Fabulous French events in Victoria, Feb-Mar 2014.

Fabulous French events in Victoria, Feb-March 2014.

It’s not often that a plethora of francophone events lands in Victoria at the same time.  In February and early March local francophones and Francophiles (people who love, appreciate and speak French as a second language) can rejoice.

The big event is, of course, the 17^th edition of the Festival Francophone de Victoria French Fest (March 6^th – 9^th)—and I promise a separate blog post with all the details—but there are two others of note prior to March.

February 22^nd at Hermann’s Jazz Club, join Juste Pour Rire for an evening of comedy (in French) featuring Jérémy Demay, Mélanie Couture, Olivier Martineau and Pierre Bruno Rivard.  The evening is presented as part of Rendez-vous de la francophonie (March 7-23, 2014) —supported by the Canadian Foundation for Cross Cultural Dialogue—and promises emerging and established comedians.  It’s the first time Juste Pour Rire will be in Victoria; please be sure to come out in support, especially if you’d like to see more francophone events in Victoria in the future.

Tickets $15 and $10 for members of la Société Francophone de Victoria. Doors, 8pm.

Then, February 28^th-March 2^nd, at École Victor-Brodeur (637 Head Street in Esquimalt) the local francophone community radio station CILS-FM presents the very first Festival International de Film Francophones à Victoria, or F^3-Vic.

The weekend starts Friday night with a documentary and a main feature, moves on to two days (Saturday and Sunday) of workshops, presentations, discussions and films (including family-friendly films, award-winning new releases and classics of the French film canon), and ends with a screening of the Oscar-nominated Monsieur Lazhar, followed by a shared community snack.  ALL this for $25/weekend pass.  Films are sub-titled in English.

Tickets $25 on sale at the radio station, 535 Yates Street, École Victor-Brodeur, the French Department at UVic, and Salon Modello (2590 Cadboro Bay Rd).

The full programme is here and a listing of all the movies with descriptions can be found here.

Some recommendations from my film-critic and fan friends are:

Inch Allah, Incendies (Adrian Charlie, PT Judgement Day blog)

Sarah Prefers to Run/Sarah Préfère la Course(Jason Whyte, reviewer at e-critic. Sarah was one of his top picks from TIFF)
Incendies, Monsieur Lazhar, Gabrielle, Inch Allah (Tori Klassen)

I saw the play Incendies and want to see the film. My personal recommendation would be for the classic, Hiroshima Mon Amour, based on the book by Marguerite Juras.