Sting to Perform at Reopening of Bataclan a Year After Paris Attacks

The British musician said he would appear at the inaugural show on Nov. 12, almost 12 months to the day after a terrorist assault at the venue killed 90 people.

Islamic State militants wearing suicide vests opened fire during an Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan on Nov. 13, 2015, an attack that was part of a series in and around the city that night.

“In reopening the Bataclan, we have two important tasks to reconcile,” Sting said in a statement on his website. “First, to remember and honor those who lost their lives in the attack a year ago, and second, to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theater represents. In doing so, we hope to respect the memory as well as the life-affirming spirit of those who fell. We shall not forget them.”

Proceeds from the concert will be donated to Life for Paris and 13onze15, organizations that provide support to victims of the attacks and their families.

READ THE FULL STORY: Sting to Perform at Reopening of Bataclan a Year After Paris Attacks – The New York Times

French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani wins Goncourt, France’s top literary prize – France 24

 

Moroccan-born Leila Slimani won France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt, on Thursday with a novel guaranteed to “scare the wits out of parents”. The chilling tale of a “perfect” nanny who murders the two children she is looking after, “Chanson douce” (roughly translated as “Sweet Song”) is based on the real-life story of a Dominican child-minder shortly to stand trial for the double murder of her charges in New York in 2012.The book – which begins with the words “the baby is dead” – is already a bestseller in France.

READ FULL STORY at Source: French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani wins Goncourt, France’s top literary prize – France 24

Film Review: Baden, Baden

Due out later this November is Rachel Lang’s debut film about a dejected young Frenchwoman co-opted to help with some bathroom remodeling for her grandma. The “Baden, Baden”movie trailer looks very funny. Check out the FrenchCulture.org review below [ – Pas De Merde – ]

Like many in her generation, 26 year-old, free-spirited Ana lives a life teetering on the edge of comedy and melodrama. After a failed experience working on a film set, she returns to her hometown and decides to focus her energy on renovating the bathroom of her spunky, aging grandmother. Over the course of a scorching summer, Ana finds herself connecting and reconnecting with lovers and friends, as her (self-)improvement project gradually becomes more than she bargained for.

BADEN BADEN is a deceptively low-key feature debut from French filmmaker Rachel Lang, anchored by a slyly compelling, effortlessly confident lead performance by Salomé Richard, Lang’s alter ego and star of her two previous short films. Equally adept at narrative minimalism, psychological portraiture, and deadpan comedy, BADEN BADEN is a character study of great penetration and charm.

 

Source: BADEN BADEN | French Culture

French women to walk out of work in protest against gender pay gap 

Women in France earn around 15.1 percent less than men, according to the latest data from the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat, which Les Glorieuses has calculated to mean women will be essentially working for free for the rest of the year after 4:34pm on November 7.“As of 4:34pm [and 7 seconds] on November 7, women will be working ‘voluntarily’,” the organisation said in a statement on its website.

“We call on women, men, unions and feminist organisations to join the movement… and to hold events and protests in order to make income inequality a central political problem. By tackling this subject, we’re showing that the gender pay gap is not just a ‘woman’s issue’.”

Source: French women to walk out of work in protest against gender pay gap – France 24

Pauline Croze: “Success does not buy happiness”

After four years of absence, Pauline Croze returns with an album, “Bossa Nova”. A return to his first musical emotions. Notes she whispered in his teenage bedroom. Pauline Croze chose bossa nova for its fourth album. An amazing musical turn for the audience but that sounds like a homecoming for her. A hot air that lives for years, since his first love with music: “I discovered it in a movie where there is a story of impossible love. That’s what I was at that time of my adolescence. I saw myself in this character who exorcised his sentence listening to bossa nova “, says the young woman. It is in this music “the dramatic message, but the notes soaring.”

She tells her story, her way to exist: “There’s a lot of sensuality, a nonchalant sensuality that looks like me.” So for hours in his teenage bedroom, she draws, sings, and discovered a passion: “I singing phonetic way the

Source: Pauline Croze: “Success does not buy happiness”