de la société moderne. 10h. Dans l’auditorium du Lycée Français La Pérouse, 1201 Ortega Street, San Francisco (@ 19th Avenue). L’entrée est du côté de la 20ème Avenue. La conférence se terminera vers 11h30. Coût: $7/personne. Entrée gratuite pour les classes des écoles franco-américaines.

February 2, 2008. PEERS MARDI GRAS BALL featuring THE BAGUETTE QUARTETTE. 8pm. PEERS Mardi Gras Ball, Masonic Lodge, 100 N Ellsworth Ave, San Mateo CA. Tickets: $20 at the door, $15 in advance http://www.peers.org/mardigras.html

February 2, 2007. YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW. Celebrating two decades of musical collaboration in the wonderful world of lieder, Carol Menke, soprano, and Marilyn Thompson, pianist, perform the works of Robert Schumann, Joseph Marx,GABRIEL FAURE & OLIVIER MESSIAEN, and the English songs of Robert Sheldon. They will be joined by a fabulous guest artist! 8:00pm, Ives Recital Hall (Ives 119), Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA 94928. http://www.sonoma-choral.org/pub/htdocs/events.html

February 2, 2008. LE FRANÇAIS AUX ETATS-UNIS organise la JOURNEE DE PRINTEMPS, organisée par l’AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF FRENCH. Presentations include: La langue Cajun; Simone de Beauvoir aux Etats-Unis; Mardi gras; Les liens économiques entre la France et les Etats-Unis; Distribution de matériel pédagogique. Contact: Anne-Marie Lemoine, lemoine2@sbcglobal.net or 650.369.7765. $60/70; $30 étudiants. Avec petit-déjeuner et déjeuner pour ceux qui s’inscrivent à l’avance. Merci et à bientôt, le Conseil Exécutif de l'AATF de la Californie du nordenvoyé par Rachel Safier, Secrétaire American Association of Teachers of French Californie du Nord aatfnc@hotmail.com

February 2, 2008. MESSIAEN CONCERT AT THE JCCSF. An evening celebrating the 100th birthday of Olivier Messiaen, featuring the "Quartet for the End of Time" and celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Israel. Organized by the Consulates of France and Israel and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. 8PM. http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article561

February 2, 2008. TEE FEE SWAMP BOOGIE BAND plays CAJUN music for MARDI GRAS at Rancho Nicasio, On the Town Square, Nicasio. 415.662.2219 or http://www.ranchonicasio.com for details. $12. 8:30pm. Cajun menu specials will also be available.

February 2 & 9, 2008. MUSIC “PHROQ” by Swiss artist Francisco Meirino. Phroq is just about ready to publish the new album "Connections". Discover this musician from Switzerland during his stay at the West Coast www.phroq.com Upcoming events include February 2, 8pm, Activating the Medium XI: The Instrument. San Francisco at The Recombinant Labs Compound San Francisco. For directions: www.23five.org Tickets $15 advance reservations recommended http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr. Also, February 9, KFJC 89.7FM Radio Station, 4pm, 12345 S. El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, www.kfjc.com, radio broadcast only through channel 89.7FM, internet broadcast www.kfjc.com/netcast. February 16, 12noon - 2pm, ARTSF, 110 Capp Street (last Floor), San Francisco, www.artsf.org, tickets $ 5. Please consult the websites of the different places to make sure that these concerts will take place as scheduled. For more shows go to www.phroq.com These events are co-sponsored by Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council of Switzerland.

February 3, 2008. THE ZEPHYROS WINDS perform in the Mill Valley Chamber Series at Mount Tamalpais Methodist Church, 140 Sycamore Ave., Mill Valley. Presented by the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society. 415.381.4453 or http://www.chambermusicmillvalley.org for details. Pieces will include MILHAUD’s LE CHEMINEE DU ROI RENE; DEBUSSY’s SYRINX, and RAVEL’s LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN.Taking its name from the Greek god of the West Wind, the group first gained distinction in 1995, when, one year after its formation, it won both the First and Grand Prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition becoming the first wind quintet in the competition’s 22-year history to do so. Comprised of graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale School of Music, Eastman, and The Juilliard School, the Zéphyros Winds is now based in Manhattan. Zéphyros Winds is recognized as one of the nation’s leading chamber ensembles with appearances across the country at major concert venues, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, The Library of Congress, Wolf Trap, and the “Great Performers Series” at Lincoln Center.   www.Zephyroswinds.com

February 3, 2008. RICHARD GOODE performs DEBUSSY’S TWO ETUDES and FAURE’S NOCTURNE NO.6 IN D-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 63. http://www.calperformances.net or 510.642.9988 for details.

