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Gard
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Gard is a department in southern France in the Occitanie region. The department is named after the River Gardon, and the Occitan name of the river has been replacing the French name of the department in recent decades, see also, History of Gard The Gard area was settled by the Romans in classical times. It was crossed by the Via Domitia, which was constructed in 118 BC, Gard is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790. It was created from the ancient province of Languedoc, in return, Gard received from Hérault the fishing port of Aigues Mortes which gave the department its own outlet to the Gulf of Lion. Gard is part of the region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Hérault, Lozère, Aveyron, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse, the highest point in the department is the Mont Aigoual. Serious flooding has occurred in the department in recent years, the President of the General Council is Denis Bouad of the Socialist Party. The incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement party received 24. 86% of the vote, the inhabitants of Gard are called Gardois. There are important Roman architectural remains in Nîmes, as well as the famous Roman aqueduct, Gard is also home to the source of Perrier, a carbonated mineral water sold both in France and internationally on a large scale. The spring and facility are located just south-east of the commune of Vergèze, prefecture website General Council website Welcome to the Gard Welcome to the Gard The Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail Map of the department Guide Gard
2.
Cannes Film Festival
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Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. On 1 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+ Pierre Lescure took over as President of the festival, the Board of Directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the festival. The 2016 Cannes Film Festival took place between 11 and 22 May 2016, australian film director George Miller was the President of the Jury. I, Daniel Blake, directed by British director Ken Loach, in 2017, The Festival de Cannes will celebrate its 70th anniversary edition from May 17 to 28. In 1947, the festival was held as the Festival du film de Cannes, at that time the principle of equality was introduced, with a jury made up of only one representative per country. The festival is now held at the Palais des Festivals, expressly constructed for the occasion, although for its 1949 inaugural the roof was unfinished, the festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems. Although its origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with Autumns Venice Film Festival, in 1955, the Palme dOr was created, replacing the Grand Prix du Festival which had been given until that year. In 1957, Dolores del Rio was the first female member of the jury as a Sélection officielle – Member, in 1959, the Marché du Film was founded, giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry. Today it has become the first international platform for film commerce, in 1962, the International Critics Week was born, created by the French Union of Film Critics as the first parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Its goal was to showcase first and second works by directors all over the world. In 1965, an hommage was paid to Jean Cocteau after his death, the next year, Olivia de Havilland was named the first female president of the festival. The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May, some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition. The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President, and they founded the Film Directors Society that same year, during the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival. In 1972, Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President and he immediately introduced an important change in the selection of the participating films. Until that date, the different countries chose which films would represent them in the festival, Bessy created one committee to select French films, and another for foreign films. In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the President position, introducing the Caméra dOr award, in 1983, a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the Festival. It was nicknamed The Bunker and provoked many reactions against it, in 1984, Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival. It was not until 1995 that Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection and its aim was to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities
3.
Legion of Honour
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The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction, Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur, Grand Officier and Grand-Croix. The orders motto is Honneur et Patrie and its seat is the Palais de la Légion dHonneur next to the Musée dOrsay, in the French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour. The Légion however did use the organization of old French orders of chivalry, the badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which also used a red ribbon. Napoleon originally created this to ensure political loyalty, the organization would be used as a facade to give political favours, gifts, and concessions. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional cohorts, the highest rank was not a grand cross but a Grand Aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously,5,000 francs to an officier,2,000 francs to a commandeur,1,000 francs to an officier,250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led, do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning. That is good only for the scholar in his study, the soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards. This has been quoted as It is with such baubles that men are led. The order was the first modern order of merit, under the monarchy, such orders were often limited to Roman Catholics, and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers, the Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion and it is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the Légion has five arms, in a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand Aigle. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and this collar was abolished in 1815. The Légion dhonneur was prominent and visible in the French Empire, the Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time
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Languedoc-Roussillon
