September 10, 2019-The Brooklyn Falls for France program will offer Brooklyn audiences the rare opportunity to discover a panorama of established and emerging Francophone artists in the visual arts, dance, music, literature, cinema, virtual reality, augmented reality, audio recordings, and more. Events will take place across the borough, from Williamsburg to Brooklyn Heights and Prospect Park at venues such as UnionDocs, The Chimney, The Brooklyn Navy Yard, St. Ann’s Warehouse, The Invisible Dog Art Center, the Brooklyn Book Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Polonsky Shakespeare Center (home of Theatre for New Audience), and the Brooklyn Museum.
“Brooklyn is home to large Francophone communities and a dynamic independent arts scene,” said Gaëtan Bruel, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy, “Brooklyn Falls for France will highlight the borough’s vibrant Francophone cultural life while underscoring the cross-cultural dialogue between Brooklyn and the many countries where French is spoken. We hope that this project will spark further transatlantic exchange in the arts.”
Among the season’s many highlights, Brooklyn Falls for France features the American premiere of Why?, a new work by the legendary theater director Peter Brook and his longtime collaborator Marie-Hélène Estienne, at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, home of Theatre for a New Audience; the American premiere of Schaubühne Berlin’s adaptation of French novelist Édouard Louis’ History of Violence, directed by Thomas Ostermeier at St. Ann’s Warehouse, as well as the American premiere of a theatrical adaptation of Louis’ The End of Eddy, adapted by Pamela Carter and directed by Stewart Laing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); the American premiere of Дyми Moï (Dumy Moyi), a mystical, monumental performance mixing influences from Indian, Ukrainian, Filipino and Sephardic cultures, by choreographer and dancer François Chaignaud, at The Invisible Dog Art Center; a series of cutting-edge French virtual reality presentations at VRBAR; the street theater performance of Hidden Stories by BEGAT Theater in public spaces throughout Downtown Brooklyn; five audio documentaries by artists from the French-speaking diaspora in collaboration with creators of New York podcasts in Brooklyn, at UnionDocs; two major exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, a retrospective of couturier Pierre Cardin as well as a survey of work by contemporary artist JR, centerpiece of which is The Chronicles of New York City, a new monumental mural of more than one thousand New Yorkers that is accompanied by audio recordings of each person’s story.
The program also includes solo exhibitions by Gilles Barbier and Anne-Charlotte Finel, at The Chimney; talks with authors Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Jerome Tubiana and Patrice Nganang at The Brooklyn Book Festival; The Sun Too Close to the Earth, a concert by composer Rhys Chatham; two immersive outdoor theatrical performances in Downtown Brooklyn; Moliere in the Park: A Reading of The School for Wives at Prospect Park Picnic House; US premiere film screenings from directors Michèle Rosier and Juliet Berto, and much more.
Brooklyn Falls for France will conclude with the annual winter rendez-vous at the Brooklyn Public Library: A Night of Philosophy & Ideas, a 12-hour philosophical marathon co-presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the Brooklyn Public Library.
BROOKLYN FALLS FOR FRANCE - CALENDAR OF EVENTS
LITERATURE
Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Patrice Nganang, Jérôme Tubiana and Scholastique Mukasonga
Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn Borough Hall & Plaza, 209 Joralemon St, Downtown Brooklyn
Three French authors will participate in this year’s Festival Day at the Brooklyn Book Festival: Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, a finalist for the Goncourt First Novel Prize for Une éducation libertine; author and illustrator Jérôme Tubiana, writer of the graphic novel Guantánamo Kid: The True Story of Mohammed El-Gharani; Scholastique Mukasonga for Looking Back: Memoir,
Auto-Fiction and the Worlds that Shape Us, and Cameroonian novelist and poet Patrice Nganang, who’s fifth novel When The Plums are Ripe will be published in August 2019.
>> Sept 22, 2019 | 10am – 6pm | FREE | More info here.
Coming Out and Of Age: Talk with Édouard Louis
Brooklyn Book Festival
Plaza, 209 Joralemon St, Downtown Brooklyn
Brooklyn Borough Hall & Plaza
A conversation about coming out and coming-of-age stories, engaging with a range of writers, who pay specific attention to the intersections of class and geography, in conjunction with this season’s stage adaptation of Édouard Louis’ autobiographically inspired novel.
>> Sept 22, 2019 | FREE | More info here.