February 4, 2008. MOROCCAN FLAVORS. Cooing class that shows how to use seasonal, organic, unrefined and local ingredients to make Moroccan delights. Sage Table, Oakland. Call for address: 510.914.1142 or http://www.thesagetable.com for details. $60. 6:30pm-9:30pm.

February 4, 2008. DBF, Redwood City. Carole Granade - Executive Director - carole@faccsf.com French American Chamber of Commerce 703 Market Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: (415) 442 4717 - Fax: (415) 442 4621 www.faccsf.com

February 5, 2008. HEAR NICHOLAS ANGELICH, piano, RENAUD CAPUÇON, violon, and GAUTIER CAPUÇON, cello. If you are a member of the FACCSF you can have a 20% discount for the performance by Nicholas Angelich on the piano; Renaud Capuçon on the violin and Gautier Capuçon on the cello on February 5th, 2008. Enter the code CAFC when you click on the Apply Discount button. Carole Granade - Executive Director - carole@faccsf.com French American Chamber of Commerce 703 Market Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: (415) 442 4717 - Fax: (415) 442 4621 www.faccsf.com

February 5, 2008. JONATHAN MANN, piano, performs CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS’s LE CYGNE and more. . Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, 660 California St (at Grant), SF. http://www.NoontimeConcerts.org for details. 12:30pm.

February 6 & 7, 2008. COMPANY EA SOLA presents DROUGHT AND RAIN, VOLUME 2. Born in Vietnam and trained in Paris, choreographer Ea Sola creates vital contemporary works grounded in the traditional culture, music, dance and history of Vietnam. An 80-minute multidisciplinary work… with ballet, music played on traditional instruments, opera and more. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., San Francisco. http://www.ybca.org for details.

February 7-9, 2008. HELENE GRIMAUD AT SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY performs György Ligeti San Francisco Polyphony / Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3 / Shostakovich Symphony No. 6. 8pm.   http://www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article574

February 9, 2008. MADELINE AND THE BAD HAT. Join Madeline in this original musical with an amusing and thought-provoking storyline about enemies becoming friends. Based on the popular book by LUDWIG BEMELMAN. Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. http://wells.fargocentrarts.org for details.

February 9, 2008. LA MELANCOLIE: GENIE ET FOLIE DANS L’ART OCCIDENTAL. Conférence à l’Alliance Françaie de Berkeley, 2004 Woolsey St., Berkeley, CA 94703 (near Ashby BART station). Presentation (illustree de 80 diapositives) par Renee Morel --en francais, naturellement! La melancolie a hante l'histoire culturelle de l'occident depuis l'antiquite. Des paersonnages aussi celebres et divers que Ajax, Hercule, Michel-Ange, Laurent de Medicis, Gerard de Nerval et Kierkegaard en ont tous souffert. Pourquoi la melancolie a-t-elle toujours ete liee a la memoire et a la creation? Qu'en ont pense Aristote, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire et Hegel? Venez voir - a travers un riche kaleidoscope d'oeuvres de Durer, Goya, Delacroix, C.D. Friedrich, Munch, Odilon Redon, Edward Hopper, Anselm Keifer et d'autres encore - les multiples visages de la melancolie. $16 ($14 pour les membres de l'AF) Ce prix comprend the, cafe et croissants. IMPORTANT: Reservations necessaires! Claire Van Brunt: (510) 849.2283 ou <c.vanbrunt@comcast.net>

February 10, 2008. CRÊPES! Venez fêter la Chandeleur avec nous au restaurant Twist Bistro à Campbell, le dimanche 10 février de 14 à 16 heures. Réservations obligatoires avant le 2 février. Contacter Marie-Claude: marieclaude@afscv.org ou 408.445.2095. Twist Bistro, Campbell.

