Category: Culture

The Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived – along with Trump’s tariffs

Beaujolais New lovers uncorked this year’s first bottles on Thursday

Beaujolais Nouveau lovers uncorked this year’s first bottles on Thursday, but producers face the sobering truth of a dip in margins due to the new tariffs on EU products imposed by the United States,…

Barrels of this season’s vintage, a red wine made from Gamay grapes in the Beaujolais region, were rolled through the streets of Lyon in a traditional torchlit procession.

As the clock struck midnight on the third Thursday of November, bottles were popped open for late-night drinkers, some wearing “I Heart Beaujolais” T-shirts.

This year’s Beaujolais Nouveau Day celebrations come just a month after the US imposed a 25 percent tax on French wine and other EU goods in response to illegal EU aircraft subsidies.

“This is going to be a hard blow, we will need to work hard to bounce back,” said Jean-Baptiste Duperray, a producer of the popular young wine, which is fermented for just a few weeks before being exported to shelves around the world.

Americas Beaujolais lovers will see little impact on their wallets, with prices remaining between $10 to $15 per bottle as dealers dug into their own pockets to hold prices steady, according to David Ratignier, vice-president of the Inter Beaujolais Association.

“This is what has enabled us to maintain our volumes, to maintain the Beaujolais Nouveau’s release in the United States. So we can say it’s gone pretty well after all,” he said.

Huge in Japan, US

The US is the second-largest export market for the light-coloured red, with 13,337 hectolitres shipped in 2018, accounting for more than 15 percent of total exports and almost 8 percent of production.

In Japan, the top importer of Beaujolais Nouveau, men and women in straw hats, swimming shorts and bikini tops, and their children in floaters, soaked themselves in a “wine bath” to mark its 2019 launch.

Beaujolais Nouveau winemakers said they had little choice but to absorb US President Donald Trump’s additional tariff, monitor sales and hope it was short-lived.

“We realised [US policy] can change in a morning with a simple tweet from Mr Trump. If Trump changes his mind overnight, everything will be OK,” Ratignier said.

Source: The Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived – along with Trump’s tariffs

Actress Adele Haenel accuses Manager of sexual harassment as #metoo Strikes French cinema

French actress Adele Haenel has accused a manager of raping her when she was a teen working on her very first feature film. Haenel, today 30, maintained in a meeting with French press outlet Mediap…

French actress Adele Haenel has accused a manager of raping her when she was a teen working on her very first feature film.

Haenel, today 30, maintained in a meeting with French press outlet Mediapart on Monday she had become the goal of”permanent sexual harassment” from director Christophe Ruggia if both worked with her debut film, The Devils, once she was 12 to 15.

She stated he forcefully kissed her neck and could touch her on the thighs and chest.

The celebrity, who has won two César awards — the French equivalent of the Oscars — included that she wouldn’t make an official complaint to the authorities but that she’d determined to come forward if she’d learned that Ruggia was likely a new film with teens.

She enticed the French judiciary method of not being intense enough on sexual abusers.

The French Society of Directors has provided its service to the celebrity and voiced its”respect and fame” at a statement issued on Monday. Additionally, it has expelled Ruggia.

Asked about the event on Wednesday, the French Minister for Justice Nicole Belloubet, stated that Haenel was incorrect to discredit the machine and encouraged her to submit a complaint.

Source: Actress Adele Haenel accuses Manager of sexual harassment as #metoo Strikes French cinema |

France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels

In a win for planet Earth, as of 2015 all commercial buildings in France must have at least partial coverage of their rooftop in solar panels or plants.

In this time of doomsday-like predictions where our environmental health is concerned, it’s all hands on deck. We are coming to the conclusion, hopefully not too late, that every little bit of conservation counts.

There is a shift in general consciousness that’s begun to happen. We’re becoming aware of the impact we humans have, and the myriad ways we make that impact. With the purchase of a plastic water bottle as opposed to a reusable one. Using grocery store bags instead of bringing your own. Buying new when used would be perfectly acceptable. These are a few examples of shifts that have started taking place. We see now, how easy it is to carry our own bottle, or our own bag, or shop consignment.

It’s been far too easy, for far too long, to buy into the idea that we as individuals don’t have an impact. One bottle won’t make a difference. One bag won’t hurt anything. But not only is that incorrect, but it also doesn’t really speak to the heart of the matter, which is that we’re all in this together. How we individually live, is how we collectively live. So, not only can one person have a huge impact, we have somewhat of an obligation at this point, to us and to each other, to live as we do. To act like it’s all connected – because it is [ . . . ]

Continue at Source: France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels

Fine Arts Paris and beyond

The fair underscores its links with the museum world in its third edition. Plus highlights from Paris Photo and Also Known as Africa

Fine Arts Paris began in 2017 as a boutique affair of 34 dealers, and though it has now grown to 46 exhibitors – most of them French – it still prides itself on carefully crafted displays and museum-quality works. This year (13–17 November), the fair is looking to underscore its links with the museum world with an events programme that offers behind-the-scenes tours of various institutions. Visitors will also be treated to a first look at the Château de Fontainebleau’s most recent acquisition: a late 16th-century mythological scene by a follower of Francesco Primaticcio. La Piscine – the museum of art and industry in Roubaix – provides a pop-up display of works from its collection, by artists including Marc Chagall and Camille Claudel.

At Galerie Charvet there is a selling exhibition on the theme of museum interiors; highlights include a painting of a man polishing the armour of a horse guard at the Royal Armoury in Turin, by the Piedmontese artist Giovanni Giani in 1892. [ . . . ]
Continue at APOLLO MAGAZINE: Fine Arts Paris and beyond | Apollo Magazine