Brooklyn Falls for Les Editions de l’Epure
The Invisible Dog Art Center
51 Bergen St, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
A day-long series of talks and workshops honoring Les Editions de l’Epure, a French publishing house founded in 1991 by architects, Sabine Bucquet-Grenet and Pascale Blin. Their beautifully designed books bring together the knowledge of the arts, architecture, design, and gastronomy. The event will conclude with a happy hour French / Swiss Cheese challenge!
Albertine Bookstore, partner of the event, will be present from 5 to 9pm with a large selection of books from Les Editions de l’Epure.
>> Oct 29, 2019 | 12pm – 10pm | FREE | More info here.
Talk: Édouard Louis
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene
Édouard Louis comes to BAM to discuss the internationally bestselling books at the heart of this fall’s two adaptations: The End of Eddy, presented this season as part of Next Wave 2019, and History of Violence, presented at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
>> Nov 11, 2019 | 7 pm | $20 | More info & tickets here.
A Night of Philosophy and Ideas
Brooklyn Public Library
10 Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Heights
BPL hosts a 12-hour intellectual marathon, gathering philosophers, intellectuals, and artists for debates, performances, screenings, and readings.
>> Feb 1 (7pm) – Feb 2 (7am), 2020 | FREE | More info coming soon, here.
FILM & MEDIA
VRBAR
65 Jay Street, Dumbo
VRBAR, Brooklyn’s first virtual reality arcade, will present six months of programming featuring virtual reality experiences by French producers. The exclusive showcases explore new forms of storytelling and highlight award-winning works including Notes of Blindness, Vestige, 7 Lives, Fisherman’s Tale, and acclaimed Assassin’s Creed-inspired VR escape rooms.
>> Sept 14, 2019 – Jan, 2020 | More info & tickets here.
Radio en direct
UnionDocs
322 Union Ave, Brooklyn, NY
UnionDocs will host a series of listening events featuring stories from producers across the French-speaking diaspora. Each event will be centered around an audio documentary—told in French with English subtitles run on the screen— with producers present to speak to the intricacies of the craft and story being told.
>> Sept 22, 2019 – Jan 26, 2020 | More info soon here.
Berto X Rosier [AMERICAN PREMIERE]
Spectacle Theater
124 S. 3rd Street, Williamsburg
This all-volunteer microcinema will screen for the first time in the U.S. several previously untranslated movies directed by French New Wave icon Juliet Berto – including Neige (1981) and Cap Canaille (1983) in October, and by fashion designer and TV journalist Michèle Rosier – such as George Qui? (1973), Mon Cœur Est Rouge (1976), and Embrasse-moi (1989) – in November.
>> Fall 2019 | More info soon here.
MUSIC
Rhys Chatham: The Sun Too Close to the Earth / Jonathan Kane & Zeena Parkins: On, Suzanne [WORLD PREMIERE]
ISSUE Project Room
22 Boerum Place, Downtown Brooklyn
Composer Rhys Chatham performs The Sun Too Close to the Earth, written for a nine-person ensemble with guitars, horns, keyboard, and percussion, reflecting on the artist’s concern for the ravages of climate change and the senseless destruction of our planet. Chatham will also perform the North American premiere of his 20-minute solo work Le Possédé for bass flute. Experimental musicians Zeena Parkins and Jonathan Kane will open with their 2019 duet On, Suzanne. This event is part of FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival.
>> Oct 4 – 5, 2019 | 8 pm | $25 – 20 | More info & tickets here.
Christine Groult and Beatriz Ferreyra
ISSUE Project Room
22 Boerum Place, Downtown Brooklyn
Electroacoustic composers Christine Groult and Beatriz Ferreyra will perform their pioneering musical work at ISSUE’s Theater.
>> Nov 23, 2019 | 8 pm | $15 | More info soon here.
PERFORMING ARTS
Why? by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne [US PREMIERE]
Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) at Polonsky Shakespeare Center
262 Ashland Place, Downtown Brooklyn
In this US Premiere of Why?, the most celebrated theater director of our time, Peter Brook, and his longtime collaborator, Marie-Hélène Estienne, present a new work mulling the ultimate questions of existence: “Why theater? What’s it for? What is it about?” Brook, who is celebrated for his work in theater, opera, film, and literature, has been based in France since the 1970s. His work has revolutionized the performing arts around the world for multiple generations of artists through his work and writings. A co-commission of TFANA, Why? is part of FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival.