February 11, 2008. LE BOOKCLUB FRANCOPHONE lit UNE PIECE MONTEE de BLANDINE LE CALLET. berenicevlm@yahoo.com for details.

February 12, 2008. LIFE SCIENCE BREAKFAST organized by the FRENCH AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. San Francisco. Carole Granade - Executive Director - carole@faccsf.com French American Chamber of Commerce 703 Market Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: (415) 442 4717 - Fax: (415) 442 4621 www.faccsf.com

February 12 & 16, 2008.   HISTOIRE DE VOIR: LES PIONNIERS DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE. Conférence, illustree de 80 diapositives et presentee par Renee Morel - en francais, naturellement! $10 (One and a half hours each. Includes handouts. Qu'est-ce que la photographie? Et qu'est-ce que photographier? La photographie, que l'on croyait d'abord reservee aux seules applications scientifiques, regne aujourd'hui dans les musees comme sur l'internet. Comment l'epoustouflant kaleidoscope d'images qu'elle a engendre a-t-il radicalement et irreversiblement change notre maniere de voir, notre regard sur la creation ou l'information, la memoire ou l'histoire? Comment ses divers developpement nous ont-ils permis de voir l'invisible? Depuis les cliches des pionniers de la photographie (Niepce, Daguerre, Fox-Talbot, Muybridge, Marey) aux images transmises par les satellites, quels sont les enjeux de la photographie? On suivra, a travers des images de Bayard, Nadar, Lewis Caroll, Julia Margaret Cameron et d'autres encore, l'etonnant parcours technique et mental de ce nouvel art pour cerner ce que l'on a pu nommer l'"imaginaire" photographique. Tuesday, February 12 (6:00 PM-7:30 PM) ou bien Saturday, February 16 (10:30 AM -12:00 PM.) IMPORTANT! Comme pour le TGV, il est necessaire de reserver. SVP, contactez directement The French Class par telephone au 415-362-3666, et donnez-leur votre numero de carte bancaire pour reserver. Merci! THE FRENCH CLASS 500 Sutter Street (at Powell), Suite 310 San Francisco TEL: (415) 362.3666 FAX: (415) 362.4334 info@frenchclass.com

February 14, 2008. THE EYES OF LOVE -- VALENTINE’S DAY CONCERT WITH HELENE ATTIA AND HER JAZZ HEARTBEATS. John R. Burr, keyboards and Alex Murzyn, flute & sax. "Back by popular demand--our lovely local chanteuse, Helene Attia, will select from her vast repertory to present the juiciest of international love songs, including many beautiful French love songs. Be ready for Jazz, Blues, Bosa Nova, romantic classics and popular ballads--- by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf and Michel Legrand; plus contemporary songs by Burt Bacharach, Lennon & McCartney and Al Jarreau. Helene will also sing original songs from her new CD, The Eyes of Love. Come solo or with significant others!" "All You Need is LOVE…" Members $15 ; Public $25 (admission includes hors d'oeuvres, libations and dessert) For reservations, call 415-393-0100 or email at rsvp@milibrary.org    http://www.milibrary.org 7:00 PM, Mechanics' Institute, 57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104

