Alliance francaise to enrich cultural trends

Sri Lankan art and culture lovers will have eventful months and would better be prepared for a host of cultural events organized by Alliance Francaise de Colombo, the French Cultural Institute dedicated to propagate French culture and language in Sri Lanka.

The cultural events will take place at Alliance Francaise de Colombo and will open to all Sri Lankan art lovers and those eager to taste the rich French culture with much fun and frolic. Music Day (Fete de la Musique) is a free and live celebration of all traditions of music and will take place on June 21, the day of the summer solstice.

This is an open event where all music lovers are invited to take part and they can either play or listen and participate to express their love for music. The specialty of this year's event is that it celebrates the 25th Anniversary of this colourful cultural event, which began in France in 1984 and now celebrated in more than 250 cities in 100 countries globally.

More information about the programme is available at fetedelamusique.culture. fetedelamusique.culture.fr . In keeping with its traditions, Cine-Club in Alliance Francaise is organizing a series of films, this time featuring French actors in the Italian cinema. It will shed an invaluable insight into the close links between the French and Italian, which have a common origin in Latin. Each Wednesday evening at 6.30 pm, a film under the theme will be screened preceded by a short presentation and the films will be in French with English sub-titles. Another screening will be on Tuesday at 3.00pm. After the film a discussion will take place in the Cafeteria.

The project is aimed at promoting cultural diversity, which is an integral feature of 'globalization ' and to expose the Sri Lankan public to the special link that French has with Italian. Theatre lovers should not miss the play " Mr et Mme O" that will be staged at the Bishop's College Auditorium on May 29. The play without speech is a part of a new trend in French theatrical arts and is derived inspiration from diverse artistic styles and influences such as mime, contemporary dance, circus art and even comic books.

Although it looks like comics in outlook, the play discuses about serious themes such as marriage, old habits, routine and social conventions. Exhibition of posters on the French poet' Saint John Perse', Exhibition of posters "Nourrir 9 milliards D'Hommes"(how to feed 9 billion people) on June 2 at Alliance Fran‡oise Auditorium, an exhibition of water colour paintings by Anura Dahanayaka are some of the events in the cultural calendar.