>> Sept 21 – Oct 6, 2019 | In English | Tickets start at $90 | More info & tickets here.
Pop Up: An Artistic Treasure Hunt [AMERICAN PREMIERE]
Various locations
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Pop Up is an artistic treasure hunt: Audiences follow poetic clues and a hand-painted map to find a series of pop up performances. Inspired by interviews with local Fort Greene residents, «PoP Up» will be performed by a collective of multidisciplinary performers in public spaces scattered around the neighborhood. The show is a collaboration between the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble (NYC) and the Tours Soundpainting Orchestra (Tours, France). Audiences will be emailed the secret start location the day before the show.
>> Oct 4 – 6, 2019 | Free | More info here.
Дyми Moï by François Chaignaud [US PREMIERE]
The Invisible Dog Art Center
51 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Straddling genres, genders, boundaries, and eras, Дyми Moï (pronounced Dumy Moyi) is an astonishing and intimate solo performance that breaks down the rituals of Western theater. Using monumental costumes, François Chaignaud blends ritualistic and mystical songs and dances that simultaneously suggest styles from India, Ukraine, the Philippines, or Sephardic cultures without explicitly referencing them. Known for his body of work that weaves together high and low culture, Chaignaud merges the divine with the burlesque in a sinuous mix of dance and song. This event is co-presented by FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival and The Invisible Dog Art Center.
>> Oct 11 (7:30pm) – 12 (7:30pm and 9pm), 2019 | $15 suggested donation | RSVP here.
Hidden Stories
Downtown Brooklyn – exact location and times to be unveiled upon reservation
The France-based street theater company Begat Theater presents an immersive site-specific performance that blends itself into the urban landscape of Downtown Brooklyn. Supplied with headphones, audiences view four disparate slices of life, four parallel stories. Presented by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
>> Oct 25-27, 2019 | Free with RSVP | More info soon here.
Molière in the Park: The School for Wives
Picnic House Prospect Park
40 West Dr, Prospect Park, Park Slope
A staged reading directed by Lucie Tiberghien of Molière’s The School for Wives, translated by Pulitzer Prize-winning Richard Wilbur at the Picnic House in Prospect Park. Molière in the Park is dedicated to bringing yearly, free and inclusive theater to Prospect Park. Samira Wiley (Orange is the New Black and Handmaid’s Tale) and Dominic Fumusa (Nurse Jacky) have joined the cast along with Chris Henry Coffey, Carter Redwood and Tamara Sevunts. This In partnership with Prospect Park Alliance.
>> Nov 13 – 14, 2019 | 7 pm | FREE | More info here.
History of Violence [AMERICAN PREMIERE]
St. Ann’s Warehouse
45 Water Street, Dumbo
This November, director Thomas Ostermeier and Schaubühne Berlin return to St. Ann’s Warehouse with Édouard Louis’ stunning autobiographical memoir History of Violence. Through the fractured recall of Édouard, his sister, police, and doctors, the “brave and ambitious” (The Guardian) book and play reconstruct the trauma of a desire-filled encounter turned violent. A layered retelling that is both devastating and funny, the production uncovers deeply rooted societal racism, homophobia, and rage unbridled under obscure, repressive power structures until all that remains is a nuanced, closely guarded memory.
>> Nov 13 – Dec 1, 2019 | Performed in German, with English supertitles | More info & tickets here.
The End of Eddy [AMERICAN PREMIERE]
BAM Fisher
321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene
Édouard Louis’ powerful 2014 autobiographical debut, The End of Eddy, was published when he was 21 and immediately put him on the literary map. A coming-of-age story of a young gay man facing homophobia in a French village, the book also reveals the hopelessness and violence of a depressed, post-industrial region.
>> Nov 14-21, 2019 | More info & tickets here.
VISUAL ARTS
Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Prospect Heights
The retrospective exhibition Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion traces the legendary career of one of the fashion world’s most innovative designers, one whose futuristic designs and trailblazing efforts to democratize high fashion for the masses pushed the boundaries of the industry for more than seven decades. Featuring over 170 objects that date from the 1950s to the present, the exhibition includes haute couture and ready-to-wear garments, accessories, photographs, film, and other materials drawn primarily from the Pierre Cardin archive.
>> July 20, 2019–Jan 5, 2020 | More info & tickets here.