February 14, 2008. CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY AT LEFT BANK BRASSERIES! Chef Roland Passot's Left Bank Brasseries in the San Francisco Bay Area will be celebrating Valentine's Day, Thursday February 14, 2008 with a little French romance and flavor! Join us on: Thursday, February 14, 2008 Hours: 5:30PM to 11PM In addition to our regular dinner menu, we will be offering a special 4-course menu, prix fixe $45., also available "à la carte". Amuse Bouche Foie Gras Mousse toasted brioche, 5. Pour commencer Oysters four oysters, Champagne mignonette, 8.25 Crab-Avocado Gâteau citrus and mâche salad, blood orange vinaigrette, 10.25 Les Plats Pan Seared Halibut artichokes barigoule, fennel and lemon confit with savory, 24.5 Oven-Roasted Pork Rack mustard herb crust, sautéed mushrooms, pearl onions, fingerling potatoes, 24.5 Le Dessert Chocolate "Décadence" hazelnut praline feuillantine, chocolate mousse, raspberry coulis, crème Chantilly, 8. Left Bank Brasseries "transport" guests to a charming and lively brasserie in Paris, where diners feast upon simple, delectable French cuisine in a bustling, carefree atmosphere. Left Bank Brasserie's signature dishes include sumptuous French preparations like our signature dish Moules Frites, Onion Soup des Halles, Salade Niçoise, Bouillabaisse and Brasserie Steak Frites; other menu highlights include seasonal farmers' market produce, artisan cheeses, delectable desserts, and an award-winning wine list featuring both local and French selections. Left Bank Brasserie Executive Chefs, along with luminary chefs Roland Passot and Joël Guillon, are committed to bringing a little piece of Paris to the Bay Area. Left Bank Brasseries serve lunch and dinner each day, seven days a week, and offer private dining rooms for celebratory events. For reservations and contact numbers please visit www.leftbank.com <http://www.leftbank.com/> . Left Bank Brasseries: LARKSPUR 507 Magnolia Avenue, Larkspur, CA 94939 415.927.3331 MENLO PARK 635 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025 650.473.6543 PLEASANT HILL 60 Crescent Drive, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 925.288.1222 SAN JOSE 377 Santana Row, San Jose, CA 95128 408.984.3500 SAN MATEO 1100 Park Place, San Mateo, CA 94403 650.345.2250

February 14, 2008. CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY WITH THE HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO! Bring your sweetheart for a romantic evening to Rancho Nicasio, On the Town Square, Nicasio, CA. 415.662.2219 or http://www.ranchonicasio.com for details. $12. 7:30.

February 16, 2008 JORDI SAVALL, the man behind the music in TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE, performs viola da gamba. Cal Performances, 510.642.9988 or http://www.calperformances.org for details. Currently sold out; go to the website to add your name to notification list .

February 16, 17, 23 & 24, 2008. SWISS PIANIST HANNY SCHMID WYSS. Hanny Schmid Wyss is well known in Switzerland as well as abroad. She comes regularly to the San Francisco Bay Area with her beautiful music and we are happy to welcome her. Hanny's repertoire ranges from early Baroque to contemporary works, and her singularly expressive play has been praised both for its "attractive, nicely rounded tone" as well as its "Fiery Commitment". February 16, 2008 8pm Houseconcert - Hillside Concerts 2692 Shasta Road Berkeley RSVP www.cowart.com/concerts   February 17, 2008 2pm St. Andrews Presbyterian Church 1601 Mary Drive Pleasant Hill info: 925 685 4720 Solorecital February 23, 2008 7:30pm Los Medanos College Pittsburg, CA Mozart Piano Concerto K414 - Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, Conductor Timothy Smith http://www.cccorch.org February 24, 2008 7:30pm Dean Lesher Regional Center for Performing Arts Walnut Creek, CA Mozart Piano Concerto K414 - Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, Conductor Timothy Smith http://www.cccorch.org or www.lesherartscenter.org

February 17, 2008. EUROPEAN SOIREE. Meet other internationally-minded people in a convivial cross-cultural atmosphere. If you feel cosmopolitan and want to make interesting new friends, have substantial conversations, practice your language skills or just have fun, come join us! Drop in when you can and stay for as long as you want. Newcomers are welcome. Come on your own or with a friend. You'll discover a friendly group where mingling is mandatory! The soirée starts late-afternoon to allow people to dine together afterwards if they so choose. Find out the details and sign up for this San Francisco event on Meetup at http://euro.meetup.com/80/. (Meetup registration is quick and free.) BAY AREA FRIENDS OF EUROPE "Where Europeans and Europhiles can meet and make friends." http://www.bafoe.org/

February 20, 2008. LE CERCLE LITTERAIRE DE L’ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE SANTA ROSA lit DAVID GOLDER d’IRENE NEMIROVSKY. AFSF, 613 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707.543.8151 for details.

February 21, 2008. L’ASSURANCE MALADIE PUR LE CITOYEN / RETRAITE INTERNATIONAL. Atelier offert à Livermore par Thierry GABADOU, UFE, 925.366.9983 or tgabadou@psfin.com. 18h30.

