FIS and the Hong Kong French Film Festival
Gaining proficiency in a language, whether it be your native tongue or a second language, requires immersion and exposure. At FIS, we are lucky that Hong Kong, albeit a Cantonese and English speaking Special Administrative Region, offers numerous opportunities to do so.
Therefore, I can only encourage FIS families, from the French Stream as well as the International Stream, to review the extensive offering of the 51st Hong Kong French Film Festival [https://www.hkfrenchfilmfestival.com/] that started earlier this week. The festival, developed by the wonderful Alliance Française in Hong Kong, offers around 200 screenings of more than 50 movies. Many are recent releases that most of us did not have a chance to see in theatres or even in streaming yet. Others are classics from authors such as Jean-Luc Godard who passed away this year, or Claire Denis, arguably one of the most important female directors currently active in the world. Although the selection is more geared toward adults and secondary school students (with no specific children’s offerings) it is a rare opportunity to gain access to authentic French language and culture and the breadth of one of France’s national jewels, its cinema.
In addition, as detailed by our secondary history teacher Iv Charbonneau in the current edition of the Bulletin [https://www.fis.edu.hk/bulletin/2022/11/le-lfi-fait-son-cinema-une-interview-exclusive-de-david-ernaux/], FIS students have been and will be involved with the festival -some school screenings will be held at TKO and BPR campuses, groups of students will travel to cinemas, and an interview from our students with the director of The Super 8 Years, David Ernaux-Briot, who happens to be the son of this year’s Nobel Prize Annie Ernaux, is available and might be screened during the festival (TBC).
The Alliance Française will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year, at the time we will celebrate our 60th. We are proud of our ongoing partnership in service of French language and culture in Hong Kong.