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Languedoc-Roussillon is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Occitanie and it is the southernmost region of mainland France. The region is made up of the historical provinces,68. The former province of Languedoc also extends over what is now the Midi-Pyrénées region,17. 9% of Languedoc-Roussillon was formerly the province of Gévaudan, now the department of Lozère. A small part of the former Gévaudan lies inside the current Auvergne region, Gévaudan is often considered to be a sub-province inside the province of Languedoc, in which case Languedoc would account for 86. 6% of Languedoc-Roussillon. These pays were part of the Ancien Régime province of Roussillon, owning its name to the largest and most populous of the five pays, llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain, that forms a Spanish exclave surrounded by French territory. At the regional elections in March 2004, the socialist mayor of Montpellier Georges Frêche, since then, Georges Frêche has embarked on a complete overhaul of the region and its institutions. Georges Frêche also wanted to change the name of the region, wishing to erase its duality, thus, he wanted to rename the region Septimanie. This name, however, has not been in use since the 9th century, strong opposition of the population led to Georges Frêche giving up on his idea. He declared that he believed in it but could not go ahead without a mandate. This idea has minimal popular support, on the other hand, there are some who would like to merge the Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées regions, thus reunifying the old province of Languedoc, and creating a large region. Prior to the 20th century, Occitan was the language spoken in Languedoc, both have been under pressure from French. In 2004, research conducted by the Government of Catalonia showed that 65% of adults over the age of 15 in Roussilon could understand Catalan whereas 37% stated they were able to speak it. In recent years there have been attempts at reviving of both languages, including Catalan-medium schooling through the La Bressola schools, Occitan literature — still sometimes called Provençal literature — is a body of texts written in Occitan in what is nowadays the South of France. It originated in the poetry of the eleventh- and twelfth- century troubadours, aimeric de Peguilhan, Giraut de Bornelh and Bertran de Born were major influences in troubadour composition, in the High Middle Ages. The troubadour tradition is considered to have originated in the region, the Romantic music composer Déodat de Séverac was born in the region, and, following his schooling in Paris, returned to the region to compose. He sought to incorporate the music indigenous to the area in his compositions, grapevines are said to have existed in the South of France since the Pliocene period - before the existence of Homo sapiens. The first vineyards of Gaul developed around two towns, Béziers and Narbonne, several entrepreneurs such as Robert Skalli and James Herrick drastically changed the face of the region, planting more commercially viable grape varieties and pushing for new AOC classifications
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Claude Chabrol
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Claude Henri Jean Chabrol was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Chabrols career began with Le Beau Serge, inspired by Hitchcocks Shadow of a Doubt, thrillers became something of a trademark for Chabrol, with an approach characterized by a distanced objectivity. This is especially apparent in Les Biches, La Femme infidèle, and Le Boucher – all featuring Stéphane Audran, sometimes characterized as a mainstream New Wave director, Chabrol remained prolific and popular throughout his half-century career. In 1978, he cast Isabelle Huppert as the lead in Violette Nozière, on the strength of that effort, the pair went on to others including the successful Madame Bovary and La Cérémonie. Some of his films become almost private jokes, made to amuse himself. Claude Henri Jean Chabrol was born on 24 June 1930 to Yves Chabrol and Madeleine Delarbre in Sardent, France, Chabrol said that he always thought of himself as a country person, and never as a Parisian. Both Chabrols father and grandfather had been pharmacists, and Chabrol was expected to follow in the family business, but as a child, Chabrol was seized by the demon of cinema and ran a film club in a barn in Sardent between the ages of 12 and 14. At this time, he developed his passion for the genre, detective stories. After World War II, Chabrol moved to Paris to study pharmacology and literature at the Sorbonne, Some biographies also state that he briefly studied law and political science at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques. After graduating, Chabrol served his military service in the French Medical Corps, serving in Germany. Chabrol has claimed that while in the army he worked as a film projectionist, after he was discharged from the army, he joined his friends as a staff writer for Cahiers du Cinéma, who were challenging then-contemporary French films and championing the concept of Auteur theory. He also wrote for Arts magazine during this period, among Chabrols most famous articles were Little Themes, a study of genre films, and The Evolution of Detective Films. In 1956 he helped finance Jacques Rivettes short film Le coup du berger, unlike all of his future New Wave contemporaries, Chabrol never made short film nor did he work as an assistant on other directors work before making his feature film debut. In 1957 Chabrol and Eric Rohmer co-wrote Hitchcock, a study of the films made by director Alfred Hitchcock through the film The Wrong Man. Chabrol had interviewed Hitchcock with François Truffaut in 1954 on the set of To Catch a Thief, years later, when Chabrol and Truffaut had both become successful directors themselves, Hitchcock told Truffaut that he always thought of them when he saw ice cubes in a glass of whiskey. The most prolific of the major New Wave directors, Chabrol averaged almost one film a year from 1958 until his death. In the mid-sixties it was difficult for Chabrol to obtain financing for films so he made a series of commercial potboilers and spy spoofs, Chabrol had married Agnès Goute in 1952 and in 1957 his wife inherited a large sum of money from relatives. In December of that year Chabrol used the money to make his directorial debut with Le Beau Serge. Chabrol spent three months shooting in his hometown of Sardent using a crew and little known actors
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Costa-Gavras