February 23, 2008. LEO TARDIN & GRAND PIANORAMAX offer a jazz concert at The Fillmore. Swiss Musicians Leo Tardin and Grand Pianoramax will play Jazz and Improvizational Music at a preprogram to a concert by Maceo Parker (ex. James Brown) www.leotardin.com February 23, 9pm (doors open at 8pm) The Fillmore, www.thefillmore.com, 1805 Geary Boulevard & Fillmore San Francisco Tel 415 346 6000 tickets $ 28.50 at Ticket Master 415 421 8497 or www.livenation.com. This event is co-sponsored by Pro Helvetia the Arts Council of Switzerland.

February 23, 2008. HOT HOT CARIBBEAN NIGHTS: KALBASS KREYOL + DJS MILLER, EMMANUEL NADO, LINDEN B; MC AVOTCJA – all at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. http://www.ashkenz.com. Doors at 8:30 pm; Show at 9:05 pm $15 / $12 advance & students Buy tickets online! www.kalbasskreyol.com

February 24, 2008. NINA SCHUYLER talks about her novel, THE PAINTING, which is set in Tokyo and Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. Joint reading with Toni Mirosevich. Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Dr., Corte Madera. 415.927.0960 or http://www.bookpasage.com. 4pm.

February 24 & 26, 2008. MARIN SYMPHONY performs SCREEN GEMS, including SATIE’S DEUX PRELUDES POSTHUMES ET UNE GNOSSIENNE (used in the movie CHOCOLAT) and Mozart’s ouverture to the MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. 7:30pm. 415.479.8100 or http://www.marinsymphony.org or greatmusic@marinsymphony.org for details.

February 26, 2008. THE EUSEBIUS DUO, with Hillary Norwell, piano, and Monika Gruber, violin, performs CLAUDE DEBUSSY’s SONATA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO IN G MINOR and GABRIEL FAURE’s SONATA NO. 1 IN A MAJOR. . Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, 660 California St (at Grant), SF. http://www.NoontimeConcerts.org for details.

February 26, 2008. CARA BLACK celebrates the publication of MURDER IN THE RUE DE PARADIS with Paris-Through-Expatriate-Eyes director TERRANCE GELENTER. For information: Paris Through Expatriate Eyes, 38 Miller Ave, PMB 213, Mill Valley, CA 94941, Phone: 415.388.4956, Fax:   415.634-2828, Email: terrance@paris-expat.com

February 28, 2008. CERCLE DE LECTURE, animée par Bernadette Theisen. Lecture: L’AFRICAIN, de JEAN-MARIE LE CLEZIO (2004). Courriel : theisen@netzero.net Au Boulanger de Los Gatos à 16 heures.

February 29, 2008. LE GRAND DÎNER À DOMAINE CHANDON. Sumptuous courses at le Grand Dîner of the NAPA VALLEY MUSTARD FESTIVAL, which runs February 2-March 31, 2008. Limited to 120 guests; $350 per person. http://mustardfestival.org for details and information on other events associated with the Festival.

March 1, 2008. DICTEE DE LA BAIE, organisée par San Francisco Bay Accueil, avec la participation des écoles et alliances francaises de la Baie et des Consulats de France et du Canada. Evènement gratuit, ouvert à tous les francophones et francophiles de 6 à 99 ans. Dictées par niveaux, en fonction des inscriptions. Remise de prix et goûter. Cette année, la dictée se tiendra au Lycée français La Pérouse de San Francisco sur la 19ème avenue à Ortega (ancien conservatoire de musique). Les enfants seront regroupés par niveau scolaire, du CM1 à la terminale et les adultes en 3 catégories, débutants, intermédiaires et avancés. Inscription obligatoire avant le 15 février par email, téléphone ou fax auprès de Christine Lemor-Drake. christine@appletopomme.com tél (415)292-7227 Fax(415)292-7247. Pour chaque candidat, nous avons besoin du nom, de l'âge au 1er mars, de l'adresse, de l'email, du téléphone et du niveau de français. A 13:30 heures. // San Francisco Bay Accueil, a French non-profit organization for French and Francophone, supported by the French and Canadian Consulates, is organizing a "Dictée" in San Francisco on March 1st, to celebrate the month of "Francophonie" in the world. After a few years at the Alliance Française, the success of this entertaining and educational event has forced us to host it somewhere else bigger. For this 5th edition of the "Dictée de la Baie", we will be hosted by the Lycée français La Pérouse de San Francisco, in the avenues. The event will start at 1:30 and should last about 3 hours. We would love to have coverage by the media interested by the French Culture.