We Are Each Others, (2018), permanent sculpture by Julien Gardair
Kings Highway & 18th Avenue Subway Line Station, F line
MTA Arts & Design commissioned steel sculptures at two Culver Line Stations by Brooklyn-based French artist Julien Gardair. The artwork depicts figures inspired by local history and present-day residents. The artist refers to the early days of the area such as the arrival of European settlers and the foundation of the Culver train line at the turn of the 20th century bringing an expansion of residents in South Brooklyn.
>> Permanent sculpture | Free | More info here.
JR: Chronicles
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Prospect Heights
The Brooklyn Museum presents JR: Chronicles, the first major exhibition in North America of works by the French-born artist. The presentation covers nearly 20,000 square feet of the Museum’s Great Hall and traces JR’s artistic evolution since 2001, focusing on his commitment to community and civic discourse through the use of large-scale media such as news and advertising as well as architectural interventions. Working at the intersections of photography, social practice, and street art, JR’s participatory projects have fostered collaborations and conversations around the globe. The exhibition centers on The Chronicles of New York City, a new monumental mural incorporating the portraits and stories of over one thousand New Yorkers.
>> Oct 4, 2019 – May 3, 2020 | More info & tickets here.
The Role of a Flower
OSTUDIO
366 Stockton St, Bushwick
This group exhibition will gather photographs by Siri Thorson and Baptiste Rabichon, textile works by Sophia Narrett, ceramics by Fernando Aciar (from Fefo Studio) and monoprints by Thomas Fougeirol. Under the curation of Marie-Salomé Peyronnel, the artists will present their poetic interpretation of “the role of a flower”.
>> Oct 14 – 27, 2019 with an opening reception on October 13, 4-8PM | More info soon here.
BOOTLEG
Artists’ studio in Bushwick
109 Ingraham Street – suite 101
The Parisian artist collective DOC! will tackle the question of militancy in arts, mainly through printing practices, workshops and print performances with guest DJs. French and American invited artists have created a repository of texts and images edited in the Under the coat fanzine, an annex and notice of this performative and transatlantic card game.
>> Sat, Oct 5-6, 2019, 2pm -7pm | Opening reception Oct 4 at 6pm – 9pm in collaboration with Melting Point | More info soon here.
Laughing at Clouds: A Gilles Barbier Exhibition
The Chimney
200 Morgan Avenue, Williamsburg
Building onto the symbolism and otherworldliness of Mary Poppins’ enchanting story, French contemporary artist Gilles Barbier will transform The Chimney art gallery into a surreal set. This new commission presents numerous black levitating umbrellas installed at different heights with strings of speech bubbles falling from their hinged ribs like raindrops. Barbier invites the audience to restore dialogue under this protective roof, to engage in an exchange and resist the siren calls of hermetic monologues and manufactured facts.
>> Fri, Nov 1–Dec 15, 2019 | Opening reception Fri, Nov1, 6:30pm | More info here.
Anne-Charlotte Finel Solo Exhibition: Motors
The Chimney
200 Morgan Avenue, Williamsburg
“Motors” is the first solo exhibition of French artist Anne-Charlotte Finel in the United States. In her work, Finel explores the realm of the machine through sceneries transpierced by the sounds and vibrations of mechanical energy. For “Motors” she has assembled a series of videos oscillating between fiction and reality, all caught under ambiguous light: dusk and dawn, obscurity and clarity. The installation will be accompanied by a sound piece by Luc Kheradmand, Finel’s longtime collaborator.
>> Jan 17 – Feb 23, 2020 | Opening Jan 17, 6:30-9:30pm | Free | More info soon here.
About Brooklyn Falls for France
Brooklyn Falls for France is the Cultural Services of the French Embassy’s first-ever Brooklyn-focused multi-disciplinary cultural season running from September 2019 through January 2020 in partnership with Brooklyn venues. The program aims to highlight the borough’s vibrant French and French-speaking cultural life and underscore the cross-cultural dialogue between Brooklyn and Francophone countries. www.brooklynfallsforfrance.org
About The Cultural Services of the French Embassy
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington DC and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services brings artists, authors, educational and university programs to cities nationwide. It also builds partnership between French and American artists, institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop, Albertine, it fosters French American exchange around literature and the arts.
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Press Contact
Blake Zidell, Blake Zidell & Associates – 718.643.9052 – blake@blakezidell.com