:: 5-10 MAY 2006 ::

:: Friday 5 May :: Exhibition ::
::The Auld Alliance 2006 ::
"Coinciding with the 'Fizzers' exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio present this collection of over 30 original cartoons comparing and contrasting Scottish and French art, cuisine, history and popular culture."

:: Where :: Institut Francais d'Ecosse
:: When :: 4 May-30 Jun, not 22 May
:: How Much? :: Free!

:: Saturday 6 May :: Film ::
::The Double Life of Veronique ::
"(15) Two girls - one Polish, the other French - are born at the same time on the same day and come to discover that their fates are bound up together. An eerily fascinating and disturbing erotic dance of love and death from the director of 'Dekalog2 ('The Ten Commandments'), with an extraordinary twin performance by Cannes award-winner Jacob."

:: Where :: Filmhouse
:: When :: 6-7 May: 8.45; 8 May: 2.00; 9-11 May: 4.15 8.45
:: How Much? :: Check on Filmhouse website.
:: More info::

:: Sunday 7 May :: Film ::
:: Hidden (Caché) ::
"Georges (Auteuil) the presenter of a literary review programme on French TV, and his publisher wife Anne (Binoche) receive packages containing videos shot outside their nice suburban house. As the tapes and the drawings they come wrapped in become more personal and alarming, Georges begins to lose his mind. Haneke has always diffused polemic through the most personal of scenarios. 'Hidden' is a devastating, giddying examination of middle class smugness, the burden of the past and the deeply objectional self obsessions of the intellectual. Beautifully acted, paced, edited and directed, it will leave you gasping and perplexed as all great cinema should. If you want to know why 30 French towns and cities burned in October and November of 2005, the answer is here."

:: Where :: Cameo
:: When :: 5-9 May: 12.55; 10-11 May: 12.55 6.45
:: More info ::

Attention: Special double bill on the 7th with Code Unknown . (13:30)
On a busy Parisian street, Anne (Juliette Binoche), an actress on the brink of success, bumps into Jean (Alexandre Hamidi), the younger brother of her non-committal war photographer partner Georges (Neuvic). After disclosing that he has run away from his father's farm, Jean casullay humiliates Maria (Luminita Gheorghiu), a Romanian illegal immigrant, by dropping his rubbish into her lap as she begs. The incident, which leads to Maria's deportation, is spotted by Amadou (Yenke), a teacher of deaf children who angrily remonstrates with Jean. It is an incident which briefly links the lives of these five very different people. This is a remarkably conceived film from Director Michael Haneke, about the nature of communication, disassociation through technology and the comfort to be found in an entirely non-committal lifestyle. His rigourous visual approach of long uninterrupted wide shots that create blocks of real time is, thankfully, neither self-regarding nor pretentious. Instead, a slow and almost invisible accretion of emotion and incident pulls the viewer in steadily as he veers from the banal to the poetic whilst never offering anything less than profound honesty.
Note: this film is subtitled

:: Tuesday 9 May :: Conversation ::
:: The world ::

::Where :: The World (pub), in Thistle Street
:: When :: 9 May 2006, 9-11pm
:: How much? :: Free

:: Wednesday 10 May :: Lecture ::
:: Visiting Picasso: Evening Lecture & Book Launch ::

::Where :: Weston Link (Hawthornden Lecture Theatre)
:: When :: 10 May 2006, 6-7.30pm
:: How much? :: Free
:: Further info :: No booking required, unticketed.

"Visiting Picasso (Thames & Hudson) brings together, for the first time, the notebooks and letters of Roland Penrose detailing his many encounters with Pablo Picasso. It is edited by Elizabeth Cowling, Reader in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. In this special evening event and book launch, she will be in conversation with Antony Penrose (son of Roland Penrose) and Richard Calvocoressi, Director of the Gallery in Modern Art. A book signing follows the talk."

:: Back!! ::

Hou la la!

It has been a very hectic couple of months workwise, and I am just beginning to see the end of the tunnel... Plenty of translations have been done, mainly in technical areas, such as engine oils, antifreeze and other delightful topics... It's reminded me that, whilst I enjoy discovering new things and learning how machines work, I still need to take care, and not overdo things too much...

New classes

The French evening classes are going very well (sorry to anyone I could not help on this occasion, and hope the information I provided about other language schools in Edinburgh, and other means of maintaining your existing language skills was of some use!)
I think I will have to temporarily close down the contents about specific language classes, as I sadly don't have the time to update them regularly - we'll just have to see!

I am quite keen to start a language club for children, running after school: I have also created a new blog, specifically aimed at what children can do French-wise in Edinburgh: to take a look at it, please have a look here....

Anyway...

The next few weeks are jam-packed of things to do in Edinburgh: I am determined to bring them to you on a regular basis - and hopefully to get to do some of these in the process!


Lxox