March 3, 2008. DBF, Redwood City. Carole Granade - Executive Director - carole@faccsf.com French American Chamber of Commerce 703 Market Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: (415) 442 4717 - Fax: (415) 442 4621 www.faccsf.com

March 6, 2008, WOMEN IN BUSINESS LUNCHEON organized by the FRENCH AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Carole Granade - Executive Director - carole@faccsf.com French American Chamber of Commerce 703 Market Street, Suite 450 San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: (415) 442 4717 - Fax: (415) 442 4621 www.faccsf.com

March 13, 2008. HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO presents classic Django Reinhardt Gypsy jazz and original compositions. Kanbar Center, Bernard Osher Marin Jewish Community Cnter, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael. 415.444.8000 or http://www.marinjcc.org for details. 8pm.

March 13, 2008. UNE INTERVENTION DU CHEF DE CHANCELLERIE DU CONSULAT GENERAL DE FRANCE. Organisée à Livermore par Thierry GABADOU, UFE, 925.366.9983 or tgabadou@psfin.com. 18h30.

March 14, 2008. ANGELIQUE KIDJO performs at Zellerbach Hall. In today’s contemporary music world, there is simply no musician quite like Angélique Kidjo. Since the 1980s, the scintillating vocalist from BÉNIN, West Africa, has created a bridge that unites the rhythms and spirits of Africa with the grooves and vibes of the New World’s African diaspora. An electrifying performer, she performs in French, English and her native Fon/Yoruba. She has just released DJIN DJIN. . http://www.calperformances.net or 510.642.9988 for details.

March 15, 2008. JOURNEE DE LA FRANCOPHONIE at the ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE SACRAMENTO. 10am-4pm at the Alliance Française de Sacramento.   We are soliciting proposals (in English and French) from professors, teachers, independent scholars, journalists, businesses and/or community members for 20-minute presentations on any aspect of Francophone culture and French language.   We also seek participants for our Cabaret Show. We hope to attract faculty, students, and community members who can perform as musicians, dancers or singers.   Proposals are due by January 31. Send proposals/inquiries to Dr. Vanessa Arnaud: arnaud@saclink.csus.edu

March 19, 2008. LE CERCLE LITTERAIRE DE L’ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE SANTA ROSA lit LA FOLLE DE CHAILLOT de JEAN GIRAUDOUX. AFSF, 613 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707.543.8151 for details.

March 20, 2008. THE WORK OF PAULINE VIARDOT, 19TH C. FRENCH MEZZO AND COMPOSER, by star mezzo-sopranos Marilyn Horne and Frederica von Stade. Staged by Lotfi Mansouri. Herbst Theatre. Details to follow.

March 27, 2008. CERCLE DE LECTURE, animée par Bernadette Theisen. Lecture: LUTETIA, de PIERRE ASSOULINE (2005). Courriel : theisen@netzero.net Au Boulanger de Los Gatos à 16 heures.

March 28, 2008. L’EUROPE ROMANTIQUE. The SAN FRANCISCO BAY ACCUEIL invites RENEE MOREL to speak at the Lycee Francais de S.F. (Campus d'Ortega). Détails à suivre.