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Costa-Gavras is a Greek-French film director and producer, who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller Z. Most of his movies have made in French, however, six were made in English, Missing, Hanna K. Betrayed, Music Box, Mad City. He produces most of his films himself, through his production company K. G. Productions, Costa-Gavras was born in Loutra Iraias, Arcadia. His family spent the Second World War in a village in the Peloponnese and his father had been a member of the Pro-Soviet branch of the Greek Resistance, and was imprisoned during the Greek Civil War. In 1956, he left his university studies to film at the French national film school. After film school, he apprenticed under Yves Allégret, and became an assistant director for Jean Giono, after several further positions as first assistant director, he directed his first feature film, Compartiment Tueurs, in 1965. His 1967 film Shock Troops was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival, the film is a fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. It had additional resonance because, at the time of its release, Z won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Costa-Gavras and co-writer Jorge Semprún won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Film Screenplay, LAveu follows the path of Artur London, a Czechoslovakian communist minister falsely arrested and tried for treason and espionage in the Slánský show trial in 1952. State of Siege takes place in Uruguay under a government in the early 1970s. Hormans father, played by Jack Lemmon, and wife, played by Sissy Spacek, search in vain to determine his fate. Nathaniel Davis, US ambassador to Chile from 1971–1973, a version of character had been portrayed in the movie, filed a US$150 million libel suit. 1372, against the studio and the director, which was eventually dismissed, the film won an Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaptation and the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival. Betrayed, roughly based upon the terrorist activities of American neo-Nazi and white supremacist Robert Mathews, in Music Box, a respected Hungarian immigrant is accused of having commanded an Anti-Semitic death squad during World War II. His daughter, a Chicago defense attorney played by Jessica Lange, the film is inspired by the arrest and trial of Ukrainian immigrant John Demjanjuk and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas realization that his father had been a member of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival, La Petite Apocalypse was entered into the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. Amen. was based in part on the highly controversial 1963 play, ein christliches Trauerspiel, by Rolf Hochhuth
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The Mother and the Whore
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The Mother and the Whore is a 1973 French film directed by Jean Eustache. An examination of the relationships between three characters in a triangle, it was Eustaches first feature film and is considered his masterpiece. The film is available on the internet. The film focuses on three twenty-somethings in a love triangle in Paris during the summer of 1972. Alexandre is a young man involved with both a live-in girlfriend Marie and the Polish nurse Veronika. He had picked up Veronika at a café after a reconciliation with a former love. With Veronika, he begins a desultory affair, although Marie affirms her indifference to Alexandres affairs, she quickly changes her mind when she sees how close he becomes to Veronika. This leads to an estrangement between her and Alexandre. The film focuses less on plot or narrative than on the confused and he told a reporter from Le Nouvel Observateur If I knew what it was that I wanted, I wouldnt wake up in the morning to make films. Id do nothing, Id try to live without doing or producing anything, Eustache was loaned money from friend Barbet Schroeder to spend three months writing the script, which was over three hundred pages. Although the film seems to be highly improvised, every word of dialogue was written by Eustache. Many of the used in the film were places that Garnier had lived or worked. The character played by Jacques Renard was based on Eustaches friend Jean-Jacques Schuhl, the film was shot between May 21 and July 11,1972. On a budget of 700,000 francs, Eustache called it a very hostile film, and it mostly consisted of dialogues and monologues about sex. Eustache says that the character Alexandre is destroying, but he is looking for it all along, after his voyage into madness and depression, he ends up alone. Thats when I stop the film, Eustache described the film as a narrative of certain seemingly innocuous acts. It could be the narrative of entirely different acts, in other places, what happens, the places where the action unfolds, have no importance. My subject is the way in which important actions situate themselves in a continuum of innocuous ones. Its the description of the course of events without the schematic abbreviation of cinematographic dramatization
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An Impudent Girl
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An Impudent Girl is a 1985 French film directed by Claude Miller. It stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, who won the César Award for Most Promising Actress, and Bernadette Lafont and it is a free adaptation of the novel Frankie Addams. The film won the Louis Delluc Prize, and received César nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Most Promising Actor, Best Writing, Best Costume Design and Best Sound. Charlotte Castang is a working-class 13-year-old girl, who lives in a drab, run-down neighbourhood and she has been raised without a mother, and lives with her crass brother and her father, whose attention is elsewhere. Her only friend is Lulu, a sick 10-year-old pest she would like to be rid of, Charlotte is bored and dreams of a better life, and her life improves when she meets Clara Bauman, a pianist from the other side of the tracks, whom she admires. Charlotte wants to be friends with Clara, whom she sees as her ticket out of the area, while the sophisticated Clara jokingly suggests that Charlotte should become her manager. Miller, Im fascinated by those violent passions that make you ready to cut your throat for something you believe in, passions that, in An Impudent Girl though the conflict is much less violent than the humiliation and hurt of The Best Way to Walk. The main character out of it very well, in fact its certainly my most optimistic film. I wasnt trying to show a terrible drama, just one of those events which happen to all adolescents. Im the proof because I still remember those tiny episodes that ended up affecting me more deeply than I ever realised at the time, the film was a loose adaptation of the novel Frankie Addams by Carson McCullers, although that is uncredited. Miller, It isnt a direct adaptation, there were just enough elements from the book for us to apply for the rights. First of all the Americans who owned them took ages to reply, then they wanted a huge sum of money, almost as much as the cost of the film. Two weeks before shooting was scheduled to begin, the rights had not been secured, Miller decided to go ahead and make the movie anyway. Now were negotiating to pay a percentage, he said in 1986. Fortunately the film has been a hit, Miller cast Gainsbourg after seeing her in the film Paroles et Musiques. He approached her parents for permission to cast her and it helped the marketability of the movie because, as Miller says, Charlotte was in a way already a star because of her parents - people went to see her out of curiosity. The Guardian said it was one of Millers best films since The Best Way to Walk, the film was a success at the box office. Miller later made The Little Thief with Gainsbourg, an Impudent Girl at the Internet Movie Database LEffrontée at AllMovie Review of film at Time Out Magazine
