The opening of “French Spring 2016” will feature a show, projected on the facade of the Ukrainian House, telling a story of an Eskimo “Anouki in Search of Spring.” Little heroes, travelling through every season, will find the spring in the end, and the final scene will be accompanied by Dakh Daughters, Ukrainian all-female “freak-cabaret” theatrical music group. The organizers assure that maximum immersion will be achieved for the audience thanks to the latest technology. This 15-minute light show, which Kyivites will see on Saturday, has already been demonstrated to citizens of Lyon, Osaka, Dubai, and Singapore.
It should be noted that for the entire month of April, the rhythm of the festival will affect not only the capital, but also the largest cities of Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhia). An important part of French Spring, traditionally, is the cinema. “Long Nights of Short Films” are particularly popular among the viewers; this year they will take place simultaneously in 17 cities across the country (on April 22 and 23). The program for this year’s “Nights” will include 22 films. And there will also be the Festival of Pre-Premiere Shows, which will feature the following movies: Asphalt by Samuel Benchetrit, Families by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 21 Nights with Pattie by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, and News from Planet Mars by Dominik Moll. In the capital, “Kyiv” cinema will show this program from April 6 through 9.
The retrospective “Three Masterpieces by Jacques Audiard” (to be shown April 15 through 17) will complement the program. It includes the films A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and Dheepan, which was crowned by the Golden Palm award at the last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
French Spring will also feature: the exhibition “Illustart,” on which the works by young French and Ukrainian illustrators will be displayed (April 9-30); a culinary master class from Matthieu Ardin (April 10); a concert of Rapsodie (April 12); the ceremony of Hryhorii Skovoroda Award for the best translation from French into Ukrainian; the concert “Viva Offenbach!” conducted by Philippe Hui (April 22); theatrical productions, including plays by the winner of the Festival of French-speaking amateur theater troupes and by Ceptectum collective from Taras Shevchenko University (April 26), and more.
The festival’s organizers are: the French Embassy in Ukraine, the French Institute in Ukraine, and Alliance Francaise.