March 29, 2008. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PENINSULA’S 20TH ANNUAL GALA AND AUCTION. Event: International School of the Peninsula¹s 20th Annual Gala and Auction: Kabuhayan! An ISTP Filipino Fiesta! Date and Time: Saturday, March 29th, 2008 @ 6:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. Venue: Fairmont San Jose, 170 S. Market Street, San Jose, CA Description: ISTP¹s 20th Annual Gala and Auction brings guests a glimpse of the Philippines with their Filipino culture-themed event. Guests will be treated to a delicious gourmet Filipino dinner, entertainment, dancing, and live auction. All proceeds benefit the International School of the Peninsula in Palo Alto, CA ‹ a dual language immersion nursery through 8th grade school with French and Mandarin Chinese programs. To register or for more information, visit www.istp.org/gala or call (650) 251-8538. Tickets are $175 per person, black tie / elegant attire, please. Website: http://www.istp.org/gala

April 3-5, 2008. URBAN BUSH WOMEN / COMPAGNIE JANT-BI CREATIVE EXCHANGE presents BEAUTY OF LITTLE THINGS. This unique project brings together african and African American dance companies – one all-male and one all-female – and two powerhouse female choreographers. GERMAINE ACOGNY, hailed as the mother of contemporary African dance, expores the role of community in forming idenitty with Brooklyn-based BESSIE Award-winnning choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, of Urban Bush Women. Acogny choreographs for her all-male troupe, JANT-BI. In this Bay Area premiere, artists from Africa collaborate with the children of the Diaspora on a work that explores the crossroads between culture and ethnicity, history and modernity. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St., San Francisco. http://www.ybca.org for details.

April 17, 288. GESTION DE PATRIMOINE QUAND LES OBJECTIFS SONT SUR DEUX CONTINENTS. Atelier offert à Livermore par Thierry GABADOU, UFE, 925.366.9983 or tgabadou@psfin.com. 18h30.

April 24-May 11, 2008. COCO, with music by ANDRÉ PREVIN. Cabaret and concert star Andrea Marcovicci brings her captivating high style to the role of the magnificent and mercurial fasion doyenne COCO CHANEL. Set in the early 1950s when Chanel was considered a has-been, Lerner and Previn’s musical memory play focuses on the Divine Coco’s amazing comeback – as well as her battles with a jealous rival designer and the boyfriend of her protégé. Songs include Always Mademoiselle, The World Belongs to the Young, When Your Lover Says Goodbye, Fiasco, and Coco. 42ND Street Moon, Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco, CA. 415.255.8207 or http://www.42ndstmoon.org for details.

April 25-May 11, 2008. THE BRIGANDS by JACQUES OFFENBACH. Deep in their hideout high in the french Pyrenees, a band of thieving brigands is about to embark on the biggest burglary of their career. Led by the fearless Falsacappa, and his beloved daughter Fiorella, a plan is hatched to acquire 3 million francs! Of course, to pull it off the band will have to intercept a royal wedding, don a host of disguises, and play the part of Spanish royalty in the Italian court—all this without losing their cool. Perhaps they’ve bit off more than they can chew...after all, the biggest thieves aren’t always hiding in the forests. Suffused with light social satire and Offenbach’s bubbly music. $10-$15. http://www.cinnabartheater.org/cinnabar.2007-08brigands.html for details.

April 25-June 8, 2008. LE THEATRE DE LA JEUNE LUNE presents FIGARO, inspired by Mozart and BEAUMARCHAIS, adapted by Steven Epp and Dominique Serrand, at BERKELEY REP’s Roda Theatre. Another eccentric take on a timeless text, this performance marries famous characters from the plays of Beaumarchais with music from Mozart’s magnificent opera to create an accessible and exceptional new show. In this version, Figaro and the Count recall their rivalry years later, amidst the bloodshed of the FRENCH REVOLUTION. Intrigue, seduction, juicy love triangles… a revolutionary experience! 510.647.2949 or http://www.berkeeyrep.org for details.

April 27, 2008. STEPHEN PRUTSMAN, pianist, performs RAVEL’s PIANO CONCERTO IN G MAJOR and more. Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. http://wells.fargocentrarts.org for details.

May 2008. JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS. Jacques Brel Revival comes to MTC. Direct from its one year off-Broadway run, the highly acclaimed revival of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris is coming to MTC! It will fill the fifth and final Boyer slot for the 2007-2008 season. With a cast of four actors and three musicians, the show celebrates Brel-s timeless relevance and enduring passions. Translated from the French by American poet Eric Blau and lyricist Mort Shuman the show is a diverse blend of ballads, tangos, boleros, rock and classics. With raw human emotion, each piece tells a story, examining themes of love, war and adventure but never forgetting that life, with all its tragedies and complexities s